Chapter 3 - Netiquette

November/26th/2022

Alshep

"That's the last of them," says Daath as he puts away his sword.

The result screen appears before me and I dismiss it without looking. I'm too tired to give a damn. I sheathe my sword and sit on the grass.

"I just reached level eight," says Elina.

"Good for you," I say as I lay on my back.

She gives me her usual pouty face and sits next to me. The sky is starting to break red from the sunset and I close my eyes for a brief moment. Wind brushes by and I can feel the grass move around me. It's sickening, I'm starting to get sick of it. Actually I'm already fed up with everything.

"Don't you think this blows?" I mutter.

"Hmm, what does?" Elina asks.

"You know, the wind, the grass, the sun. It's starting to feel…off. I don't know how to explain it," I reply.

I hear Daath sigh as he gets closer to us.

"Goddammit man, I thought we were done talking about this," he says.

"Well I'm bringing the topic back. Why does it all just feel weird?"

Elina sighs as well and holds her legs close to her. We talked about this a few days back in the inn we are staying at in Tolbana. Sword Art Online is a game after all, however detailed it may be I can't get accustomed to it as my reality. It bothers me greatly. Whatever I found exciting and amusing about Sword Art Online at first I know find disturbing and weird. As far as I know my body is lying on a bed somewhere. I am perhaps being fed someway, haven't felt hunger or thirst since a little after the second day. Yet I want to eat, I want to drink, and I want to take a bath.

The NerveGear stimulates the senses, this means I can taste, feel, smell, hear, and see. I can taste food but, it's not going to my belly it's not feeling me up as it should. I just get that brief moment of glee when my taste buds are stimulated. I can drink water but it only does the same as food. Don't get me started on baths or showers. Daath explained last week when Elina wanted to take a bath that the only problem with the NerveGear and Sword Art Online have with water is its accuracy when trying to replicate the feeling of it. It turns out weird. Elina explained a feeling different to mine, but I just felt as if I submerged myself on some gooey liquid. Hence, I have not bathed or taken a shower since then. It's not like I smell or anything, thankfully the game doesn't really give me any body odor.

"It feels weird because you keep reminding us it feels weird," he says.

I shut my mouth up and open my menu. My sword is losing durability as well as my upper armor. I have enough Col to either buy new armor or repair the current one. I haven't gotten too interested in enhancements since I really don't know how they work and I don't know any blacksmiths.

"He doesn't have to remind us it feels weird for it to feel…weird," Elina mumbles.

"Great, now you got her all mellow again," Daath grunts.

"It's not his fault…" she says.

I sit up and look around as the sun starts to hide completely. It's almost time to start heading back to the inn. We've come up with a little routine in the last days. It consists of: Waking up, if you even had the luck of falling asleep that is. Then meeting in the first floor of the inn for breakfast, which is also optional. Elina always has something to eat, Daath has bread once in a while and I recently just started skipping meals completely. It's not like I feel hungry anyways. I've also recently become a more bitter man than I already was. I have been asked several times to tone down my sarcasm and to try to be a little friendlier to Elina. I have nothing against her, she is nice to me and I'm just nice to her in my own way. Daath would surely kick me out of the group if I showed him how I treat people I don't care about. After breakfast we go out to hunt a little, it keeps our senses keen and trained, but it gets a little boring after a while. Later on we tackle some quests or just go exploring to see if there's something we've missed in the last week or so. If we find nothing else to do for the rest of the day we go around town. We actually just walk and talk till the day breaks. It is then, back to the inn. Rinse and repeat.

I get on my feet and stretch my arms. Elina gets up as well and looks at Daath and then she looks at me for a few seconds. She does this whenever she wants to say something. I little habit of hers I've picked up on.

"Is it ok if we hunt a little longer?" she asks.

"Huh? Why? You usually just want to head back to the inn," I say.

"Well, I…I don't want to sleep," she says in a low voice.

"Great job, idiot," Daath says to me.

"No no…It's not his fault. I just haven't got used to it. It just doesn't feel right. The sheets and the pillows I hate them. I don't like it," she adds.

Is it just that? Really? I haven't been able to sleep some nights but, it isn't because of the bed. It's just because when we go to bed that I start thinking about what the hell is going on with my body in the real world.

"Fine fine, we can hunt a little more," says Daath as he starts walking more into the forest.

I start following him when I feel Elina tugging my arm.

"Please, don't get him grumpy," she whispers.

"Sorry, I can't help but to voice what I feel sometimes."

She starts walking and we both match a slow pace to follow Daath from a few feet away.

"I know, I've noticed, and you are a little rude sometimes too. It's just that if he gets grumpy, then you get grumpy and then I just get caught up in the middle of it. I don't like it," she says.

That makes me feel bad and I scratch my head as I nod. Apparently I do have to seriously start watching how I talk.

"You know, you are like a big…little sister, if that makes any sense," I say as I pat her head.

I can't help but to think of what she said earlier about the bed and just go ahead and ask what I got in mind.

"What's the real reason you don't want to go to sleep?"

She looks at her feet and we walk silently for a few seconds.

"Well?" I pressure.

"I find it hard, it's impossible for me to sleep unless I'm exhausted. Otherwise I just stay up all night thinking. It's scary sleeping in this world."

Damn, I should really learn when to shut up.

"There's a pack of wolves up ahead," Daath says.

I take out my sword and pat Elina on her head again.

"I'm sorry, I don't like it either. I don't like anything about this world right now, but it's where we live in right now. I'll make an effort…if you do so too," I say.

She smiles at me and takes out her shield and sword.

"Ok," she says in a cheery tune.

We start running to Daath and go past him with our weapons ready. Taking on wolves has become something trivial. Insects, worms and some of the enemies deeper into the forest are the ones that give us a tough time now. I remember the first day a little pack of wolves was enough to almost get us killed. I myself have had about two near death encounters so far. One against a bunch of wolfs that took us by surprise and another when I accidentally attacked a Little Nepent with a fruit on its head. Daath was more than right, it is deadly to do so. It attracts a massive group of the things and it nearly got us killed. That night was also when Elina had a bit of nervous breakdown. She didn't stop crying and kept begging for her mom. Thankfully that was just a minor bump in the road and we were able to move on rather quickly.

I strike a wolf and kill it with a single attack, another one jumps at me, but I slice it up before it even gets the chance to touch me. Elina has gotten a liking to hitting with her shield and then attacking her enemy with quick swipes of her sword. She has shown a strong defense in the past days and it made me consider trying a shield. I found myself not being good with coordination so I have postponed that, indefinitely.

"This is getting too easy," I say while striking the last wolf near me.

"Don't get too cocky. You never know when we might get overwhelmed," says Daath as he kicks a wolf out of the way.

"Why do you two like kicking and hitting so much? Don't your swords do enough damage?" I say as I put my blade away.

"I find it useful, versatile, and don't want to only have to rely in my sword in the worst case scenario," he replies.

"My shield is actually part of my weapons, I think it's just second nature to use it," says Elina.

I scratch my head. I don't even know if hitting is a skill. I know the sword is one by default, one handed or two handed, whichever the player chooses to use, but hitting? I just find it unnecessarily dangerous.

"Anyways, let's keep at this for a while longer. We can head to town afterwards," I say.

After one or two hours give or take, we start heading back to Tolbana in pitch black darkness. The town seems lively tonight. Tolbana was a ghost town just a few days ago. Only a handful of players which we later found out were mostly beta testers were there. Other players had just recently started to arrive a few days ago. If it wasn't because of Daath practically being our mentor, my guess is that Elina and I might just be arriving here as well.

"You forgot the lamp," I huff.

"I'm…I'm sorry we left in a hurry today," says a little girl clinging to my arm.

"We agreed assigning the lamp to you would make this…issue, pop up less often," Daath says.

"Now even you are picking on me?" she says.

Daath laughs a little and apologizes.

"You are rather clumsy though, there's no denying that," I tease.

"I…I…I just get nervous…th-that's all!"

"And yo-you stutter a whole lo-lot too," says Daath.

"Woah, leave the teasing to me," I interrupt.

He laughs and then I do too as we enter the town. New players arrive with us and wonder around as we head to the inn.

"A lot of people are starting to get here," Daath sighs, "It's going to get troublesome soon…"

"Why would it?" I ask.

"More people usually means more problems. That's just how it goes," He responds.

"Ok, seriously. Leave the being negative part to me, that's all I've got after you took teasing away from me just now," I joke.

He sighs and gets his serious face going. Slightly tipped eyebrows, his mouth closed tight, his eyes barely moving, not even blinking.

"I mean it, if we don't clear this floor soon it'll just get crowded."

"Well what do you expect? They haven't even found the door for the boss, and we don't even go near that maze," I say.

He sighs again and continues walking.

"He's been…very quiet lately…" Elina whispers to me.

I nod. Perhaps something is bothering him but, if something I've learned from the past weeks is that he isn't usually the type to open up and say what's bothering him.

"Let's try to get him to talk tonight," I whisper back.

"Ok. You are going to eat something, no?" she says.

I huff and shake my head quickly as she looks at me.

"Come on! You promised to make an effort," she whines.

I need to learn to keep my damn mouth shut. I take my last few steps into the inn and sit down on the nearest table. The place is filled with people sitting at other tables, there's that chattering noise that I remember from food courts in real life in the background.

"Fine, get me something along with your food."

She giggles and wonders off towards the inn keeper. Daath slowly sits down in-front of me and slumps over the table.

"What is it with you lately?" I say while poking his head.

"Ahh…I don't know…" he grunts.

"Is something bothering you?"

He shakes his head and puts his hand over his head to stop my poking.

"How many people do you think have died?" he says out of the blue.

I cough and clear my throat. So that's what he is thinking about.

Death.

"Three hundred, four hundred, give or take," I mutter.

"How the fuck can you say that with a straight face?" he comes back.

"Look, as long as it's not us," I say.

He looks at me for a few seconds and then reaches for my shirt's collar to pull me close to him. People in the inn suddenly go silent and start looking at us.

"Did you forget about Charles?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" he yells.

"Don't you even dare to think that for a second," I say as I push him away, "Charles was my friend, I knew him from real life. I went to school with him, but now he is dead! Dead! What do you want me to do about it?!"

He slumps down on his seat and avoids looking at me.

"I don't know what happened to you these past days. You've been acting really weird, man, but if mortality is what's worrying you, I see no point in focusing in it if we are still alive," I say, "and it's all…thanks to you…dumbass."

He lifts his head and looks at me, he gives me a smirk. I smile to myself and sit down.

"Oh you are so full of yourse-" I say before getting interrupted.

"Hey, thanks," he says briefly.

"Yeah, whatever."

A blushing Elina walks over to us with a tray.

"Geez you two sure know how to make a scene…"

Daath and I apologize in unison. She sets the tray with three bowls on the table and gives me and Daath what appears to be some kind of stew.

"I didn't ask you for food," Daath says.

"I know but you are going to eat tonight because I say so," Elina says quickly.

Daath appears surprised and looks at his bowl as Elina starts to eat. He then looks at me with a confused frown, I can't help but laugh a bit.

"Yeah haha, you better listen to her Daath," I say while laughing.

"Oh, and you too mister," she says as she puts a spoonful of stew in my mouth.

Daath starts laughing loud and hard like a hyena and Elina joins him. Embarrassed by a little girl I hide my face as I swallow the food. We continue our little late dinner and have a lively chat through the rest of the night. Before we know it its well past midnight and we are still talking in the inn's tables. Only a couple of people are nearby but thankfully they mind their own business.

"Hmm…what would you say is the thing you miss the most of the real world?" I ask.

We have gotten to a point during the dinner where we started talking about our lives back in reality. We didn't go too much into personal stuff nor names, but we did get to find out some of each other's likes and dislikes. Thankfully the question I ask didn't really poke any wounds.

"I think…my doggies," says Elina, "What about you?"

"Well, I think I'll have to say music. I don't know why the musicians here just won't play something a little more upbeat. Don't even get me started on the field's background music," I reply, "What about you, Daath?"

"Hmm…what do I miss the most?" he repeats.

"Yeah, I believe that's what we asked," I say teasingly.

"You promise you won't laugh?" he asks.

Both Elina and I nod, anxious for an answer.

"Well, that sensation you got when you peed," he says.

Haha…wow.

"Nastyyy," Elina says while sticking out her tongue.

I start laughing and hit the table a few times.

"That is so true though," I say and keep laughing.

"Aww come on, you can't say you don't miss that, Eli," says Daath as he pokes her sides.

Elina starts giggling and tries to push Daath away.

"Well, just a bit hehe," she admits.

I smile and sit back a little while I have sip of water. These are the kind of moments that really make me happy in here. They make me forget that I'm trapped, these moments are the ones worth surviving for. The conversation keeps going for a while longer, so much that I lose track of time. Daath goes to his room but I decide to stay and talk with Elina some more.

"I've been wondering for a while now but, I never knew how to ask," she says softly.

"Hmm? What is it?" I reply.

"How old are you? You seem to be kind of as old as my sister."

"Well I'm sixteen, I'm turning seventeen in just a few days actually. If my memory serves me right that is."

Saying that suddenly makes me a little sad and I look at my empty mug of water. I won't be celebrating my birthday it seems. Unpleasant thoughts of the real world come to mind and I sulk a little.

"Why didn't you mention that earlier?!" she says after taking a bite out of some bread.

"It just didn't seem…important I guess," I grumble.

She gives me a somewhat stern look and finishes eating her bread.

"Mine…was three days ago."

I widen my eyes in surprise, out of the three of us I thought she would be the only one to never keep something a secret. I thought she would be the one to just say important things like that.

"And here you are getting upset that I didn't tell you," I mutter.

She looks down at the table and then to me, she laughs without meaning it and her smile turns to a small frown.

"I'm fourteen now."

I get up and grab her arm to pull her along with me. She trips a little, but quickly matches my speed. I exit the inn and head a little into town to find an equipment shop.

"Hey, what are you doing? Where are we going?" she says, trying to get my hand off her arm.

"Hey, don't fight. I'm trying to do something nice for once," I say while I keep pulling her.

She stops fighting and just follows me at a brisk pace. Arriving at the shop I quickly open the vendor's menu. Elina stands idle behind me, fidgeting around a little.

"Al, seriously, what are you doing?"

"You use short swords no? I interrupt, "and shields right?"

She nods slowly and I get my attention back to the shop's menu.

-Vorpal Short sword: 1235Col-
-Azure Buckler: 1056Col-
-Total: 2291Col-
-Buy- -Cancel-

It isn't a cheap price, but I think it is ok given the reason. I buy the equipment and select it out of my inventory to give it to Elina. She takes the sword and shield from my hands and looks straight me.

"F-for me? Really?" she says with a blushing face.

"Happy belated birthday Elina," I say while smiling.

She equips her gifts and gives the sliver blade a few swings, the blue-ish buckler looks nice and has a really nice circular shape. I just now notice, but the sword has what looks like carvings on the sides. It makes it look great and gives a "legendary" feeling to it. Elina is smiling and giggling while trying out her new gear in the middle of the early morning. Something on the distance catches my eye, a shadowy figure running towards us. I quick look above it and I was able to see an orange cursor over its head.

An orange cursor only means bad things. Daath told us orange cursors are given to players that commit infractions, these being: Stealing, PK-ing or hurting a player outside of a safe area.

"Come here," I say as I pull Eli close to me and hide with her on the alley nearby.

A heaving man runs through the streets, but trips as it gets near where we were standing close to the shop. We see the man fall down and Elina gasps. I quickly put my hand over her mouth to avoid any other sound coming out of her.

"Shush," I whisper.

"There he is! Get him!" a voice down the street says.

Two guys and a girl dressed completely in white come running from behind the fallen man. They violently take a hold of him while he tries to get up.

"We got him Klaus!" shouts the girl.

After the girl says that a man in a fancy white attire and red hair steps into our line of vision. I can't help to notice his cursor is the only green out of the four people standing in the street.

"Good, take him outside of town. Teach him to never steal from the White Snakes again," he orders.

Elina gets my hand off her mouth and breathes in deeply.

"You have to do something Al," she says.

"It's not my problem, for all I know that guy they are holding is no better than them."

She pushes me deeper into the alley and pouts.

"If you are not going to do something about it, I will."

Dammit Elina. I sigh and grunt loudly as I put her behind me. I take a deep breath and step into the street. I clear my throat loudly and get their attention.

"What are you looking at?" says the girl.

"Four scumbags," I say.

I have to seriously start thinking before words start coming out of my mouth.

"What did you just say?" says one of the guys.

"Did I stutter?"

The man dressed fancily in the middle starts to laugh and walks past his minions to take a look at me.

"Do you want to get yourself hurt or what?" he yells.

Elina comes out of the alley and stands behind me, I see other people coming up the street on my left. They stand a few feet away, looking curiously at what's happening.

"Leave that guy alone," I yell back.

The man dressed in white smirks at me and walks closer.

"Are you seriously going to risk your life for a man you don't even know? This guy stole from us, it's only natural for us to carry out punishment," he explains.

I turn to Elina and make sure she understands this is her fault with a frown. She steps back a little and I can hear her say sorry. I wave my hand trying to say it's ok as I look in front of me.

"I don't give two shits about what that guy did, but you are not going to hurt him," I say as I get closer to the red haired man.

More people start coming out of the inns and pile on the sides and ends of the street. This might actually help me, a crowd might scare this sassy asshole away.

"It looks like we've got a crowd!" he says, "what do you say if I teach them and you not to mess with the White Snakes!"

Well there goes plan B. Thankfully I'm just the kind of guy who doesn't mind getting into a fight.

"Great, that will just make it that much more satisfying when I kick your teeth in," I reply.

People around us start to talk and mutter to each other.

"Are they really going to fight? In the middle of town?"

The apparent leader of the White Snakes makes a disgusted frown and takes out his sword. He places a red looking sword with a jagged blade in-front of him. As soon as he gets on a stance I receive a duel confirmation. The type of duel reads "Half Loss Mode".

"You and me chubby man! First to lose half of their HP loses!" he growls.

"Fine by me flame head," I say as I confirm the duel.

"The name is Klaus," he says.

"I couldn't give a rat's ass."

A timer with sixty seconds appear on top of us along with our names separated by the letters "VS".

-Klaus VS Alshep-

"I never meant for you to go this far! Even in this kind of duel you can die!" Elina cries behind me.

As the timer clocks down I turn around put my hand on her shoulder trying to reassure her.

"This is me doing something," I say softly.

She looks at me and nods as I reach for my sword. I unsheathe it slowly, trying to take advantage of every intimidation technique I've ever heard of.

-10-
-9-
-8-

The others player around are literal bystanders, no one says anything nor does anything to stop this. This kind of disgusts me and angers me greatly. I recall just minutes ago I was doing the same, but it's different when there's just one person as to when there are about twenty.

-3-
-2-
-1-

Klaus lets out a battle cry and starts running towards me. Thanks to the amazing teachings from Daath himself I remember something he did a couple of days ago when fighting some worms near the forest. As Klaus gets closer I sheathe my sword quickly. Everyone gasps around me and Klaus just gives me a shit eating grin. When he is about two feet away from me I kick dirt up from the floor to mess with his eyes. As soon as he closes his eyes from the dirt I step forwards and punch him straight in the face, knocking him to the ground. The feeling of punching is new, I never tried it before, but it sends a satisfying wave of pleasure up my spine.

People gasp and cheer accordingly as I stand unscathed above him. That didn't do much damage to his hit points but I'm sure his self-esteem is way below zero right now. He grunts on the floor and tries to get up, but I place my boot on his chest as I take out my sword.

"Please. You can end it here, Klaus," I say.

He growls and moves under my boot trying to reach for his sword that landed just a few inches away from his hand. I slowly bring the end of my blade to his throat.

"Don't let this turn ugly, give up the duel."

He tries to free himself for a while longer and finally realizes it won't get him anywhere. With anger he brings up a screen and gives up the duel with a click.

-Winner: Alshep!-

People start screaming and cheering as they start to get close to me. I sheathe my weapon and feel as Elina hugs me from behind. Klaus gets on his feet and avoids looking my way. The man that was being held breaks free and starts running in the opposite direction of Klaus's minions. With a big smile he runs towards me and hugs me wildly.

"Thank you so much, damn if it wasn't cause you showed up. I could be dead right now," he says as he lets go.

"That was amazing Al!" Elina says.

I smile calmly and look as Klaus disappears into town with his partners. I reach for the orange cursor player's arm and shake him.

"Don't steal from groups idiot, not again. You might not get lucky next time," I scold.

He nods quickly about eight times and smiles before running away jumping in glee. I turn to Elina in the midst of the cheering crowd and smile as she does the same. I start making my way through the crowd with her when I receive a message.

From: Daath
To: Alshep
Subject:-
Message: Nicely done, quite the show.

I look at the inn from afar and see Daath peeking out the window with his thumb up in the air. I give him a thumbs up too and walk towards the building with Elina. We make our way in and head for the stairs to get up to our rooms.

"Th…thank you Al," she says shyly.

I turn around as I'm about to reach the door to my room.

"It's ok, no need to thank me," I say.

"No, really. I mean it, thanks for everything today," she says with a big smile, "I'm sure I'll be able to sleep well tonight."

Hearing her say that makes me happy I did what I did.

"I'm glad to hear that," I say as I open my door, "You know where to find me if you need anything," I add as I walk in.

Before closing my door I see her blush and nod at me.

"See you tomorrow! Good night!" she says as she disappears into the hallway.

I close the door and sit on my bed. I take out my sword and quickly examine it. Its durability and sharpness reached a dangerous low after we were out hunting all the evening. If I had used it in the duel I would've fought with a dull blade on its breaking point. I change my clothes to something less heavy and lay on my back while letting out a big sigh. Talking about cutting it close. I'm about to rest my eyes when I hear a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" I ask.

"It's…uh…It's me, Elina," says the voice behind the door.

I get up and open the door to see her with a pillow under her arm, wearing pajamas in front of me.

"Nice PJs," I tease, "can't sleep?" I say while yawning a little.

She nods and covers her mouth with her pillow.

"Alright, come in."

She enters quickly and goes straight to my bed, I pull a chair from near the window to have a place to sit down on. She has been visiting my room to talk some days now. I don't mind it, it helps her get tired and then she falls asleep. Then I also fall asleep, she is...soothing, in a way.

"So what do you want to talk about today?" I ask while sitting down.

She lies down on her belly and puts her pillow under her elbows.

"Do you really…absolutely hate this world?"

"Of course I do, as of now it's just a prison. I would do anything to get out now," I say.

"Would you…kill yourself?" she says with a straight face.

"What?" I ask dumbfounded.

What the hell is she talking about? Why did she get so serious just now? She avoids my question and starts speaking.

"You know, back in the real word. I would say something like what you just said about this one," she says, "this world as of now is just a prison. I would do anything to get out."

"Wait…are you saying…did you try to kill yourself back in the real world?" I ask scared.

"Several times."

I suddenly feel heavy and uncomfortable, I feel a huge knot in my throat. A feeling of dryness plagues my mouth and I just sit there silently.

"In here, I can walk, run, and jump whenever I want," she continues, "I have freedom I don't have in the real world."

"What are you talking about?" I say after clearing my throat, to no avail she keeps talking while ignoring my question.

"I don't exactly hate this world. Of course I fear I might die, but, I also fear I might have to go back to the real world."

I million thoughts go through my head, coming to think of it I know little about her in the real world. Likes and dislikes can only tell you so much about someone. As far as I know a significant aspect of her is that she owns dogs.

"You are not making any sense now…" I say in a low voice.

She ignores me again and keeps on rambling.

"Here...here I can do whatever I want whenever I want! I don't have restrictions or limitations. I'm someone entirely different from who I am in the real world," she says enthusiastically.

I try looking at something other than her for a second, but for some reason I just can't get my eyes off her serious expression.

"I'm afraid of having to go back to my damaged self…in the real world," she says as her voice tones down.

"Damaged?" I ask naively.

"Here I'm not pathetic. Here I can do anything," she says.

I finally snap and raise my voice.

"Can you get to the fucking point please?!" I say harshly.

She shows a scared face for a second and looks away quickly. I feel like slapping myself across the face for snapping like that.

"I can't move from the waist down back there," she murmurs.

I feel as if something takes the air away from me and it suddenly becomes hard to breathe. Watch your damned mouth. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

"Why tell me this…why tell me this now?" I grunt.

She gets up slowly with teary eyes and starts walking around in a little circle with her hands close to her chest.

"Just recently…I felt like I could really trust you," she mutters, "I feel like I could trust you with anything now."

I move around a little in my seat and place my hand on my neck as I feel the uncomfortable knot in my throat become tighter.

"How…how did it happen…?" I question.

She stops moving and stares right at her feet. I should just probably consider never speaking again to avoid these kind of moments.

"Do you…really want to know?" she replies with a drowned out voice.

In my stupidity and complete lack of empathy or respect I nod.

"A drunk driver crashed against us when my father and I were going back home from visiting some family. My father died and ended up bound to a chair… My sister was away with my mother that day…thankfully," she says slowly as she sits down on the bed again.

I can see her crying now and she starts sobbing after a few seconds.

"I…I didn't want you or…or Daath thinking lowly of me..or any-"

I find myself hugging Elina close as she starts to cry a little harder in my arms. I pat her back and wait for a few moments as she keeps letting everything out. In the midst of it I can't help but to feel my eyes water up a bit.

"I would never, think that way of you. You are a strong girl Elina. A very strong girl," I say gently next to her ear.

She buries her face in my chest and keeps crying for a little longer. She slowly stops and I can only hear her sob a little.

"Does Daath know?" I can't help to ask.

"No," she says.

I nod and stop hugging her. She does the same and steps back a little to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Can I…sleep here tonight?" she asks in a simple question, but her whole expression looks more like begging to me.

"Yes, you can," I say.

She nods and gets into bed.

"Good night, Al," she says with a smile.

I get on my feet and press my head against the frame of the window. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I've never been good in opening to people. I've always been cautious about how I relate to them too. I didn't know how to react to this. Was it bad that I cried? Will she hate me because I showed pity? I hope I reacted the way she was expecting me to. For a brief moment I look back at a sleeping Elina. I smile and turn to the window again. It seems I won't be sleeping again tonight. I sit on the chair and stretch a little.

"What a crazy day," I say to myself.

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

This chapter has been updated as of July/27/2016

Dark dark secrets people, Elina's character is an interesting one, I'll tell you that much.

If you are new to this story, and you liked what you just read please leave a review!

Thank you for reading!

Next Chapter: "Secrets"