Page 130 of Psync
And somehow, it was always Eli who was stolen, murdered, or brutalized, usually right in front of Haruka. As the nightmare slideshow of events began to come to an end, Eli recognized a pattern.
More often than not, Eli was driven to kill himself.
The god must have finally found a formula that suited him. Time after time, life after life, Eli was the one who’d torn them apart.
The last thing Eli remembered thinking before succumbing to oblivion was, so it wasn’t just me. Something really is out to get me.
Chapter Forty-One
Eli
His head was pounding up a storm when Eli finally managed to pry himself out of bed. Eli bit his lip when he realized Haruka was gone. He stroked the cold sheets next to him and found a note.
At a meeting. Back soon. Eat something when you wake up.
~Haruka
Eli rubbed his head furiously. It seemed like he saw Haruka even less than he did when they were in school. It may have only felt that way because Eli had nothing to do here.
He should remedy that.
Eli brushed his teeth and washed his face roughly, trying to get last night’s dream out of his head. It was the first time he’d had a nightmare while sleeping next to Haruka.
Coffee. He needed coffee in order to deal with the odd thoughts his brain was throwing at him. But not the gourmet stuff stocked in the fancy-schmancy kitchen neither of them used. Eli wanted to go out and explore.
He rode the elevator down the bajillion or so floors and spent the entire time telling himself that dreams and reality were two entirely different things.
Reading fairytales before bed was a great way to give a person nightmares.
Eli reached the first floor and waved to the receptionist on his way to the door. When he got there, he skidded to a halt. In front of him were two burly security guards blocking his path.
“Um . . . hi?” Eli’s fingers crawled inside his sleeves.
“Please forgive us, sir.” Both guards bowed to him, but neither moved out of the way.
Eli backed up a step. Maybe there was construction outside? “Is there something wrong?”
Once again, all the guards would say was, “Please forgive us.”
“Okayyyy.” Eli turned around and went back the way he came.
There was more than one exit, after all. He didn’t relish going through the busy parking garage, but he was sure he could dodge any incoming cars if he had to.
Except his key card wouldn’t give him access to the garage.
His blood-to-caffeine ratio was not sufficient enough for him to deal with this. He went up two floors, tried the other entrance, and got the same treatment.
“We are very sorry, sir. Please forgive us.”
Same for the worker’s access tunnel and the emergency exits.
Eli pulled out his phone.
Eli:What the fuck did you do?
There was no response.
Eli walked up to the closest pair of security guards. “Excuse me—yes, I know you’re very sorry, I got them memo.” Eli pinched the bridge of his nose. “Haruka put you up to this, didn’t he? No, don’t deny it, the look of terror is more than enough.”
