The Elements

Chapter 4

Joseph rubbed his head as Ashley's door slammed across the hall from his, and fell into a sitting position on his bed.

Why do you always do this?

Back out the second any kind of commitment presents itself.

You just had to go and push her away the second you started to want her.

He sat up properly, groaning to himself, and opened his eyes, only to have his heart leap up into his throat.

"Jesus!"

The small girl stood in the corridor staring at him in her pyjamas like a ghost girl. She cocked her head slightly. "Are you alright?"

Joseph sighed as he recognised Luna. She often didn't sleep very well but he knew he'd never get used to seeing her wandering about the hallways.

"I'm fine," he said briskly. He knew he should be nice to her, but he just didn't have the energy. He wanted to sleep, but he had to be up tomorrow morning.

"I heard slamming. And shouting."

Joseph managed to smile at her. "It's fine, Luna. We're all fine."

There was a silence for a minute, but she still didn't leave. He rubbed the back of his head as he rested his elbows on his knees.

"Ashley has missed you," she said suddenly into the silence.

He looked up to her again. Her big brown eyes were the epitome of innocence, but still contained a deepness to them which should have belonged to a much older adult.

"She has?"

Luna nodded. "She asks about you every day." Even though she was only 10, she had a certain wisdom about her. "You need to talk to her properly. Without shouting," she added with a toothy smile.

Joseph half-smiled back at her. "Since when did you become my advisor?"

"Since she knows what she's saying," Cai's voice sounded from behind the door, appearing in the doorway as he spoke. He was wearing a long pair of loose trousers and a tight white top as he bent down to Luna. "Why don't you go up to your bed and I'll bring you a glass of milk?"

Luna nodded obediently and sprinted off back up the corridor. Cai turned back to Joseph with a cold stare. Joseph closed his eyes and braced himself for a verbal, and possibly physical, beating.

"What are you doing?"

Joseph opened his eyes and held Cai's curious, if a little exasperated, gaze, slightly surprised.

"Well that was mild."

Cai shrugged. "It's half 12. I'm not in the mood for attacking you, unless you want me to."

"Surprisingly, it's not top of my list."

Cai stepped into the room and turned on the light, closing the door behind him. Shock flickered across his features as he stared at Joseph's bruised face.

"Looks like someone beat me to it anyway."

Joseph panicked and became defensive. 

"What do you want, Cai?"

"Who did this?" Cai indicated Joseph's face with a long delicate finger.

"It doesn't matter. I don't need your attempt at a pep talk. I can look after myself."

"I'm not either giving or offering to give you a pep talk. I'm just checking that you're alright. You may not have realised, but it's weird to stay out all day and disappear from normal life and come back at midnight with the markings of a fight plastered on your face."

"Well that's lovely that you pretend to give a crap about me," Joseph replied sarcastically. "But you're not my brother, my friend or someone who even pretends to care about me."

"No but Ashley is my friend, and your friend." Cai's voice was hard. "And I don't know about you, but I don't like to see my friends upset."

Joseph sighed, and turned away from Cai towards the window. He didn't need this. "It's none of your business."

A blast of air whacked into the side of his head and Joseph whipped around instantly, springing in the air and landing on the bed as he created a sharp dagger of an icicle in his hand.

"Stop it, Joseph." Cai's voice was raising a little as his anger became evident. "What's going on with you? What are you doing? You're not coming to training like you need to, but you have already learned new things without us." Cai narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Is someone else training you instead?"

"It's none of your business, Cai!" Joseph hissed. "Why are you all so neurotic tonight?"

"No—one's neurotic. We're just worried about you."

"Well you don't need to spend any longer thinking about me, do you? I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, and I don't need some blonde jock protecting me from something I can handle on my own!" Joseph took a firmer grip on the dagger in his rage. "Now, get out of my room."

"Fine," Cai spat, opening the door. He turned around a little as he left, but didn't make eye contact again. "But if you keep hurting Ashley like this, it will become my business. And trust me, you'll be sorry you ever tried to hide this from me."

Cai shut the door quietly, and Joseph sank back onto the bed, his icicle melting into nothing. He was completely shattered. When he had arrived home, the pain was just physical. Now it was physical and emotional.

Why now? What did he do? He can't just stop going to see Julius—Jenia will get hurt. But he can't keep going like this. He have to talk to them. He have to talk to Cale.

Joseph groaned at his own thoughts. Not now. He was too tired... Yes. Right now.

Joseph sighed, but still closed his eyes to the peaceful silence. He decided in his mind that he would get up and go, but something in his body refused and wouldn't move. Everything ached, and everything hurt, even when he breathed. It was only seconds before he was sound asleep.

* * *

Evelyn woke up earlier than she had done for the past month. After deciding that she wanted to head back to school, she set her alarm to go off at 6 instead of 10 like she'd been used to. She felt surprisingly awake, more awake than she had done when she had woken up at 10. But still, she craved her morning coffee even though it was 4 hours early.

The light pouring through the window was weak: the sky was a light pink with dashes of orange and yellow in the morning sunrise. It was beautiful, especially so because Evelyn hadn't seen the sun rise for months. She stood for a minute or two just staring out the window and taking in the natural wonder. It made her feel relaxed and gave her a desire to go outside and just stand in the warm morning breeze.

She turned around and opened the door lazily, yawning a little bit. She stretched her arms above her head as she sauntered down the corridor towards the stairs, her vest rising up and exposing her flat stomach. She peeked through Cai's door on the opposite side of the corridor. The door was open and he wasn't there, which was odd, seeing as he normally enjoyed a lie in as much as she did. The next door was Joseph's: also empty, but that much she expected. Ashley's door was the only door which was still closed as she slept.

Evelyn gracefully slid down the stairs and onto the ground floor. She was heading towards the kitchen, however she stopped just around the corner, concealed by the doorway, as she caught the middle of a conversation between Cai and Gina.

"He was bashed up, Gina," Cai sounded worried as he spoke. "He had bruises everywhere."

"Are you sure they're new? I mean, he came back with you lot looking like he was naturally blue-skinned."

"They're new. I know they're new. There are cuts all over the place—on his face, down his arms, on his neck. Someone's beating him up but he wouldn't tell me who it was. Like he's afraid of something. Or someone."

There was a pause, and Evelyn listened closer. "Maybe I should talk to him." Gina's voice came in a calm and soft wave.

"Good luck with that. I don't know if he'll tell you anything."

Gina scoffed. "Well no offense, but he's more likely to talk to me than you, Cai. We both know that."

In the silence that followed, Evelyn decided that that was her cue to enter. "Morning," she said cheerfully, trying to brighten the mood.

"What's the occasion?" Gina asked.

Evelyn smiled casually. "What?"

"You're never up this early."

"Are you still trying to go to school?" Cai asked. He hadn't been approving of her decision when she'd proposed the idea to him yesterday, and it seemed his attitudes still hadn't changed. But Evelyn was determined.

"I am." She sauntered over to the cupboard and grabbed a packet of crisps from the multi-pack bag.

"Is that wise?"

Evelyn was surprised that Gina asked the question.

"Why's it not?" she asked around a crisp.

"Because someone could recognise you from the Rebel Group, or you could accidently use your powers, or Cale could kidnap you when none of us are there to protect you... etc. etc."

When Cai was finished listing the worst case scenarios, Evelyn finally spoke.

"I can protect myself, Cai. I looked after myself pretty well for the first 16 years of my life without you. And secondly, that won't happen. It's a school. They won't be looking for me at school." As Cai opened his mouth to speak, Evelyn interrupted him. "And you let Joseph go off for the whole bloody day every single day without anyone protecting him. Why's it any different for me?"

"Yeah, Cai," Gina suddenly piped up. "Why's it different for her?" Gina's eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"Because," Cai started as he walked up to Evelyn, stroking her naked hip. "If I lost you, Evelyn I'd be devastated. I just want to check that you'll be safe no matter what. Unlike some people, we can still die even with powers. And I don't ever want to lose you, especially if I'm not there to protect you and fight with everything in me to make sure no-one will harm you."

There was a pause whilst Evelyn and Cai's eyes connected before they were interrupted.

"Smooth," Gina sounded from behind Chris.

A lonely figure walked in through the kitchen door as Cai nuzzled Evelyn's neck. She stopped him briefly as she turned to look.

Ashley looked so small now, as though she'd been shrunk in the wash. Her head was hanging, and she looked exhausted. She ignored the three already in the room as she went to the cupboard and took out a glass, checking it for dirt in the light. As usual, Gina's glass was sparkling clean.

"Are you alright, Ashley?" Gina asked before Evelyn could say anything.

Ashley said nothing in response, just nodded as she filled up the tap. She didn't even bother looking back to acknowledge the rest of them.

Evelyn focussed her eyes on Ashley's body and immediately spotted the difference. Her left wrist was lined with scars. No, not scars... cuts. Long red cuts in a line down her arm.

"Ashley?" Evelyn asked, feeling a pang of worry blossom in her stomach.

Still nothing. Ashley took her glass and wandered back out of the kitchen like a ghost with the world sitting on her shoulders. As soon as she was gone, she turned to Gina.

"We have to do something about her. Why is she suddenly so much worse?"

"Last night..." Cai said quietly, glancing back to the doorway to check that Ashley had really gone. "Joseph and Ashley had an argument. It was what woke me and Luna up."

"How bad?" Gina asked.

Cai shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't hear most of it. He seemed to guilt trip her into feeling sympathetic for him though, that much I got from the end of it."

"God, what is he doing?" Gina asked the rhetorical question with a hint of anger in her voice.

"She needs help. Did you see her arm?" Gina said nothing to Evelyn's comment but continued to stare worriedly at them.

Cai looked confused.

"No, what was wrong with her?"

Evelyn's face turned dark. "Cuts. Up her arm. I didn't realise she was a depressant."

Gina nodded. "I noticed her scars when she first arrived." She paused to think. "She's been like this for a while, but she doesn't want any help. She thinks feelings are for wimps. She won't admit she's feeling upset or angry or both, so she takes it out on herself. I think she feels guilty for feeling anything."

"That's stupid." Evelyn had always thought feelings and emotions were what drove a person, what made them able to make decisions and choices. You can't just block them out and be done with it. They were a natural part of life.

"It's not stupid. It's just how she thinks. It's not her fault, but we mustn't bring this up with anyone else, especially not Joseph."

"But if we tell Joseph, maybe he'll come back for her?" Evelyn suggested.

Gina shut her down.

"No. It'll only embarrass her and irritate him. Just... I'll try and talk to her. Meanwhile you two: Evelyn if you seriously think it's a good idea to get to school, you've got about half an hour, and Cai, could you tidy the living room please: I've got Ren coming today and you know how OCD her parents are, so it needs to be spotless." When neither of them moved, Gina rolled her eyes. "Today, would be preferable, Cai."

"Yes, ma'am!" Cai mocked her, and she punched him gently as he walked past her.

Just as Evelyn turned the corner into the corridor, Cai brushed her shoulder with his fingers, and she turned around to him. She was already smiling, expecting him to kiss her or tell her she was beautiful, but instead she was met with a serious and concerned face.

"What?" she asked quietly.

He took a step closer to her, his voice coming in a whisper. "Have you seen Joseph this morning?"

Evelyn shook her head slowly, contemplating why it was such a big deal for him to have left today. "No, but then that's normal, isn't it?" Cai didn't say anything for a minute or two, but started to bite his lip. "Why," Evelyn continued, sensing the severity of Cai's tone, "what's wrong?"

He looked as though he was about to say something, when he stopped himself, and pulled a very unconvincing smile at her. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Cai..." Evelyn trailed off as Cai strode past her and bounded up the stairs. She thought it weird that he was in such a hurry and such a panic about Joseph, of all people. He never seemed to care much about him before this moment. Maybe he'd just had a change of heart.

Evelyn sauntered back up the stairs and into her room again, glancing briefly into Joseph's room. There was nothing odd about it: the duvet was still strewn untidily across the bed, and the chair was about a mile away from the desk, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary state of Joseph's room.

She closed the door to her room as she entered it, and opened her wardrobe. She'd unpacked her stuff a long while ago, but she hadn't actually managed to wear much from it since she'd either been training or slouching around in her pyjamas. But today, she was going to school, so she could pick anything she wanted.

Just as she stripped off her pyjama vest, she heard footsteps storming down the corridor, leaping down the stairs, and then the click of the lock on the front door as it closed.