Books transport you out of reality and into a dream, and oh, how we humans tend to hate reality.
-Allison Mierop

Link yawns as he wakes up, stretching in the large, comfortable, hospital chair I made Creepy Henry bring in for him. It isn't even a full minute before he looks from Asher, who's been awake for a while and got some lemon pudding from the cafeteria, and then looks back towards me. The redhead simply shakes his head from the corner of my eyes and asks, "Do you ever sleep?" with a tone of distaste.

"Yeah, after I collect a few souls and make at least fifteen deals that will lead to some poor bastard's early demise I normally sleep for a good hour or two before going back to work as the Devil's daughter." I deadpan, not lifting my eyes from my book, 'Salem's Lot.

"Why did I even ask?" Lincoln mutters, turning to Anderson- -who chooses then to walk in- -like the snitch he is. "Elle's not sleeping."

"Hear that Wolf?" The asshole smirks at me. "Your cousin the strawberry snitched on you."

"Ew." I wrinkle my nose, a slight pout forming on my lips. "Weasley and I aren't related. Rather stab myself then be a ginger."

"And I'm not a strawberry either." Link points out, but we all ignore him.

Tsk.

Strawberries.

"You need to sleep." Anderson tells me.

"Noted vaguely," I reply, holding my book tighter so he can't do what the asshole did yesterday and threaten me with it. "But generally ignored."

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Anderson presses further, looking like he's about to do something that will piss me off.

"Take a wild guess." I say, scowling up at him while I hesitantly put my book down. 

"It's not about Travis. He wasn't the worse one and he's the only one that was there this time. So spill Wolf," Dr. Tate says with a overly smug look. My eyes snap up to him, growling at him due to the mention of 'the worse one' and Travis. "Why can't you sleep?"

We all choose to ignore the sound of my heart monitor beeping faster, because at the point Anderson isn't going to remove it in case my body gives out on me.

I could feel the mint green eyes on me, and it definitely wasn't helping.

The two friends looked equally alarmed at the Travis-wasn't-the-worse-one statement.

"I can never sleep well," I deflect. "You know that."

"That's not true." Link interrupted our conversation, sounding like he believes it. "Whenever we're together in the same place overnight you're one of the first ones asleep and the last one to wake up. Plus when you're not doing a practical in Culinary Ash told me you're never awake for long enough to even put you bag on the floor. And when you were in the hospital and -oh."

I tense even more at this, eyes casted down. 

The asshole Anderson seems to ignore this conversational tangent with ease and scoffs in disagreement. "Wolf here has the worst sleeping habits of any person I have ever met. For the last five years she's probably gotten the equivalent hours to a normal person's year of sleep."

"Year and a half." I pipe up, getting a sharp look in reply. "What? I've done the research. Also, I can last another day and six hours before I crash."

"Another day meaning the day after tomorrow or another day meaning tomorrow and six hours?" 

"Means tomorrow around eh...elevenish in the morning I'll probably drop. But if we can't figure out what's wrong with me by dinner time today I'll be going home." I announce. "Because I'm sick of hospitals. I just want to go home and see my dog. Also, I want to get away from Creepy Henry."

"Henry is not that bad. And you do realize that would mean you're leaving against medical advice and with the off chance you'd have a bad nightmare and boom-" Anderson snaps. "-you're dead."

"Yeah. But I've went home in worse conditions than this."

"I know and then you ending up back here because of it."

"No. I ended back here because a douchebag thought it would be a great idea to shove me into a wall when I had three broken ribs. It's only my heart this time. I'm not going to live my life in a hospital." I explain, meeting Anderson's eyes. "Travis wasn't the worse one. I don't see my nightmares changing from how they were before. I'll be okay. You won't have to see me again."

It's quiet for a moment before the asshole's grunts out a "Wouldn't that be lovely." from the back of his throat.

"Eliza what the fuck do you mean Travis wasn't the worst one? Like there's worse people to get kidnapped by." Lincoln asks, his voice half masked in mockery.

"Actually there are." I say, narrowing my eyes at the redhead. "Do you really think that all these scars only came from one person?" I muse, seeing as most of my scars didn't even come from Travis.

They came from Grace, and occasionally her 'best friend' and Travis's brother, Trevor.

"Then, if there are worse people why was Travis the only one that kidnapped you again? It doesn't seem logical to send your worst man to do something so big." Link continues, trying to make me spill my secrets.

"Well, the worst one won't even get the chance for bail again." I pause. "And the second worse one, he's dead."

"Oh." Link says, looking taken aback. "How'd he die?"

Since I stay silent, along with Anderson, it's a voice at the door that answers him. "She killed him." My head snaps over to the deep growl that sounds out after, eyes widening at the sight of my dad. "And yes, that should be a warning."

"Dad. Lay off him." I snap, scared for the two friends now that he's in the room. The Devil knows exactly what happened and he's pissed. Dad only growls at me, walking up to Asher's bed. The room is dead silent until I growl back at him, ready to pull him away from the golden boy at any second. "Dad."

Asher's heart monitor shoots up when my dad's hand moves towards him, only to plummet again when the only thing he does is lay a hand on his shoulder.

My dad wouldn't hurt the nice guy, he might give him a verbal ass kicking but not hurt him. He knows that would hurt me, and he doesn't hurt family.

"You okay kid?" 

And just like that all my worries disappear.

He doesn't hurt family.

It looks like to my dad, that includes Asher.

"M-me?" Asher stutters, shocked as everyone else is. "I'm okay I-"

"OH HOLY FUCK!" The all too familiar voice of my mother squeals in the hallway, literally slipping and sliding past my door. "Xavier!"

Dad's head shoots to my mother, lips pulled back in a warning to whatever is making Mom upset and causing her to fall before sending Asher one last glance and rushing towards his wife.

Tsk.

Parents.

Why did people like them choose to reproduce? Do they know the kind of stupidity me and Xander get up to? At least they didn't choose to have six kids like Aunt Jess and Uncle Cal...

Of course it's just then my phone rings because my brother it's the right time to call me. "What?" Is all I say when I take the call.

"Oh my god!" Xander exclaims on the other side. "I microwaved a grape!"

"You-" I cut myself off with a giggle, quickly restraining myself. "Is this like the time you microwaved the egg?" 

When he did that to a still in the shell egg it exploded not even a minute in and, when he continued to microwave it the gunk that seep down the seams exploded and boiled again so it set the microwave on fire and we had to get a new one.

"No," My idiot brother replies cherrily. "This time it got past two minutes and it didn't set it on fire...but I'll still need a new microwave. The smell is-" He giggles like a child. "-whoo, not good!"

"...is the grape okay?"

God, I never thought I'd have to say that sentence in my life.

Tsk.

Idiots.

"That is debatable, but I have to go. Mom and Celeste are going to kill me when they get home from visiting you. Oh yeah, I forgot to warn you. Dad, Mom and Cupid are all gonna be there soon. Probably leave if you don't want Cupid to fangirl over you and your situation." My jaw drops as Xander tells me this. "Also, she's more mad at you than when you got me arrested."

"You little shit Alexander. They're already here. You should have warned me when they left and you know what, stop fucking saying that. You're the one who got me arrested. You're the one who-"

"No time to chat." Xander doesn't seem much affected at all. "Love you, bye."

"Well I don't fucking love you." I mutter, hearing a scoff from my older brother. Before he can try to deny my claim I hang up on him.

Suddenly bright red things are flying towards my face, making me yelp when they hit my cheek. It startles me so much- -though I already know what was thrown at me and why- -that I end up tipping over smacking hard enough into the ground that my breath gets taken away.

What was thrown at me is a handful of strawberries, and the reason why I because when Celeste is going to fight someone, that someone meaning me in this instance, and actually mad at them she throws fruit. Her reason for this is because it's not good for people's health to yell or fight then but fruits are good for people's health.

Only Xander has actually eaten the fruit thrown at him, having it happen enough he just got used to it.

The type of fruit depends on how mad she is, which is basically just how much she likes said fruit.

Grapes mean she's not that mad, but annoyed enough to pick a fight.
Apples, though I think it's too harsh but she loves them, mean she's mad but won't hurt you. With her fists anyway.
Strawberries mean you've made her mad and she might hurt you.
Oranges mean she's mad and she will hurt you.
Bananas mean she's pissed and you should just take it like a man and she might actually cut you.
Star Fruit, I don't even know where she finds that shit, mean she's pissed and you should run.
Watermelon, yes she throws those watch out, mean that she's pissed and you won't get the chance to run so don't worry about it.

I got strawberries, which means I made her mad but not too mad that I suddenly fear for my life.

Celeste is scary.

Just like her mother, though easy to sedate like her dad.

"Oh look Weasley," I say blandly, picking out a rather small one that clung to one of my brown curls. "It's your real cousin."

Lincoln gives me a withering look before raising a single finger.

"What?" Celeste shouts, hands flipping around like a dying fish. "You're vocal and no one told me?"

"It would appear that way." I glare at the angel girl, lip raised to show off one of my sharp canines. "Now explain why you charged in here throwing strawberries. What did I do to deserve that. Let alone while you thought I went mute again?"

"I read the police report." The blonde says like that explains it all. Her pale green yes tinged with explosive anger.

"Just because you say it in that definitive tone doesn't mean that it means anything to me. Dig deeper into your cheerleader subscious. Big words. More details. Less fruit." A full blown smirk, teeth and all, makes it's way on my face, finally being able to annoy someone who will react properly.

By that I mean Celeste turns redder, hand tightening around the strawberry container ready for a second round. "Get your actions together Elle! I read the police report. I know, we all know what you did when you ran outside."

"I literally went straight to the ambulance, the police are all scared of me and Dad so they stayed away as long as they could. I don't get your point. And I didn't really run anyway, it was more of a limp slash exhausted walk." I shrug.

"Not that time you ran outside." She snarls, and suddenly her point becomes clear.

When I got Travis's phone and was able to get outside, read the street sign and address before going back inside, like nothing had happened.

It only occurred to me after that I could have ran to find safety and help, I could have ran and save myself from all the pain I went through all over again.

I could have run and save myself again.

But I didn't.

Because the golden boy was still locked in the basement, waiting for me to be thrown back in. The nice guy was hoping he'd get to see me and just for that night before the sun came up everything would be okay. My boyfriend was still trapped and was hoping I'd get free. Asher was kidnapped too.

And I would do anything to save my family, and now, that includes him too. 

"Oh." I mutter, picking up a strawberry and throwing it at Anderson -who I notice walk in just as I toppled over in bed. "I'm mad at you." I tell him, watching one of his eyebrows raise.

"For?"

"Three things. One. Not telling me the sun is going to explode. Two. Not telling me this crazy blonde lunatic was planning to assult me. And three. Calling my parents when you didn't have to." I growl at him, watching him stiffen. "If you gave my mom a panic attack over this stupid nightmare shit two things would die. You and my inner bitch."

"Why have an inner bitch when you're a bitch in the outside all by yourself?" The asshole counters, making me grin.

"Backup. When one bitch alone is not enough for a threat, I can flip the inner bitch-switch to a level two, super-bitch. This can be stopped only with the right amount of value to me as a person. On to the next level, the mega-bitch, level three. Once that happens it can't be turned off till someone is bleeding or dead. Level four, my GigantasaurusBitch. For this one you'd probably need a gun and or a watermelon in your case," I motion to Celeste, who looks like she's enjoying this a little too much. "And that's only been documented once and ended with a morgue visit."

"Documented?" Link asks, and is probably just confused about the rest of the bullshit I just spouted.

"Well yeah," I snort, and I'm sure my mom would call my look feral. "They only found one of the bodies."

And boy oh boy, even Anderson paled a little at how sinister that made me sound.

"Her first kill was October 21st when she was nine," My dad recaps, entering the conversation with flustered Mom at his side. "I'll never forget how gruesome it was. Rest in peace Bubbles."

"May you swim in heaven forever little bro," I salute the sky. "God would want your golden scales up there. I needed a spy anyway."

"Oh would you too be quiet?" My now exasperated mom says. "You're both the same kind of idiot. Being so smart that it made a full circle, smacked you and made you dumb all over again."

"If you think I'm dumb just wait till you see what Xancer did to the microwave."