Fibie

“Eloise, Eloise,” Charlie called softly. The girl who snored peacefully was now being woken up by Charlie. She opened her eyes and sat up, looking exhausted. After a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the light. She closed them and lay back down.

“Hmm what. It’s too early, Let me sleep Charlie.” Eloise said, pulling the covers over her head. She sat up suddenly, her eyes wide open. Her friends were still standing there, silent.

“What’s wrong? Why are you all being weird?” She looks up at Charlie. Smiling a little thinking that they’re going to do another mischievous stunt on one of their teachers. That would be a very good way to start a morning, right?. She expected Charlie to return that smile, but his face was unusual, It’s not very Charlie Dalton. That made Eloise sensed that something was wrong.

“Eloise-“ He hesitated.

“What?”

“Eloise, Neil’s dead. He shot himself,” Charlie said.

Eloise felt her head spin. “No.” She shakes her head. “He’s alive, Charlie. Neil’s alive I- he’s not dead!”

Eyes started to fill with tears.

She wailed as she jumped from her bed and ran down the hall. Screaming, panting, panicking. She doesn’t even know where to go. All she could think about was Neil, her soul. She ran outside, as her tears streaming down her face, she turns around looking at Charlie, Knox and Meeks who followed her.

“What about Todd? Does he know?” Eloise cries. Oh Todd, her Todd. Just by thinking of him breaks her heart, “No, not yet,”

Eloise closed her eyes and faced the lake, tears running down her cheeks. She cried until knees gave up, she brings her knees together and hugs herself.

“He can’t be dead.”

“What about us? What about me and Todd? What about his dreams—our dreams? I told him we would seize our days together—that we woul- we would live our life deliberately. Together.” Eloise snivel. The boys look at her, faces ashen at the sight. They walk towards her, hugging her tightly, tears flowing down their cheeks.

“He promised.”

“I know”

Eloise then stands up, looking miserable. She then run back towards the building.

“El!” Knox exclaimed.

“Let her be,”

______

(Eloise Pov)

I stared at the door in front of me, hesitating to open it. Slowly, I wrapped my hand around the handle and turned it, easing the door open. I winced at the soft creak that broke the silence.

My eyes, red and swollen from crying, immediately found the blond-haired boy lying quietly on the bed. A fresh wave of grief tightened my chest.

I walked toward him with slow, uncertain steps before gently lying down beside him, as if being close to him could somehow make the pain a little easier to bear.

He stirred slightly, as if sensing it was me. Without opening his eyes, he slowly wrapped an arm around my waist and gently pulled me closer until I was resting against him. I held him tighter, as if I could somehow cling to every part of him. Tears began to stream down my cheeks, soaking into the fabric of his shirt.

Todd shifted slightly. He must have sensed that I was crying. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at me. “Hey, El… are you crying? What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

His eyes were fully open now, worry replacing the drowsiness that had been there moments before. My sobs only grew louder.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words barely audible as they caught in my throat. “Neil’s dead”

“Oh, God…” he whispered.

His breath caught in his throat as tears spilled over before he could stop them. His hands trembled as he pulled me into him, burying his face against my hair.

“No…no…” he choked out, shaking his head as if refusing to believe any of it. “Don’t say you’re sorry.”

His voice broke completely. A sob escaped him, raw and unsteady, and he clung to me with surprising strength, his fingers bunching in the back of my shirt.

“I can’t do this,” he whispered between ragged breaths. “I keep thinking… I keep expecting him to walk through the door, smiling like nothing happened.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, another sob tearing through him.

“It hurts. God, it hurts so much.” His words came out fractured.

For a long moment, he couldn’t say anything else. He simply cried into my shoulder, holding on as though the two of us were all that remained of the life we had before.

“I know,” Eloise whispered through her tears. “You’re not alone.”

He nodded weakly, unable to answer. Instead, he held her tighter, and she held him back with the same desperate need to keep from falling apart.

There, in the silence of the room, they wept together—grieving the person they had both loved so deeply. Neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring or how they were supposed to move forward without him. The future felt uncertain, frightening, and impossibly empty.