There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love. 
-Christopher Morley

"And you understand that you're leaving against medical advice and in the case injuries, pain or death the hospital and me, as your doctor and consultant, cannot be held accountable." Anderson recites without having to even look down at that paper, instead he chooses to glare at me. "Wolf I still have no idea what is wrong with your heart. It's like it wants you to die. We don't know if you can handle the level your nightmares will be."

"Yes we do. My nightmares haven't changed. I haven't just not slept these last three weeks, I've already had nightmares. I'm not dead. There. Proof." I say, not bothering to glare at him as I finish packing. Dad is signing my release papers in the corner of the room, not letting Mom see them because she'd freak out and make me stay. They trust my judgement and all, and Anderson's too, but they know I need to go home.

"...you already experimented with yourself? When it comes to your heart and nightmares." The asshole Dr. Tate asks.

"Took you long enough to catch on." I say, seeing the concern and anger rising in him and quickly tell him more. "My aunt was on standby, she knew to take me hear if I suddenly start coughing up blood. My nightmares aren't worse, I promise. I didn't even get a nosebleed. It wasn't bad this time. Grace and Trevor weren't there. You need to stop worrying so much."

"You got kidnapped!" Anderson shouts, like I hadn't realized that.

"I notice," I stare at him, eyes narrowed. "What's your point?"

"My point is that you got kidnapped. Any reasonable, sane person should be worried about you."

"Then be unreasonable. Be insane," I wink at him, bringing a second meaning to my words. "It spices up life pretty good. You looked stressed, is something bothering you. I bet it's me. Score, that's three people in the span of a hour."

Without even glancing at me, or showing that he was paying attention Dad lifts his hand and we air-five.

"For someone I'm supposed to be treating medically you sure make me want to hurt you sometimes." Anderson snaps, his regular I'm-upset-with-you glare turns into a death glare. "And I'm not usually violent."

"You broke my cousin's nose." I say, now amused. "That seems just a teensy, twinsy wittle bit of violent to me. Just saying."

"What!" My mother squeaks, scrambling to her feet. "Which cousin."

"Evangelos." The asshole says slowly, as if he's afraid. And having hurt someone in my dad's family I would be too. "...but he deserved it. I swear."

"What'd he do?" Dad asks in a cold voice.

"Um...he...he asked how many time she'd have to fuck Travis to get his name on her."

And suddenly, due to the look on my dad's face and the deep, dangerous growl that leaves his chest, I remember why people call him the Devil.

And so does Dr. Tate because within seconds he leaves the room and no doubt goes straight to the idiot who said that about me, making sure nothing too bad happens to him.

 "Dad calm down," I say, making enough eye contact to tell him it's okay. "He got what was coming to him. No sense in teaching him the same lesson twice."

My dad merely grumbles under his breath, blue eyes glaring darkly at the door.

Asher is getting released today, for some fucked up reason Anderson told my parents that he needed a support system that Lincoln's parents couldn't provide. Which means he's going to be living with us until Anderson says he's not going to have any more panic attacks.

The only time in my life I've been simultaneous loving and hating the fact that they're such good people.

Now I'm tempted to not even leave the hospital, staying here until Anderson does figure out what is wrong with me.

And through manipulation I can make sure that happens for a long time, just long enough for the golden boy to be okay again and go back to his apartment.

But of course, my dad would see right through that.

Wolf's.

Tsk.

"Eliza is currently stable, so you don't need to worry right now. I've ran a series of tests to find out what was wrong, I'm still waiting on her last blood results but after looking back through all them for the past two years I have a pretty good idea what's happening. I did a ultrasound of her heart and it had showed some odd movement. Originally I thought it was her heart murmur, but then I looked back at previous recordings and noticed what it really was. She's suffering from what is called Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, in other words Octopus Trap Heart. It gets it's name from how the heart's left ventricle takes the shape of a japanese octopus trap." 

I groan as I hear a deep voice talking, realizing my name was said.

Having fallen asleep on the couch, since one very thing wall and a single door separates us when I was in my room and Asher's was in his. I felt like we were too close.

It was either get more distance, or leave none left.

Hence the couch I curled up on with a book in my lap, having gone with the first option.

The one I hate the most.

Still, I'm so fucking tired, so I don't even care what's being said. I just want to stay asleep, even if I can already feel the kinks in my neck.

"The symptoms are similar to a heart attack, just more bloody. It can occur through physical or emotionally stressful events. The other name is The Broken Heart Syndrome and it can be serious. Lethal even. I think she got her heart weakened so much during something earlier this year that any taxing events lead her to close death. This condition is caused by an extreme adrenaline rush. Some people have it from good events like a wedding, winning a sporing event, or even a birthday so it doesn't have to have something negative to trigger it. In her case I think it was a bad thing right before a good thing, then back to bad, another good and then another bad."

Anderson, that asshole, it's his voice that woke me up.

It takes roughly thirty seconds of silence for me to comprehend everything he says, and after coughing the dry air out of my lungs I'm the only one who replies to him. "Damn," I say, my eyes water after just waking up and being so tired. "Imagine being that happy you were born."

A yawn along with a squeak leaves my mouth before I stretch, then I settle back down against the couch.

I realize that Luci is on the couch with me when he moves against my legs, but otherwise stays in place staring at me.

He must have missed me if he didn't get up and go with my mom, given her does usually sleep with me.

"Oh great your awake. Now, tell me what was the bad things so we can try to avoid them." Anderson says, him and my parents acknowledging my presence. Why did they even go in here if they could all see I was sleeping on the couch?

"Trump got in office." I mumble, my mouth taking over where my brain couldn't.

I'm way too tired for this.

"No. Something that affects you."

"That does affect me," I protest. "He's a horrible president. I get murderous when I see him."

"Baby wolf please just cooperate." My mom says gently, warm grey eyes staring directly at me.

Anyone can see why Dad fell in love with her, she's a amazing person.

"The party where that guy got a good few hits in. And got something hella bad in my system. James Keller." I tell him, rolling over so I can meet Dr. Tate's brown eyes. "A fight with Mason Dallas where he used fire against me, in a mental way not physically. And the kidnapping, obviously. So avoid getting beat up, drugged, fighting and being kidnapped. Good advice for everyone, actually."

"Smartass," Dad comments, smirking deeply. "You forgot fire."

"Eh." I shrug. "I can handle that to a certain extent. That might be a little less than before, but I won't break down just being around it again. I never even lost verbal ability for more then a day."

"True, and you didn't even go to the hospital until two weeks after," My dad's tone tells me all I need to know about how unhappy he is about the situation. "But I know you're not okay. I know you're trying to be, but you're not. Don't push yourself. I don't want a repeat of what happened on your 13th birthday."

The day I coded because of what they told me was a really bad seizure.

"You know, in a way that situation is actually sort of cool." This gets me flat looks from everyone in the room. "What? Technically I'm a zombie, which makes you," I motion to Anderson. "A necromancer."

The asshole is obviously not too happy at this realization. "I'm not a necromancer! But the zombie thing does explain all that." He motions to me, making Dad narrow his eyes at the doctor but Anderson ignores the fact he just insulted me in front of the Devil. My mom giggles at me, nodding as if his words were the answer to something she had been asking for years.

Rudeness.

Tsk.

Whatever, at least I know where I got it from.

Still being tired I stand to go trudge into my room, but my dad quickly shoots a hand to keep me where I am.

With a small growl I raise a eyebrow at him, as if to ask "What?"

"That kid couldn't fall asleep in Xander's room. Ruckus left it messy, and apparently just being there felt weird. Since you were already out here-"

"You let him sleep in my room." I conclude.

"Yeah," He nods. "He's still not up. So he must need the sleep. Though it took some convincing for him to even go in there, I knew you wouldn't mind."

"I bet you just told him if he didn't get to sleep you'd just wake me and Mom up to help solve the issue." I grin at the smiles in his eyes, hidden by the slight smirk on his face. Anyone who didnt know him would think he never smiles.

He does.

Mostly, it's all in his eyes so people miss it.

Took my mom awhile to find it too, but once she did she never forgot to look.

Or so I've been told.

"Yep. That's chill," I stand anyway, sighing. "Since he can actually sleep there he can take my room. I'll use Xanders while he's here. But if he comes home I'm not sharing it. That idiot has to sleep on the couch."

Mom scolds me for insulting my brother before letting me go to his room, one I'll no doubt use to prank the hell out of him next time he visits.

Took some lessons from Aunt Jessie, though with his black hair pink dye can't go far. But instant tanning lotion in his body wash can.

And I can't wait to see how Alexander looks when he has the skin of a Oompa Loompa.

I still have to test that 5 hour energy, hot cheetos and red bull combination as a energy drink with him.

Xander is, should I say, both reckless and stupid enough to drink something like that. When his angel girl isn't around anyway.

Slipping into Xander's room the first thing I notice is how strong his presence is just then, how the entire area just screams of my brother. It smells like him too.

Sometimes I don't realize how much I miss him now that he's off at college.

Because I do.

I miss my brother, I miss his goofiness, the stupid stuff he would do, how close we were, how he would do the stereotypical protective big brother things at odd times and the things we would do together just so he would make sure I was okay.

When we were both in highschool at the same time- -my freshman to junior year and his sophomore to senior year- -he would walk by my classes every hour on the way to his own, and make sure to pop in during my lunch hour.

"Boom." He'd say, loud enough for me to hear.

"Kaboom." I'd say. Sometimes, most times, it wasn't loud enough. And sometimes it would be the only word I'd say all day.

Especially since my freshman year I was still healing from being kidnapped the first time.

That's why our text ringtone is boom or kaboom for one another and why our calls have the song lyrics "It's the end of the world as we know it, and we're doing just fine. Yeah, it's the end of the world as we know it."

I love my brother, I miss him.

That's why I find myself sinking into his bed, clutching the pillow I know he always sleeps on and hold it against me.

Taking a shuddering breath I put his covers over me, finding extreme comfort and more safety then normal in this house -and I always feel pretty safe.

When I wouldn't want my parents to worry, or they were off at a court case, or I thought it was just too late, or if I had a bad dream involving him, I would always knock on my brothers door. He'd let me in and he'd stay up telling me the weirdest, funniest stories ever.

An idea pops into my head and I dig my phone out from my sweatpant's pocket. Dialing his number, which is saved under Big Bro and a terrible picture of Xander sleeping on the way down to Grams and Papa Lee's farm.

What a loser.

"Kaboom." I say into the phone the second he picks up, my voice giving away how tired I feel. Emotionally and physically.

"Boom." Alexander says, exactly how I thought he would. "What's up Elle? Do you need anything or are you just soaking up my awesomeness."

"I miss you," I admit, not expecting the tears that sting my eyes and make it hard for me to speak without a wobbling voice. "I'm in your room by the way. Asher's here. The 'rents took him in because Anderson gave them the hurt puppy speech. I really do miss you though, and I'm so sorry tired." I pause. "A part of me doesn't want to fall asleep."

"Oh." My brother says, thinking. "I miss you too. Wish I could be there for you, it sucks being away from home so much. I thought getting some more independence would be good for me like everyone my age talks about but the further I get from you and Mom and Dad the worse I feel. College life is tough. I wish I chose something close to home. But nope, Standford of course.  A lot of these kids didn't grow up in good families, and as far as I can tell ours is the closest. And compared to these assholes you better be glad we were raised right. God damn."

I giggle at this, closing my eyes so I can listen to him without letting my other senses distract me.

"Just yesterday I was going to get a hot dog and some guy barges into me, take the food I ordered and runs away. I had already paid for it. I got a refund, but it just made me so mad. I saw him after, it was just a stupid dare his friends made him do. But I know if you were with me he wouldn't even have gotten close to stealing my food. Celeste laughed so hard, I was so offended. She has a picture of my face when it happened too. I should have her send it to you."

A half grin half smile stretched onto my lips and I can feel the tension leave my body.

I really do miss him, more then I ever thought I would.

"It was pretty much the face I made when I was at the hospital that one time, because I was offended then too. You know that time I got a concussion because Cupid threw a fucking watermelon at me. Should have worn a damn helmet. I'm never pranking her again. Like, if I knew putting black dye in her shampoo would put me in the hospital I...actually yeah, I would have done it. Totally worth it. I just wish you saw my soccer coaches face when I told him why I couldn't play that day. Being hurt by the head cheerleader's watermelons has two meanings and I got assaulted by the worst half."

I snort at this, but it takes so much energy to even comprehend what he's saying.

"Oh! That reminds me. One day I was late to practice because of a...wardrobe malfunction. Yeah, let's go with that. And Coach turned red. It was hilarious. You should have seen the way he blew up, like Harry's Aunt in the third book. Honestly I've never seen anything funnier. No, I take that back. There was that one time..."