CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Raindrops pattered against the window. Aurelio straightened and glanced outside through the glass. By the time he decided he should leave before it started pouring, it had started pouring. With a sigh, he stood up. Matt looked up at him. Aurelio told him that he still had to practice violin so he couldn't stay here.

Matt followed him to the doorway. "You will be soaked."

"Nah. It's like two minutes away. Plus"--Aurelio reached for his raincoat off the stand. He'd brought it along in case of a rainstorm--"Got my raincoat," he said as he wore it, then checked his pocket for his phone. He told Matt he'd see him soon and left.

As soon as he stepped off the porch, Aurelio pulled the hood over his head and walked with his hands in his pockets. Hanging out with Matt was a nice break. He hadn't had to worry about any of the confusing stuff that had been happening. But now that he was out, all the thoughts were reforming at a dizzying rate.

Aurelio forced them aside and walked faster. The rain slowed a little, so he didn't have to blink too much anymore, and this happened in time for him to catch, through his peripheral, a guy lodged in a narrow alleyway he'd just passed.

Aurelio reveresed a couple steps and glanced in. The guy was only an inch or two shorter than him, with dirty blond hair, and shaky hands trying to light a cigarette. When he moved the cigarette in his mouth, a dimple appeared in his cheek, and Aurelio's knees felt weak.

Matt?

Aurelio squinted. The alleyway was covered overhead by the balconies of the houses on either side so the rain barely came in. It was humid, and it stank. He focused on the boy once again. It was Matt. But it shouldn't be, because Aurelio had left Matt in his house. It couldn't be, because Matt's face wasn't this gaunt, his body not this frail, his eyes not this lifeless.

Not yet.

"Matt," Aurelio said cautiously, stepping nearer.

"Help me light it," the boy said. His hands were shaking too much to do it on his own.

Matt said.

Aurelio just stared. He remembered Matt coughing at the skatepark. He remembered noting how rough it had sounded. He remembered Matt's general tendancy to make himself suffer--his own words.

"Please," he insisted. "Help me."

It hurt, Matt's helpless voice, his quiet plea. Aurelio approached him warily and took the lighter. Help him, a voice in his head told him. A voice familiar to this instance. Like an awful, awful deja vu. He didn't light the cigarette for him. Instead, he held it down. "This isn't real," he said. "It can't be. I just left your place. I left you there."

"Yeah. It isn't. You know what is? This!"

Now this...this was real. The punch that Aurelio received, a strike to his stomach.

Very real, and damn painful.

The blow made Aurelio stagger back a tiny step, and his spine flattened against the wall behind him. Groaning, he held the spot, and when he looked up, the boy wasn't Matt anymore. His hair had become a shade darker and his dimples had disappeared. His voice grew sinister.

"Give me the lighter back, freak!"

Aurelio realized he was gripping the lighter like his life depended on it, hard enough to break it. The boy had been trying to tug his fingers off in vain. Aurelio also realized that the conversation had been one-sided, that this guy hadn't asked for help, so Aurelio had basically marched in and snatched his lighter from him without warning. No wonder he'd resorted to punching.

"I'm sorry," Aurelio said, startled and scared, as he handed the lighter back. "I'm sorry," he repeated robotically then turned, wanting to leave the alleyway, but the boy caught him by the front of his raincoat and pushed him back against the wall.

Aurelio looked him in the eyes, and he frowned now. "I apologized twice," he said with a leveled voice. "I thought you were someone else. Okay? Take your hands off me."

"Oh, yeah? You think it's that easy? I told you to give me the lighter back ten times and you just kept spitting nonsense!"

Aurelio leant his head back and looked up, letting out a breath. Then, slowly, he blinked and aligned his gaze with the boy's furious expression.

"Listen," Aurelio said. His voice remained calm. "I have a million things running in my head right now. This is the last thing I need. What do you want? Do you wanna intimidate me?" He raised a hand and feigned a tremble. "Look. I'm shaking. I'm terrified. Good job. Now piss off, please."

Aurelio didn't wait for the boy to piss off; he gripped his wrists and lowered them, and the force must've startled him, because he stepped back without a word, and Aurelio stepped away. Only to find his uncle at the mouth of the alleyway, saying, "What's going on here?"

If boy had been planning to continue with the posturing, he left when he realized an adult was involved. Aurelio readjusted his raincoat, smoothing the space where the guy had bunched in his fists. He looked at Uncle Ian and said, "Thanks, but I could've handled that." Eyes at his feet, then back up at him. "I already did. Nothing happened."

Uncle Ian didn't comment, but there was an unconvinced arch to his brow. He gestured Aurelio out of the alleyway. Aurelio moved, and as he strode onto the pavement again, his uncle reached a hand out and pulled the hood back over Aurelio's head. Aurelio flinched before he realized that it had slipped sometime during the encounter with the boy, then he mumbled, "Thanks," and walked under the rain.

He was hoping Uncle Ian would go his way, but of course he didn't. Of course he wouldn't let what happened pass.

"You were calling that boy Matt," Uncle Ian said, cutting straight to the point, the way Aurelio hated. "But that wasn't Matt."

"Yeah."

The answer was clipped and inadequate, but also a signal. Alas, a signal Uncle Ian received and willingly ignored. When Aurelio mumbled bye and tried sneaking away, Uncle Ian caught his arm and forced him back into his spot.

"Let me guess. You don't wanna talk about it."

"Yeah. Bye!"

"Aurelio."

This made Aurelio freeze, and for some reason it also vaguely scared him; maybe it was the use of his full name combined with his uncle's stern, warning voice. He'd never heard him outright angry like that.

Uncle Ian stared him down. Then, in a gentler voice, he said, "Elio..." He sighed, preparing for a lecture. "You just mistook a random guy for Matt and nearly got yourself beaten up. Are you sure you're good? We're all worried about you."

"Please don't worry, I'm good," Aurelio said, even though he knew an idiot could tell he was not. "Just a little sleepy."

"A little? Elio, you're so sleepy you halluci--"

"I didn't hallucinate!" Aurelio shouted, then realized he'd overreacted and lowered his voice. "I didn't hallucinate. The boy looked a lot like Matt, that's it. Can I go home now?"

Uncle Ian let out a long sigh, and he seemed even more unconvinced than he had before Aurelio spoke. "You can," he said. Aurelio wondered why he had waited for the command--he could leave without permission, he knew he could, but there was something weirdly compulsive here. "Go home and sleep."

Aurelio nodded.

"I mean it. You will go home and sleep, not just rest. You can't avoid the nightmares forever."

This stung.

It hurt at first, the truth in it, but then the confusion came. How did his uncle know about this? Aurelio hadn't told his parents about the nightmares, and so far, he'd never woken up screaming, so they couldn't have known. Besides, that was some private stuff, and his parents wouldn't tell Uncle Ian even if they knew.

Aurelio didn't want to ask because he didn't want to confirm it. So he desperately said, "I don't have nightmares," with flushed cheeks and hurried away.

"I hope you don't actually believe yourself on this one."

Aurelio hadn't walked too far away, and his uncle had followed, so he still caught the comment. Turning back, Aurelio looked at him.

Uncle Ian continued, "Avoiding your problems is one thing, but actually managing to convince yourself there's nothing wrong is another. You don't wanna reach this point, trust me."

Aurelio thought for a moment. Then he nodded and walked away.

• • •

Hii. This chapter drove me crazy i swear :D Tysm for reading anyway!! We're already near the middle of the book!! Can't wait for the plot twist hehe.

Unrelated but i have a strong urge to write a cross-over chapter between this book and teenage baby and the play...