"So you're Elliot, but you're not MY Elliot? I'm not sure I get it." Charlotte said.
"Ok, so, I am not your Elliot, like, I'm not from this... Is realm the right term? Anyway, I have a family and have finished college, and everything like that. I don't know the slightest thing about where I am." Elliot responded, attempting to explain this impossible situation.
After some further explanation, that didn't seem to help much, Charlotte agreed to keep it a secret. But Elliot needed one more thing from her.
"Last thing," Elliot started, "I'm going to sneak out again to learn some things around here, maybe head to the forest, can you hide it?"
"Of course, no problem." Charlotte said, with more understanding and sympathy in her expression than I had seen earlier.
Elliot looked at Charlotte, and she looked sad. He couldn't blame her at all, after all, he had just told her the brother she knew could absolutely be gone. He wanted to comfort her, to help at least a little, but he didn't know where to start. He didn't know what the Elliot here was supposed to be like, and even if he did, would that offend Charlotte?
Not knowing what to do, Elliot thanked her and went back to his room to get dressed. He had left his banged-up and torn clothes on the bed while he was currently in casual wear, not exactly something to go out in. He went to his closet to look at his Victorian-era hiking clothes. While they were better for the setting he had found himself in the night prior, he didn't like the clothes. The only good clothes in his closet were the suits, and Elliot even found the casual clothes quite odd. Wanting to find a way to fix his old clothes, he left his room once again and went to the area where he had breakfast, which he thought was the kitchen, to look around for something to sew it back together. Elliot figured that, since he was in an older era of some different place, they might need a regular way to fix their clothes. While searching, his mom walked into the room.
"What are you looking for, honey?" His mom asked
"Something to fix those clothes you found me in... They were a personal project, and I don't want them to stay ruined." Elliot said, noticing that he was getting better at his lying.
Maybe this is how this world's Elliot was. Or am I just easing into things? Elliot thought.
"Well, why not use the recovery spray I have?" His mom questioned, "You've used it before in similar situations."
What the fuck is a recovery spray? Elliot almost blurted out loud, but managed to keep to himself.
"Oh yeah, must've slipped my mind," Elliot managed to say after a moment of time had passed, "Can you bring it to me, please?"
His mother nodded and quickly walked to a separate room from a different exit that Elliot hadn't seen during breakfast. Only a few moments later, she came back with a perfume bottle that had a vibrant, sparkly, pink liquid inside it.
"Remember, only one spray on each rip and it'll be back to good in a minute or two." His mom lectured to him
"Alright, thank you so much." Elliot said as he walked back to his room with the bottle now hand.
Elliot gathered his clothes and put each article of clothing on the floor in a way that they showed all the rips, and didn't touch each other, just incase of anything since his mom had only given him basic instructions, as she was under the assumption Elliot had any idea of what was going on. Elliot did as his mom instructed, one spray on each rip, then he waited. He watched carefully and after what felt like ten minutes, but was probably two, the rips formed back together perfectly. As if it hadn't been ripped at all.
ALRIGHT! That's awesome! Elliot exclaimed in his mind.
He wanted to see what else it would work on, but he didn't know how many of these his family had, or if it would even work. So Elliot, before getting dressed in his old clothes, walked back to the kitchen and through the door, he saw his mom walk through. Which ended up being the door to his parents' room.
"Did it work?" His mother asked with a joyful curiosity
"Like a charm, thanks. I'm going to hang up those clothes and take a nap." Elliot responded, fully intending to use that time to explore outside.
"Alright, don't ruin your sleep, though; it's unhealthy." His mom yelled as Elliot walked back to his room to change. He picked up his navy blue, button-down, hiking shirt and put it on over his somewhat loose white shirt. He then changed from his loose black comfort pants to the more heavy-duty brown cargo pants. He then finally slipped on his black boots then walked over to open his bedroom door. As he reached for the doorknob, he realized he couldn't just walk out the door. With his excuse to his mom that he was napping and the expectation of the "council," he couldn't just meander out the front door. He turned back around to see his large window that had been shimmering with light through the shut curtains. He opened the curtains and tried to open the window. They easily slid up and open, almost causing Elliot to fall out the window.
After catching himself and taking a deep breath, Elliot stepped out onto the stone-paved road he had seen the night prior. Before walking off to explore, he took his surroundings into account, so he would remember where he was
19964 Greenwood St. It's on a long road that has greyish brown buildings up until the end of the road, with a large lime green building. That's a disgusting color for a house.
Elliot took his mental note and started walking toward the large lime green building, passing several people in much nicer clothes than what he was currently in. They gave him stares as he walked. Snickers surrounded Elliot as he cruised through the people scattered on the road, he ignored and comments that he heard, choosing to be safe over fashionable due to the fact that he was going to wander into the forest.
Elliot reached the lime green house after about a minute of walking and, once again, looked around. There wasn't anything to the left but more streets, but to the right, in the far-off distance, he could see a thick treeline. That's where he needed to be. Right as he began to start walking again, a soft hand grabbed his shoulder. He jumped and turned around, expecting to confront his parents and having to explain why he was out in what was apparently a "personal project" outfit. But that's not what met his eyes, instead of the two angry parents, as he was expecting, he saw a group of three people, looking his age.
The one who was in front, and had grabbed his shoulder, was an attractive brunette woman with big blue eyes, one in the back was a blonde man with a much nicer outfit than even the nicely dressed men walking around him, and the last was a blonde girl who also had a much nicer dress than the other ladies that rushed past her.
"Hey, Elliot, are you ok? We heard about what happened last night." The brunette said
"Tell you what, man," The blonde man spoke up with an authoritative yet mischievous tone, "Lexi was worried sick about you. Wouldn't stop freaking out about it to me and Kendra.
"Shut up, Ryder, it was a moonless night. You should've been more concerned." the brunette, who was probably the one named Lexi, exclaimed irritatedly.
"What are you wearing?" the blonde girl questioned. "Looks like outdated rags."
The Blonde man elbowed the blonde girl as he asked where they were from
"A personal project, I'm just trying them out." Elliot responded
"That's cool, man, it's... unique." The blonde guy replied in a joking attitude
Elliot breathed a very momentary sigh of relief, as he didn't need to ask anyone's names. The brunette was Lexi, the blonde man was Ryder, and the blonde girl was Kendra, but after this realization, the fear of discovery came right back because Elliot didn't know his relation to these people.
While Elliot was trying to figure out each person's relation to each other and himself, Lexi hugged him. It took Elliot off guard, but he hugged back in time to not look suspicious.
"What are we going to do today?" Lexi questioned.
She's squeezing me like she's a wife with a husband who just came home from war. It's not like she lost me forever. Elliot thought, even though he knew in the back of his mind she might've lost her Elliot entirely.
"Uhh, well, I was planning to head to the forest... I left something there last night."
Elliot hoped that lie would work, since they had said "They heard what happened", Elliot assumed they heard from Officer Marcus. This meant he had to follow that lie instead of the one he gave his family.
"You wanna do that again?" Kendra stated, looking at Elliot with scarily calm eyes. "Seems like you had a rough time there last night."
"I did, but I need to get what I left." Elliot responded while getting used to holding Lexi.
"What did you leave? I'm sure Kendra and I could convince our parents to replace it." Ryder responded with the same tone as before.
Shiiiit, what do I say now? Elliot frantically thought. Unlike his sister, whom he could quickly tell wasn't a blabbermouth. He didn't know if these people, whom he assumed were his friends, and Lexi, his girlfriend, would tell or not if he came outright and said the truth.
"Why don't you guys come with me, and I'll show you? Haven't you been itching for excitement without the complete guarantee of death?" Elliot said, relying on the assumption that the forests were safer during the day than at night.
Lexi let go of Elliot and turned to look at Ryder and Kendra. They seemed to have a one-second conversation with their eyes, then, looking at Elliot, agreed to go with him.
"Alright, can't wait to show you guys this." Elliot proclaimed after letting out a fake, confident laugh.
What am I going to do when they realize I don't have anything to show them? Jesus, why'd I say that? Elliot lampooned in his head.
Lexi grabbed Elliot's hand as he began to lead the group to the forest, praying to whatever god was here to lend him a hand to keep his lie alive.