Elli's POV
There is no way I am going to let that happen. I won't let them sacrifice themselves for us. Not after everything they already had to go through. Even if they hadn't gone through it, I still would not let them do it. Not for us. Not for me.
There has to be another way.
Caleb, who still hasn't left, seems to have sensed my discomfort. I am fully convinced he is going to let out yet another snarky remark. But that wasn't it at all.
Honestly, I am extremely surprised about what he says. Does he care or does he just do it to taunt us even more?
„I understand that you're upset. Whether you believe me or not, I'm not just a heartless monster. Which is why I give you 48 hours to say your goodbyes. Make the most of it".
After saying that, he poofs out.
Is this really happening? Am I still awake? This certainly feels like a dream. Maybe there are no such things as ghosts and all of this has been me being asleep. No. That would mean Reggie isn't real and I can't have that.
I'm not losing him.
There is no way.
I look at the rest of us. Julie has no expression on her face. She kind of looks numb. Understandably. She thought all of this was planned and now she found out she was missing and her – our – therapist is the ghost that has been messing with the guys. Plus, either something happens to her and me or Alex, Luke and Reggie. Not to forget, today is her birthday...
She has gone through numerous heartbreaking moments in her life, but this... This is a whole other level.
Dad doesn't say anything either. He probably does not know what to do. He thought everything will go back to normal and BANG- something else happens. I don't blame him for his confusion. Our lives have been turned upside down countless of times.
And then there's the guys. I can see that they are sad, but that's not everything you can make out on their faces. They seem determined. I think. Why do they have that look on their face? They aren't actually considering going to Caleb, right? They can't. We're going to find another way. 48 hours may not seem to be that much, but I bet we can find a loophole. There's always a loophole. We can't give up hope. We can ask Willie and Flynn to help us. Even Carrie if we have to. She'll understand. She'll help.
Right...
Flynn and Carrie.
They aren't here. Right now they don't even know that Julie is no longer missing.
Ivy...
I have to tell Ivy. Will she be mad at me? I have kept this secret from here for a very long time. Even though I know she knows I don't like talking about my feelings and such, I'm not sure if she is going to forgive me for all of this.
I kept a huge secret. I never kept such a huge secret from her. She is my best friend.
I can't lose her, too.
Why do I always lose people?
It's like wherever I go, someone either gets hurt or leaves. I can't lose any more people. I just can't take it.
I take another look at their faces. It's evident that for them none of this is up for debate. Yet, no one is saying anything. The silence in this room is sickening. My stomach feels like it's turning. I think I'm going to be sick and throw up or something. I can't be here any longer.
I run up to me room. I need time. But we don't have time. We have 48 hours. That's not going to be enough. I'm not ready to say goodbye to them. I don't think I'll ever be ready to do that.
Maybe I should just give myself over to Caleb. No. I can't do that either. That would mean he'd do something to Julie, too. And I'd take yet another thing from my Dad. There isn't much we can do. But there has to be something good we can do. There has to be more than just two ways.
What does Caleb want with them anyways? And why he is doing everything he can to get them to come to him?
I don't understand this.
I feel like my head is about to explode.
All of this is crazy. He's crazy. Why does he think he can just get what he wants. That's not how it works. That's not how life works. It's not fair. But then again, life ain't fair. Somehow all of the unfair shit always happens to my family. Why? What did we do to deserve any of this? Did we do something? What action could possibly justify any of this..
Nothing.
Nothing can justify this.
It's just not fair.
Before I can think any further, Reggie enters my room. He didn't poof in. He walked here because he probably didn't want to scare me even more. Or he just felt like walking. I don't know. I can't look inside of his head.
"I know you don't want us to do what Caleb says", he comes closer to me, "and I understand why you don't want us to. I really do get it. It's the same reason why I don't want you to do it. I can't let anything bad happen to you. I just can't. Believe me, I wish there was another way, but I think deep down you and I both know there's nothing else we can do. Whatever his plans are for Luke, Alex, and I, it has to be better than what he has planned for you and Julie. He just wants us to joins his band. We'll manage".
"I would do anything for you, Elli. I would to anything to make you happy".
"But I won't be happy without you. I can't".
I can feel myself tearing up. I can feel my tears threatening to fall out of my eyes. It's the truth. I know I will and can never be fully happy without him being here. I need him. I'd never felt better since I met him. He even got me to open up about my feelings. Not even Ivy, my best friend, got me to do that. That certainly means something. It means a lot. It means everything to me. He means everything to me.
Reggie takes another step towards me, so now we are standing face to face to each other. His fingers travel through my hair until he decides on one particular strand of hair and puts it behind my ear. After that his hand caresses my cheek. His thump slowly goes over my cheekbone.
My breath gets caught in my throat.
My eyes get lost in his. They remind me of a never ending ocean. Only that that ocean would have a more of a greenish colour.
Time stops when his lips meet mine. The butterflies in my stomach only increase because of that. I'm so nervous that I can feel my heartbeat in almost every single part of my body. I can't focus on anything else than his lips on mine. It feels unreal. All the stress I felt before seems to have vanished. It's unbelievable how easily he can do this to me.
My fingers travel from his hair at the front of his head to the back of it. I want to be close to him. I don't want to let go of him. Not after everything we went through to get here. It took us such a long time.
At the same time, he puts his arms around my waist and I am barely able to breathe in between kisses. Both of our chests are rising and falling rapidly. My whole body tingles. I can feel neither one of us wants to break it up, knowing we only have a limited amount of time left.
I have to back away from the kiss because I could feel that I was about to faint from the lack of oxygen. At least that is what it felt like. I don't even know if you can faint because of kissing someone. Can you?
His forehead leans against mine, as he says, "Hey Elli, let's make the most of the time we have left".
"What do you have in mind?"
"Do you want to go on a 48 hour date with me? Well, with us getting ready more like 47, but still. Would you like to? You won't have to worry about what we will do because I will handle that".
"Alright. Yes. I would love to go on a 47 hour date with you, Reggie".
We are interrupted when Alex says, "I knew it!". A smirk is plastered on his face.
I look away from Reggie to look at Alex. When did he get here?
"How long have you been here?"
"Long enough"
All of us begin to laugh. Who would have thought we would end up here? I certainly didn't. That time I decided to talk to Alex, feels like it was ages ago. Even though it wasn't. A lot of things are different now.
Reggie is the last to speak, "Alright... Let's get going".