It's been, I think, two days since Ben came in and introduced himself. Slender has visited some, but not a lot. Usually just to tell me the right times to get food whenever everyone else is on their missions until I'm healed, reminding me to go see Jack to change my bandages, etc.

   To be truthful, I think I can survive. Or at least do more than survive. More specifically, while I'm here and vulnerable. Which... now that I think about it... is always. Almost always.

   Jack didn't give me glasses like Slender had told him too but gave me something, and I quote, "... to look a little more badass." Of course, I couldn't deny this offer, because I didn't know what would happen if I let it down. He gave me a pearl looking mask that covers the top half of my face while having some kind of black, reflective circles hiding my eyes. I absolutely loved it.

   Slender had just come into my room and told me to change my bandages right before he disappeared again, but I had just woken up so I told him to wait a moment. Of course, I doubt he heard me, but I had said it anyway. I tried to get out of bed, forgetting the blankets on top of me, and I got trapped.

   "Shit!" I felt myself tumbling towards the ground, and my heart rate sped up for a moment because I keep forgetting how high this bed is off the ground. Mainly because the other beds, or tables really, had been much higher off the ground at the facility than I had ever hoped for. My arms flailed in the air as the blankets twisted around my legs, and I felt them fall along with me. I hit the floor and let out a loud groan before I tried to pry the blankets off of my legs. I tried to ignore the aching in my chest, which had gone down significantly since Jack had given me whatever medication he'd allowed me to take. My head pounded and I almost couldn't focus on anything around myself, but I did the best I could since I didn't need to crawl all the way to Jack's room.

   Once I eventually got the blankets off my legs, almost tearing them apart out of frustration, I threw them on the bed with a huff before going over to my wardrobe and opening it up. I reached up to my right, gripping onto a soft fabric, and trying to pull it down. The common sense that I usually had wasn't really working with me right now, and if it was, it would've told e that this clothing item is on a hanger. But I was completely oblivious to that fact. So I kept pulling.

   A minute later as I gave up on that and pulled my pants on, I finally groaned in realization and gripped onto the clothing item, moving my hand up and to the plastic part above it. Removing what I now figured out is a hoodie, I broke the hanger in half and threw it across the room. I put on the hoodie and used the tad bit of power that worked in the morning for me to get socks and I put those on before exiting my room.

   I walked carefully through the hall, hand on the wall beside me since there was no one near me that I could look through. As I neared my destination, which actually seemed much farther than it should only because there isn't any human activity that I can feel, I... still couldn't feel Jack. His mind was something that I've never felt before. It was always kind of gloomy, but, at the same time, active. He was always thinking, but I couldn't tell of what. 

   Where is he? I wondered as I neared his door. He'd usually be here at this time, but you can never be sure. Some people can hide their consciousness, from what I can tell. A few people here can, that I've noticed. Maybe Jack has learned how to? That's a possibility, but I don't think you can perfect it in that short amount of time.

   I knocked on the door and waited. No answer. I brought my hand to the knob and turned it slightly. It was unlocked, which wasn't surprising, just unexpected. I opened the door, trying to find anyone I can feel or look through, yet I found nothing. Not human things, anyway. But animals, like squirrels by his window or birds on the roof. 

   "Jack?" I asked kind of timidly. I didn't know if he was in here, and I didn't know if anyone else was in here, and from what I remember and experience. I inched in a bit further and called out his name a tad louder. "Jack! Are you here?"

   This reminds me of a few times at the facility, and I suddenly felt very nervous. What if the facility workers had come here and found me? What if they know I'm here and they're just teasing me? 

   What if they took Jack away from here?

   That brought me to the point that I backed out of the room, shaking my head vigorously and crossing my arms across my chest and gripping at them almost to the point of drawing blood. I ran down the hall, moving anything in my way to the edge of the hall so I wouldn't fall. 

   "Elian! Get your ass back here this instant!" A voice yelled in my head. Oh no, not the facility. Dear God, anything but that... But I couldn't keep the memory from stopping, so it played out in my head. I was its' puppet as I ran through the halls.

   "We weren't done yet!" Their voice was gruff, and it made me push myself further.

   I turned a sharp corner, feet catching on something sharp as I did so, making me yelp. I continued further, not even realizing the screams of pure terror and anger behind me. Some were urging me on, telling me to get out of here, that I was their only hope, but I couldn't see and I didn't know where the entrance was. 

   "GET THAT BOY!" It was louder now, closer. So much closer... I pushed myself forward to the point that I know I'd be exhausted after.

   "Eli!" That voice was clearer, but farther away. When had the facility used that name for me? Was I in trouble? Of course, I was! I was running away! No one is ALLOWED to run away! I ran faster, turning another corner than another, not knowing where I was running at this point, but that the angry voice behind me continued getting louder.

   "Dammit, slow down!" Why did they sound familiar? "You're going to tear your stitches!" My stitches? I don't care if I tore my stitches. 

   My breathing started to speed up, my heart racing, but I didn't stop. "STOP FOLLOWING ME!" I shouted back. "Please!" My voice shook as whoever was chasing me came to a realization and stopped. I sighed in relief and almost collapsed to the floor. I didn't, but I slowed down.

   I was just walking now, starting to gather a sense of my surroundings, and I went to some place that seemed kind of familiar. Or safer, for that matter. I was breathing rather quickly, but not as fast as before, as I sat down near a heat source that wasn't too hot but not too cold to where it was actually comforting.

   I let out a shaky breath, feeling some tension leave my body as I leaned back against whatever cushion was behind me. "You're fine, Eli... They haven't found you. You're safe." I mumbled. I tried to gather a sense of my surroundings, looking through the closest pair of eyes and not caring who or where they were. I could see that I was in the main room, the one that I had entered whenever I first came here, to the mansion.

   There was a couch behind me, a TV elevated on the wall slightly looking down on the couch, and there was a fireplace beneath it. Of course, it was lit.

   I was spread out in front of the couch, one leg bent and the other straight, with my head toward the ceiling. 

   No.

   Mask.

   On.

   That kind of spiked my nerves, but didn't do much. I was possibly here alone, although Jack should be somewhere... Where was he, anyway? Shouldn't I be getting my bandages changed?

   "Eli," I shot up. "Are you okay?" I recognized Jack's voice behind me and I turned around, my power disintegrating into blindness. I smiled a little.

   "Yeah... I think so." I replied.

   "PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder." He states. I'm confused. "That's what you just experienced. Do you know what triggered you?" He asks.

   "Uh..." I'm slightly stunned. I'd been out of that facility for almost a year. And it was affecting me now? Why? "You weren't in your room... I... I thought they found me and took you away to get to me."

   He hums in response. There's a silence that follows and it stretches out, building up my nerves.

   "We need to get back to my room. Your stitches may have ripped and I don't want them to get infected. I'd have to take care of you and I don't have the time for that." He grumbled. I could feel him walking away and I quickly got up before he left. 

   I hissed. The ache in my chest had grown into something worse, and I feared Jack may be right. I may have torn my stitches and that wasn't good. They were just now healing, right?

   I slightly jogged to catch up with him as he turned corners almost rapidly. Damn, he was fast. 

   "If you get any more flashbacks," Jack said over his shoulder. "Come to me first. If I'm not available, go to BEN. Slender should be your last option, yet he can do things I can not. You need actual medication since his 'magical properties' could be quite harmful to you."

   "What do you mean?" I asked, my arms crossed. My chest hurt so bad...

   He stopped and I almost ran into him. I could feel him turn around and stand up a little straighter.

   "You aren't a proxy, Eli. It's a simple concept. You haven't died in his presence or under his rule. His magic can hurt you and leave you physically or mentally scarred, from what I've experienced with others.

   "It's only a miracle that you survived that teleportation trick of his." He turns around and continues on. "Now come on, we need to get you patched up before the others return. Which won't be too long."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   After I got new stitches which hurt like hell, my medication, new bandages, I'm just in my room. Sitting on my bed. As that was happening, the force of all the minds coming back at almost the same time was really... Surprising.

   I could feel it, and it almost left me with a headache. 

   "Duuuuuuuuuuude!" BEN's voice filled my room as he suddenly popped in. I jump and reach for my mask on the table beside me, quickly placing it on my face before BEN got to see. "I heard you had a panic attack earlier, what was that all about?" Oh my god. 

   "I... don't really want to talk about it..." I mumbled, turning my head away from his direction.

   "Aww, okay..." He sighed dramatically which earned a little smile. "So how's it been these past few days? What have you been doing? It seems kind of boring in here, to be honest." He starts rambling.

   "You've got to decorate! Scratch it up a bit! Give the walls some blood splatters or something! Make it colorful." I couldn't help but laugh a little at that statement. I lean back. It's kind of nice hearing from someone without a monotone voice.

   "And if I don't want to?" I ask playfully, tilting my head to the side and leaning forward a little bit.

   He scoffs. "Well then, that's boring! But hey, whatever." He trails off. "OOH! Do you have a nickname yet? Have you thought of one?"

   "Actually, no. I don't think I have." I tilt my head to look up at the ceiling. "Give me some ideas," I suggest.

   "You really gonna put me on the spot like that? Damn, okay. Uh, let's see..." He trails off. There's a long silence that follows. 

   I hear him snicker. "Edgy Eli?"

   "What? No!" That had me laughing my head off and almost falling off the bed before I caught myself. That sent BEN into a fit of laughter, too.

   "What about... Elian the Great?" 

   "That sounds like I'm some kind of emperor..."

   "Okay... Eli the Troubled?" He recommends.

   I take that into consideration. That seems about right, yeah? It fits.

   "You know what?" I can feel his mind shift into questioning. "I really like that name. It fits me almost too well.

   "Can I ask how you got the idea, BEN?" I turn towards him and I feel him fall into a dark, forgotten place. "Oh, I'm sorry. You... You don't need to-"

   "No, it's... fine." He grumbles out. "I was drowned by my father at a young age and basically resurrected a while back by Slender, but not before six years passed by."

   "So, umm, how old are you then?" I ask hesitantly.

   "I'm twenty, but I feel fourteen." Okay, uh, holy shit. "I'm past all those 'teenage hormones', which I'm absolutely grateful for, but, I don't see how that affects my mood much..." He stops, and I can feel him get back to his usual state. Ah yes, mood swings.

   "Well, I better be off! I'll get an artist to bring you up to popularity, Elian. It is my honor." I can feel him bow down, and I smile.

   "Bye, BEN. It was nice to hear from you again!"

   "Same here, Eli. Well, I better be going before the others think I'm doing something I'm not supposed to. Bye!"

   "Bye." And then he's gone.

   Eli the Troubled...

   I like it. I... think I'm going to keep it.

~~~~~~~~~~A/N

   Alright, I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated this in a while.

   I typed this all out today because I've been on a kind of writing block if you haven't noticed from my other books. So, Eli the Troubled. I think that fits him, don't you?

   And, I'd SO VERY MUCH appreciate fanart for this because Creepypasta is kinda really popular, isn't it? I mean, this book isn't, but the fandom is. So, I'd appreciate if you guys made some of that because I love art and seeing my handsome boy in your styles would be AWESOME!!!

   Alright, imma go now. BYEEEEEEE!!!!