" It ' s half past 6 in the evening ." Elliot says as he approaches me from fixing up the mess on the floor . My eyes widen and I make myself to the door while tidying dress . Why didn ' t anyone wake me ? My Nainai must be worried sick and Baba will be home any minute . " What ' s wrong ? Can I take you home ?" Elliot questioned . He ' s always wanted to know where I lived , and he ' s always wanted to meet my family . But I never allow him to . My family would never allow me to see this man . And for Elliot ' s sake , he should never meet my Baba . Who knows what might happen to him ? He might even receive the death penalty .
" I must go ." I quickly say and open the door " Okay . Come back tomorrow ." He instructs . I nod , smile and rush out .
I make my way home with the limited amount of light being illuminated through the houses . At least no one will catch me at this time of night . Luckily I know these streets inside out and hurry home as fast as I can . When I reach the front door of the house , I notice the lights are off . I quietly unlock the door and attempt to sneak in , when I ' m presented with my Nainai sleeping on the sofa and no sign of Baba . I sigh in relief and walk over to my room to change into my night gown . I prepare dinner and wake up my Nainai to eat . She bombards me with questions at the dinner table about my whereabouts today . The night gets darker and Baba still hasn ' t returned home . I ' m starting to worry . He ' s never late . The clock strikes eight and I make my way to bed . I can ' t sleep with the amount of rest I had this afternoon so I lie here with my eyes closed , and I can ' t help break into a huge smile thinking about the wonderful day I spent with Elliot Thompson . I wish I could take him home and introduce him to my Baba and Nainai , but they would never accept us . I wish I could tell him about my family , about my Mama . I want to tell him everything .
The bright morning sunlight shining through my curtains awakens me . Elliot ; I think and smile to myself . I get up and bounce to my dresser and put on one of my favorite dresses , one that belonged to Mama . I go to the living room and notice something off . Where ' s Baba ? I ask my Nainai and she says he never returned home . That ' s unlike him . Maybe he worked overtime and fell asleep at the precinct . I sit at the dining table and eat the delicious congee my Nainai prepared while she combs my hair into a ponytail . She questions why I ' m wearing my Mama ' s dress if I ' m only going to be taking a trip to the market today . I respond to her by saying I missed my Mama dearly . After breakfast , I slip on my shoes and head out the door . I happily walk through town and go to Elliot ' s house . I reach their place awfully early in the morning ; I bet they ' re still asleep . As I ' m about to unlock their door , I notice it ' s slightly open . I push the knob and feel something sticky on my hands . And as I step into their house , I ' m shocked at what ' s in front of me .
Blood smeared all over the wooden floor . Bloody handprints on the wall . The table knocked down . A rifle on the ground . And three English men all beat up in the living room . Eli and Scott are sitting on stools . They have bruises all over their body and several scratches on their arms and chests . And Harry looks the worst ; he ' s lying down in agony on the sofa . He has a black eye , blood running down his face , a huge scratch on his other arm and a lot of smaller cuts all over him . But where ' s Elliot ? I run over to Harry and question him . He says he ' s fine and to just go check on Elliot .
" Where is he ?" I ask .
" He ' s outside , back of the house ." His voice languishes in pain . I immediately stand up and run to the back door . " He ' s fixing himself up ," I hear him faintly from a distance . I push open the back door and see Elliot on the ground , washing his wounds .
" Not again ." I say to myself . He sees me and his eyes soften . He looks worse than Harry . He looks exactly as I found him the first time . " Come inside ," I instruct . He obliges and follows me back into the house and into his room . " What happened ?" I ask him as I sit him down on the bed . He closes his eyes , nods and sighs in shame . " You promised ." I pout .
" I know ." He says softly while I examine his body . He has a huge scratch along his cheek , so very close to his eyes full of shame . Deeper scratches on his chest than his friends , a more severe head injury seeping down his neck from behind his ear , and a cut resulting in a gory mess on his back I spotted when he sat down .