• Really recommend listening to this while reading. •

"What are you doing here?"

The door to Eli's room got shut and locked after Mia stepped inside.

He wasn't even looking at her. Just leaning up against the wall furthest away from her, back facing her, hand on the padded wall.

"I came to see you," Mia shakily replied, on the brink of tears. After all she had seen, all she wanted was to hold him. Only she knew he would never let her.

He slowly turned around and glared at her, his eyes so cold and murderous, Mia felt ice run through her veins. "Did you see what you wanted or was I too clothed?"

Oh God, did he have to do this? "Eli..."

"No, tell me. Was it everything you hoped for?" He drawled, now stalking up to her slowly, watching her like a prey. "Did it live up to your satisfaction?"

"Why would it—"

He smacked his hand against the wall right next to where her head was. Mia silenced a scream and glared up into his eyes as he towered over her. "Don't fucking bullshit me, just tell me the truth. What did they offer you?"

"O-offer... me?" Mia whispered.

"Shut up. I know it wasn't money, you've got enough of that to wipe your ass with and still be rich by the time you retire, so tell me, what was it?" He growled, leaning down to her face. "Did they promise you an education or a job anywhere you wanted? Your name get mentioned for when they get a breakthrough? Or was it just next month's issue of Scientific America?"

"You think... they bribed me?" Mia's mouth fell open. She felt offended with the accusation. "You think I gave you up? Eli, I didn't—"

"I said shut up!" He roared, punching the wall now. Mia flinched and tried to get away, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her up against the wall again, locking his hand around her throat like he always did when he got pissed. "I know you fucking did it, nobody else knew. I even fucking asked them, they said my friend at the school gave me up. That's you, Mia. Or at least I thought you were my friend, but I guess that was just bullshit too, wasn't it?"

Mia felt a tear run down her cheek. How could he not trust her? How could he think that she was the one who gave him up? After everything, the things they'd done together... did he think it was all a show while she waited for the payment to transfer? She felt hurt. "Eli, I didn't give you up. It was Anna, she told them! She found out, she—"

"And now you're shooting the blame over to one of your friends, the one who conveniently enough is currently your enemy," He scoffed, leaning down to her so their noses touched. His eyes were like staring into the barrel of a gun. "Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?"

"Eli—"

"What was the first thing you did when you saw me for the first time? You hated me, purely based on my looks. What did you do the first time you talked to me? Judge me, without knowing all the facts, without being fully informed. And after having fucked me, what was it that you did?" Eli growled and waited for long, cold moment, where all Mia did was cry silently. "You accused me of being a thief. It was only after I was revealed as a fucking genius you suddenly wanted to help me. What, a fucking, coincidence."

Mia shut her eyes, squeezing them. Everything crumbled within her in that moment.

God, it seemed so reasonable for him to think that, of course. Hell, she'd even buy it in court. She saw herself in a whole new light in that moment and realized just how fucking stupid and cruel she had been to him these past weeks. A complete idiot.

She had hated every single time he had called her a bitch, but she realized now she had been one. He called them like he saw them, it didn't take a genius to figure out.

Mia didn't know where to begin anymore. She didn't see an end, so how could she start? She wanted to apologize, wanted to somehow prove to him that she hadn't turned him in. Her words would mean as much as a piece of paper to him by now. She could apologize over and over again, but he'd never believe her. He'd shut her out and call her a liar.

Despite knowing all this, not one part of her thought; 'oh well, you tried, let's call it quits and go home'. No, she was going to keep trying and trying and trying, until she was certain he was released from this hellhole. And afterwards, if he didn't want to give her another chance, she'd understand. She just wanted him to be safe and happy; Free.

"I'll go if you don't want me here," She whispered, looking down. "There's nothing I can say that'll make you believe me."

"You're right about that," He growled. "Leave, if they'll let you."

He slammed three times on the door next to them, startling her. Not moments later, someone opened the door, but Mia didn't lay notice into the who of it. Her eyes were solely focused on Eli who retrieved to his corner and laid down on his white mattress; the only furniture in his so-called room. Everything was just white and clinical.

The guard grabbed Mia's arm and led her out without her really noticing. It was only when the door shut and Eli disappeared behind it, she finally managed to pull herself out of her daze.

"Where are you taking me?"

The guard looked straight ahead and didn't respond, so Mia just kept following him. At this point, she was beyond caring where she was taken. She felt like nothing.

Ms Hope showed up, her heels announcing her presence before she appeared. "Ms Hanson. How was your visit? Fruitful, I presume?"

Mia wanted to choke her skinny little neck. Instead she tonelessly asked, "What happens now?"

"We take you home."

"Home?" Mia asked, looking up with surprise washed across her face. "You mean... you're not going to keep me here? Not even after I told you... I know things? And not even after I've seen all this?"

Ms Hope chuckled, a chuckle that couldn't be categorized as amused, but rather mocking. "You're too imaginative, Ms Hanson. We don't do such things here. The subjects in here signed a contract, one they are bound to fulfill. You have no such binding papers, and frankly, you're not a genius, so why would we want to keep you?"

Ouch and ouch, Mia thought. First she wasn't imaginative, then she wasn't a genius. She knew the last one, but the first one hurt her as an artist. It sounded like what Eli had told her. Ouch.

"Nobody is going to believe any of the things you've seen today anyway, so we feel comfortable with letting you go. However," She said, pursing her lips, seriously. "Don't think we take what you did as a joke. We don't let just anyone in here. We'll be keeping a very close eye on you, in case you decide to act... rash."

Smiling a cool smile at her, Ms Hope gestured to a door, the same Mia had gotten in through. She was given her possessions back and then seen to the gate where her car was still parked, baking under the sun.

After Mia got into her car and drove away, she couldn't help but feel like... she had abandoned him there.

Eli...

How did you get through to a mind that was lightyears ahead of your own?

And more importantly... how did you get through to his heart?

~~~

Mia hadn't been able to go home. She had sent a text to Zoe who had spammed her fifty times with texts and calls, asking her if she was OK. After assuring her she was fine, even sending her a snapchat where she showed she was free, safe and sound, she finally calmed down. Her and Caleb were still working, she told, but she didn't give any details as to how far they'd gotten.

Which was OK for now, Mia thought. She couldn't contain anymore. In fact she felt like she was going to shatter if she didn't let something out somehow.

And that's how she'd ended up pulling up in front of the Alexandrettia. The head janitor let her in, and then she found herself in a closed studio, staring at the portrait of Eli.

'I still think it needs a little something. I can't put my finger on it, but then again, that's your job to do.'

Mia picked up her pencil and started drawing. Before she knew it, she was completely absorbed. Everything came pouring out of her, tears as well as art.

For the first time, while making this portrait, she truly drew from her heart. All this time she had been trying to work Eli out when she should have been working herself out. She still had no clue who she was, but she knew what she wanted to be.

His.

He was just like a Jackson Pollock painting. At first look at him, you saw a mess; A canvas that had been abused and soiled with so much paint, it completely appalled you. Why would anyone do that to the canvas?

And then you stepped up closer and started to notice something. You realized the colors were chosen with care and that the dosages of it wasn't just sporadic and meaninglessly splattered around on the canvas. It all had a reason for being exactly where it was, just like the colors all meant something different, something deeper. Colors could express emotions, and placement could represent centered pain. Jackson Pollock knew that. He presented powerful, deep, enigmatic mysteries to the world, in the form of confusing, turbulent art.

Eli was all that; He was meant to appall people, make them walk right past the artistic mess that was his body, his canvas, but to those who lingered just long enough, they would see his whole world and realize it wasn't chaos at all; It was a symphony of life-lessons.

The giant skull on his back; death. Kali on his stomach; change. The tribal art on his neck and skull; acceptance of the tribe, his family, the street. The stars of David on scattered parts of his body; his relationship with God. English tributes on his arm; his first home. Salvador Dali on his other arm; eccentricity – the list went on and on, eventually bringing together a picture of who he really was. And who was that?

Mia looked at her drawing, at the dark silhouette she had drawn behind him; It looked like a shadow when you stood far away, one big, dark, haunting shadow. But when you stepped closer, you saw tiny, little equations; The same equations from the blackboard which she had copied onto her canvas. The ones he had written; Fermat's Last Theorem.

It was his other side, a side he fought to keep hidden in the dark, but like a shadow, it would always be a part of him. He could never get rid of it, no matter how hard he tried to conceal it with his hard façade and the river of harsh words that poured from his mouth. Staying in the shadows, among the brainless people he had hung out with, gave him a false sensation of blending in. But he didn't; He was different and he would always be different. He was an individual, one of a kind, a genius.

In the end, Valenches had been right as always; It had needed a little something more, but what Mia had failed to realize was that it wasn't his actual body and tattoos that needed something; It was his shadow. For while his tattoos and his body was what he showed to the world, the real him was his shadow – the one that you should notice. You could cover yourself up in masks, but your shadow never lied.

Mia looked at her portrait one last time and then released a long, freeing breath that emptied her and made her let go of everything; This was going to be her new start.

With a final flick of her pencil, she wrote her signature on corner of the canvas and put her pencil down for the last time.

– It was finally done.

• • •

Look beyond the surface, people. You'll find something better than God in there. You'll find what he created.