Page 129 of Psync
???
After they ate, Eli called his family while Haruka went to yet another family meeting. Once again, he offered to go, and once again he was rebuffed. As much as he loved being in Japan, he was starting to look forward to going home—he had a feeling being a trophy boyfriend was going to get old really quick.
It was well past midnight before he gave up and went to bed alone. His eyes were heavy when his head hit the pillow, but before he fell asleep, a thought hit him. Haruka still hadn’t told him what happened to cause Eli’s blackout.
His mind naturally shied away from events like that, so Eli wasn’t in a hurry to ask about it. Was Haruka being sensitive to that? Or did he have another reason?
Sleep hit him before he had a chance to think any more.
Darkness.
Everywhere Eli turned, all he saw was a never-ending sea of nothing.
And behind the nothing came terrible, mocking laughter. “It doesn’t matter where you go, I’ll always find you.”
“Get fucked, creep!” Eli shouted at the laughter, trying to sound anything other than the terrified ten-year-old he felt like.
He wanted to throw something at the voice, but he had nothing. He wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. He was alone, always, always alone.
“You won’t have to be alone, pretty, if you choose me. It will be easy. Don’t you want life to be easy?”
Eli shivered. If he could go the rest of his life without being called pretty it would be too soon.
He curled into himself and tried to block out the laughter, but it came at him from all sides, attacking every weakness and chipping away at Eli’s mind, trying to reach his core.
Howling wind joined the laughter, tearing at Eli’s clothes. He curled in even tighter. He would hold on. Being alone forever sounded better than giving in to this freak.
Even if he felt so cold he might shatter.
The bleak thought was like a knife to his soul, and laughter chased after it ready to exploit any weakness.
Eli shook as he fought to hold himself together.
Just one more minute.
Just one more second.
Just one more breath.
Warmth bloomed against Eli’s back, driving back the cold and forcing the laughter to retreat back behind the nothing.
Eli gasped as heat rushed back into him, lending him enough strength to sit up. He found Haruka kneeling over him anxiously.
Through lips still numb from the biting wind, Eli said, “I don’t think it’s over yet.”
Haruka nodded and continued to act as a shield for Eli, staring into the darkness, waiting for whatever lay behind it to make its move.
Eli pressed against Haruka, trying to ground himself. He wasn’t alone, not anymore. How could he have forgotten?
“Only for now, my love.” The voice from the darkness said mockingly. “Until you give me what I want, you’ll never be whole.”
A sharp pain lanced through his core, and Eli screamed. He tried to cling to Haruka, but his hands passed through him. Before his eyes, Haruka’s form grew indistinct and began to fade away. Eli tried to meet his lover’s eyes, but they were focused on something behind him. Whatever he’d seen, made Haruka look positively murderous.
When the last traces of Haruka were gone, the darkness descended, surrounding Eli and filling him with hundreds of memories—all of them of Haruka. None of them were happy.
Every memory revolved around the two of them, but it didn’t show their lives together, or how they met. It only showed how they parted.
Memory after memory rolled through Eli, and he got to experience each one as though it were happening to him now. At first, it had been stupid misunderstandings that had driven them apart—all orchestrated by the vengeful, jealous god. But as time went on, their memories of each other started to awaken, and the god had to resort to more violent tactics.
