Hold Me While You Wait

4|the cut that always bleeds

the cut that always bleeds

Being out of place in an environment that used to be her home was what Elis felt when she looked at her childhood bedroom.

So many memories were made there. Her life practically began there, but as she looked at it now, she felt like she didn't belong anymore. Little of it had to do with the place itself, as majority of it had to do with her emotions and the kind of person she wanted to be.

She didn't have much of a vision of the future as yet, but she had an idea that coming back to the lake house was an attempt by her parents to finally let her close one chapter of her life.

When Gray left that day, Elis contemplated hiding from reality once again by burying herself under the sheets for the rest of the night, but thought otherwise.

She might as well unpack her bags, seeing as the lake house was going to be her home for the upcoming twelve weeks.

Elis spent the rest of the night restlessly. It seemed that she couldn't put her mind to rest and no matter how much she tried, she kept tossing and turning.

The bright morning came with a lot more energy than the previous one.

Elis got out of bed earlier than she actually wanted to, so the first thing she did was open the old curtains, letting the morning sun shine into her childhood bedroom. She stood on the balcony, resting her elbows against the rusted rail.

And that was when Elis thought that she should shower. She wanted to feel some life, a bit of it, at least. She didn't want to feel as horrible as the day before and instead, appreciate the warm and sunny weather of summer in the lake house.

The thought would appear quite appealing to a lot of people, and maybe it would to her, had she not had a heart. A mind. Or even memories.

After showering, the curly haired girl actually got to fixing her hair, and was careful with picking out an outfit with the thought of Gray coming to the house later in the day.

Elis couldn't believe how a lot of time has passed when she then held a picture from years ago, which was found in a black leather case hidden underneath her bed.

She had been at her first painting competition, almost seven years ago. Her mom and brother were standing by the sides, while her dad was the one to take the photo. A big smile that matched Bryson's was set on her face.

Even though they weren't exactly identical, Elis still had similar features to that of her fraternal twin brother. Their smiles were similar, and so were the chestnut color of their eyes and their predominantly curly hair.

Looking further into the newly discovered case, Elis's smile widened when she took out a vinyl disc of the album The 1975. A lot of memories flashed through her brain when she hurriedly played the disc on the turntable situated on the table in the corner of her room.

Her brother had gotten her both the vinyl disc and the record player on their thirteenth birthday, which Elis has very much cherished from the day on. She didn't get to playing many vinyl disc though, so The 1975 was the only one she had.

Elis went over to the case again, more enthusiastically this time.

Her fingers brushed over the pictures she found of Bryson. There were pictures of Bryson all throughout the years : at her painting competitions, on their birthdays, on Christmas days and whenever they played in the snow.

There was some of Bryson's favorite jewellery too, including a bracelet matching the one that Elis permanently wore. It was what their grandma gave to them. To Bryson and Elis, the matching bracelets represented that they belonged with each other.

And upon going through all items and the pictures, the curly haired girl got to the very bottom of the case, where she saw a folded piece of paper.

That was when everything so suddenly made sense. The disc, the bracelet, the pictures, the note.

This was a case a younger Elis hid under her bed the day before they left, with the note she wrote being what she told herself to read whenever they came back to the lake house.