The Beautiful Monster

Chapter 225  Missing home

They very easily could\'ve been switched. She could\'ve lived his life, and he could\'ve gone through boarding school. It shocked him how different his life could\'ve been.

"It sounds like she was," he replied warmly.

Melina\'s smile then faded.

"She didn\'t deserve to die. Alaric was trying to hurt me, and he succeeded. I don\'t want him to keep hurting me. I can\'t lose anyone else," she sighed as she looked down at the ground.

Elias placed his hand on the back of her shoulder, rubbing gently to comfort her. He understood where she was coming from.

He didn\'t want to lose anyone either. That was a pain that he wasn\'t sure if he could deal with.

"He won\'t hurt you like that again. We\'re all going to take care of each other," he promised her. He didn\'t want her to worry too much.

She wouldn\'t be focused, and he needed her to be mindful of everything going on around her. That was how they would be able to survive.

"You can\'t promise me that. I can\'t promise you that we\'re going to beat him," Melina said as she turned to look at him. Her frown was prominent, creating lines in her face.

Elias\' lips parted to speak, but no words came out. He sighed and pulled his hand away from her back.

She was right. He couldn\'t promise her that, but he could give her his word that he would fight as hard as he possibly could.

"I know, but we have to try. You have to try to avenge Benjamin," he told her.

Melina\'s eyes darkened slightly as she stared ahead of her. She remained quiet for a few seconds before speaking.

"You\'re right. I should try to avenge him. Alaric deserves to go down for all the pain he\'s caused," Melina murmured quietly.

"We can talk to the others and come up with a plan, okay?" Elias told her, seeing her start to get her spark back.

That was what he was looking for. Their sparks combined were powerful, and he was ready to take Alaric back on soon. He was ready to get back to his life.

Melina took in a deep breath before nodding.

"Okay," she said before loosening up her body, trying to get less tense. "Thank you for coming out here."

Elias smiled at her. He was glad that he hadn\'t been sent away. Things were better now that they talked.

He felt the connection with her again, and it was a relief. He didn\'t like feeling distant from his own twin. He had already dealt with enough distance from her. He didn\'t want to do it anymore.

"Of course. I wanted to make sure that you were okay," he said. "That\'s something siblings do, right?"

Melina laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I believe so. Look at us," she said, brightening up.

Elias nudged her with his shoulder.

"We\'ve come far. Now, we just have to finish this," he told her. He didn\'t expect things to be easy in the end, but he was ready to get to the finish line.

He knew that it had to be close. They could only fight so much until one side lost. He just hoped that it wasn\'t their side. Then, the rest of the world would lose.

Melina leaned back against the bench.

"Do you think we\'ll actually be able to do it? Beat him?" Melina asked him.

Elias knew that she was asking a serious question. She wanted a serious answer. She didn\'t want hopeful or optimistic.

She wanted the truth. He couldn\'t predict the future, but he could give her his actual thoughts.

"I think we can, but it\'ll be hard. It\'ll be close. People will get hurt," he told her. That was what he thought.

He didn\'t expect an easy victory. He predicted the opposite. He couldn\'t get his hopes up or expect them to win easily.

That would tamper with his mind. He could get cocky or careless. That was what could cost him his life.

Melina lowered her eyes as she nodded.

"Yeah, that\'s what I figured too. I\'m just nervous," she replied.

"As long as we\'re prepared, we\'ll be okay," Elias told her. Maybe that was optimistic, but he needed her to believe in that.

They needed to keep their spirits up. Half of this fight was a mind game, and they had to win on all fronts.

"We\'ll be okay," Melina repeated his words.

Elias gave her a comforting smile before standing up. He nodded his head toward the RV.

"Come on. We should get back into the RV," he told her, not wanting to stay outside away from the group for too long. They were stronger together. That had been proven time and time again.

Melina stood up, joining him for the walk back to the RV.

Elias glanced up at the night sky, the stars twinkling above him. He hoped to feel peace again. He wanted to wake up and fall asleep without worry.

At least for a day. But he knew that day wasn\'t today or even the next day. For now, he was still at war without a clear end in sight.

*****

The next morning, the RV pulled off the highway and into the parking lot of an old diner. Like the group needed to sleep, they also had to eat.

They also needed to talk, and a new environment would do good for their minds and spirits.

Breakfast food always helped too. They all crowded into a curved booth, ordering coffee all around to help their low levels of energy.

It seemed like no matter how much they slept that they were still tired. The stress of fighting and running for their lives didn\'t help them relax, even in their sleep.

They were haunted and tormented every minute, but the nightmare had to end soon. Elias hoped to end all of this after this conversation with the group.

"I\'m actually ready to cook for myself again. I hate cooking for myself, and I miss it,"

Scott muttered as he poked around at his two fried eggs and side of bacon. "I just miss being home."