Only Place I Call Home Chapter Five

A/N: So JDDCdancer1497 kind of went M.I.A so i decided to finish this. It may not be very good concidering it has been a while since I have worked on this, and this time I was alone. Hopefully she was get back to me soon so we can see if we are finishing this or if it might be the end.

Anyways, Enjoy!

Clare's POV

"Care to explain what the fuck this is?" I demanded as I shoved the missing persons report in Eli's face. I wasn't even inside his house yet; I just couldn't wait any longer. I needed to know what the fuck is going on. Maybe the paper is a joke. Maybe it's someone messing with him – with me. But when I looked at Eli I knew that this was no joke.

Eli looked as if he wasn't breathing – as if he couldn't. My face softened when my eyes took notice of his shaking hands and his pale face. His eyes were locked on the paper, and with one glance at his expression I knew he was also desperately hoping that this was a joke.

Then, his expression changed.

Eli's jaw locked, his eyes darkening before darting to mine, and I knew we were about to have a conversation that neither of us wanted to have. Gripping my arm, he yanked me inside his house before shutting the door behind me and locking it. I turned to face him, cautiously stepping back a few steps.

Eli spun around to face me, his footsteps heavy as he stepped towards me. He gripped the piece of paper in his hand before holding it up in front of my face, asking, "Where did you find this?"

Although he did very well at pushing away his insecurities and replacing it with anger I could detect fear in his eyes. Something wasn't right here.

I pushed his hand out of my face, "It was on my schools bulletin board. Is it real?" Eli's hand slid up to his hair and through it, pulling at the dark strands. Breathing deeply, he nodded. I closed my eyes for a moment, unable to believe what was going on. "What the fuck is going on Eli? It says you're missing!"

"I know what it fucking says, Clare!" Eli yelled at me, his eyes bulging. I stepped back slightly, seeing the vein in his neck throbbing.

I was angry.

He was furious.

I was trying to calm down.

He was breathing heavily.

I was confused.

He had secrets.

"What's going on Eli? What are you not telling me?" I asked calmingly, watching his boots thud against the floor as he paced back and forth in front of me. His face held a mixture of emotions – anger, pain… fear.

"A lot," he confessed.

I brought my pointer finger to my forehead; I was getting a headache, right behind my right eyebrow. Sighing and closing my eyes, I rubbed the throbbing area, hoping it would release some of the pressure.

"What are you not telling me?" I repeated, unsatisfied with his first answer. We may have not known each other for very long but if this friendship was going to work, I needed to trust him. And this sure as hell isn't helping.

Eli sighed and, lifting his head, looked at me.

"You know, you never asked where my parents are," he stated.

I crossed my arms, "Figured it wasn't any of my business."

Because it isn't.

"Well, there's a reason why they're never here," he stated softly.

"And that is?" I questioned, watching as he leaned his body against a nearby wall.

"They're dead."

I froze. My eyes fluttered closed and my stomach dropped. I bowed my head as I fell against the wall across from him, feeling horrible for having him to tell me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I don't need your pity," he spat and I opened my eyes. Sighing, he said, "You've got two choices, Clare. You can either, one: stay and listen to the fucked up story of my life or two: you can leave now and we can move on with our lives as if this never happened."

There's a voice in the back of my head telling me to choose option number two, because it's the logical thing to do; I don't know much about this boy and for all I know he could some psychotic bastard who wants to kidnap me and torture me until my parent's give him money. But I know that's not the case.

On the other hand Eli had been very nice towards me; he had let me use his own home as an escape. He understood how I felt and helped me when I needed it. So far, he's given me every reason to trust him. And honestly, I don't think I'd be able to walk out on him even if I wanted to – not in a moment like this.

There's something about him that I can't quite figure out – but I want to.

"I'll stay," I whispered, taking a step forward.

Eli's posture straightened and he looked at me with bewilderment. For a moment he just stood there and stared at me, his eyebrows rising in confusion and shock.

"Why?" he asked finally.

"Because… you're interesting and you're different and I like that," I replied softly, my eyes moving up to meet his. I caught the way his top lips twitched and I stepped forward once again, looking at him with tenderness. "But you're also very lonely and I am, too, and I figure, why not be lonely together?"

He eyed me curiously and tilted his head to the side. "You're a strange one, Clare. But I'll admit – I kind of like it."

His face was serious and I didn't know if I should laugh or be scared for my life. So instead I grabbed the paper from his hand and held it in my own.

"Start explaining," I said.

Eli took a sharp breath, letting it out slowly.

"I never really knew my parent's. I was two when they passed; car accident," he explained, and I sat down on one of his chairs. "I was put in foster care after that."

"There were no other family members to take you in? What about adoption agencies?" I asked and then coward away when he looked at me. I was being too pushy.

Eli opened his mouth to speak but paused, his eyes on me though his mind was somewhere else. Finally, he said, "My Uncle had taken me in. Around the age of six I had found out that I enjoyed getting into trouble – and it happened often. I wouldn't listen when I was told to do something or I'd talk back all the time – my Uncle didn't like that. So he decided to take it into his own hands and punish me. Abuse me."

I brought my hand up to my lips and breathed slowly. I had to refrain myself from speaking up – I wanted to let him finished before I said anything.

"It went on for quite a while. The older I got the worse it would be. My teachers started to notice and by the age of seven I was put in foster care." Eli laughed in self-pity, "But with my luck, thing's didn't get any better. They didn't like me there, either."

He paused, his eyes glued to the floor. I watched as he fiddled with his hands, waiting for him to continue – but he didn't.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I thought about if I would return to school or not. I had left before it had even started and I figured it would be rude to just up and leave after he spills his whole life story to me. There's really no point in me going back now.

I watched his foot as he kicked it against the floor softly, over and over again.

"What happened?" I asked softly, silently begging him to continue.

Eli looked up into my eyes, "They beat me, too, Clare."

My chest ached as a lone tear fell from my right eye. I'm praying that this is all some sort of sick prank and that Ashton Kutcher will be jumping out shirtless while yelling, "YOU'VE JUST BEEN PUNKD!" any moment now.

But I knew that that was never going to happen. Because I don't think anyone could ever fake the hurt and anger in Eli's eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he continues, "So I ran away. And this is where I ended up." He makes a hand gesture around the house.

I take a glance around and suddenly something comes to mind. "If you ran away… how did you manage to be financially stable all these years?"

Eli smirks softly, "For the first few days, I was on the street. Now as a fourteen year old I knew that if I didn't get any food or water or shelter, I wouldn't make it. I went to soup kitchens and a couple of times I slept behind a few dumpsters. But my luck had finally kicked in and I met someone. I was under the slide at a park I had found, lying down in the sand bed I had made myself when a girl around my age had asked me to go on the swings with her. And I did."

I listened intently as Eli told his story, watching his every movement. His eyes were glued to the wall, the floor, his hands – anywhere but me. I didn't complain, though.

"We both admitted that we thought parks were childish for our age, yet neither of us felt the need to leave. We played on the swings for about an hour before her parents had called her over to go home. I remember how she scanned the park before she asked where my parents were. I asked her if she could keep a secret and she immediately said yes. So I told her everything. About my parents' death, my Uncle, the foster home, and how I had run away," he continued. "She did the strangest thing afterwards."

"What did she do?" I asked softly.

His lips curled up into a smile, "She gave me a hug."

I smiled softly at him. We sat there just staring at each other's eyes, and I realized that he was happy – he was content where he was and this missing person's thing was about to ruin that.

"What happened after that?"

He took a deep breath, "Well, for a while she had kept my secret and even helped me out. She was quite a sneaky little girl; she slowly started taking money from her parents and gave it to me so I was able to live in a motel for quite some time. She would come over and stay with me for a while, bring me food, even some of her older brothers old clothing. She helped me a lot."

I smiled at him, though he looked down at his hands and frowned, rubbing them together.

"But one day, everything changed. She ended up telling her parents about my situation. And suddenly I was put back into a group home. After about a year I ran away again, and with my luck, I had run into that girl once again. This time, she kept my secret and continued to help me. And over the years, this is where I managed to get."

"Do you still talk to her?" I asked softly.

He nodded, "Yes. She's still helping me. But once I turn eighteen I don't have to hide anymore."

I nodded. The shock that should come with everything that he had just spilled to me hadn't hit me yet, and I decided to use that to my advantage to learn everything I could about the situation.

"Does she live in the city?"

"Yes," he answered, "she goes to Degrassi Community school."

"That's my school," I said quickly. I thought for a moment before asking, "What's her name?"

Eli paused.

He started at me for quite some time, and I watched as he debated on whether or not he should trust me.

I was pleased with the end result when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Fiona Coyne."

Then, it finally hit me.