1 Trapped - Chapter I
“HEY! ELI, COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE KID!” Denise screams in disturbance as she once again sees the bruises on her daughter’s left arm. Along with it, Eli started to run along the hallway to tease her mother.
“Go come and catch me mommy!” the young girl responds as she runs around the dining table happily.
Denise just smiles in amusement as she looks at her daughter how joyful she is without minding where those bruises came from. As a mother, she’s too hesitant to tell her daughter about it, for the fact that she’s still a kid and might not understand everything she will say.
“Hey mommy, are you alright?” Eli stops running and slowly walks towards her mother when she notices that she stops talking all of a sudden.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m good, I’m alright darling” she taps Eli’s head and immediately responds so that her daughter would not ask too many questions.
However, Eli looks at her with confusion and curiosity.
“Shh don’t worry darling, mommy is alright”. Denise says with assurance.
“But mommy, you look so pale. Look at that sweat all over your face”. Without hesitation, Eli brushes off her mother’s hair so that she’ll be able to wipe her mother’s sweaty face. Even though she’s worried about her mother’s current situation, she did stay quiet.
“You stay still, I’ll be back in a minute, okay” Eli demanded as she ran towards her bedroom and left her mother dumbfounded.
Denise was amazed for a moment as she realized what her daughter said and what she saw based on her actions.
“You little kid, thank God that I chose you over him tss, no matter what happens in this present situation or rather in the near future, you will stay with me. Even if it costs my life, I’ll always protect you.”
“Mommy, I’m back!” Eli shouted in excitement as she ran back towards her mother.
Denise just smiled again and without hesitation she hugged her daughter tightly. Eli was astonished for a moment but then, she just hugged her mom back.
“Mommy, you’re really acting weird today, is there something wrong?” Eli asks, facing her mother’s face.
“Ahhm–”. Denise was about to say something, but then Eli cuts her off and hugs her mother again.
“Nah, just kidding mom, if you have something to tell me, it must be a great topic, I’ll be very interested in that”. Eli separated from her mother, and then genuinely smiled at her.
Denise shrugged then slightly laughed at what her daughter had said to her.
“You little kid; you’re really growing up huh”. Denise started to tease her as well as started tickling her daughter’s body.
“I’m already a grown up mommy, it’s just that I’m trapped in this body so I’m looking like a little kid tss”. Eli explained with disappointment.
“Ahh no, you’re still my baby girl, my one and only little princess”. Denise continued teasing her daughter and now started to cuff her chubby and soft cheeks.
“Mom, stop it, it hurts ah ha-ha– mom”.
Tears started to fall from their eyes as they laughed so hard.
“By the way, Eli, what did you get from your room?” Denise asked full of curiosity because she almost forgot about what happened earlier.
“Ah, I almost forgot about it, here give me your hand”. Eli says with excitement all over her face.
Eli felt shy as she handed over the handmade pearl necklace to her mother, it has a diamond pendant which symbolizes as well as represents their strong love and care for each other. She obviously made it by herself as a simple yet elegant necklace gift for her mothers’ birthday. It also has a locket, and inside of it is a picture of them, Denise genuinely happy looking at her and Eli when she was a few months old.
“Hey! Where did you get this?” Denise seems as surprised as she saw what’s inside the locket.
“It’s a secret mom, if you want to know, maybe you should try to find it out yourself.” Eli responds as a little smirk comes across her face.
“You teased me earlier, so it’s payback time mom.” Eli continued as if she’s blackmailing her mother.
“It’s not that hard to find out darling, don’t try mommy.” Denise responded as if she’s too confident that she’ll find it out so soon.
Eli’s dog suddenly barked in front of their door, so Denise and Eli suddenly stopped talking.
The dog continued to bark so Eli decided to go to her dog. And she walks through the corridor, so saw a big shadow that passes by, she thought that there’s someone other than them, but then she decided to ignore those things, she immediately go to Lilo, her dog, so that she’ll know what’s the reason why he keeps on barking at the front door.
As Eli reaches the front door, Lilo’s bark gets louder and he’s being aggressive, Denise was alerted from what she saw so she immediately ran towards them.
Eli’s standing at the front door, as if she saw a dead body in front of her.
“It’s you, I’ve been looking for you for almost decades, but now I’m here in front of you, there’s no way you can escape.” They said in a deep and cold tone of voice.
Eli doesn’t show any interest and emotion, as if she saw nothing.
“Hey darling, what’s wrong? You’re standing there for almost a minute, there’s no one there.” Denise worriedly explained to her daughter.
“Ah, I thought I saw someone here. They’re three of them, and the one who’s standing in the middle keeps saying words, but I don’t understand what he’s talking about, it’s like he’s controlling me not to respond but to listen to his voice and words.”
Denise seems to know what Eli’s talking about, but instead of saying something, she chooses to stay quiet because this isn’t the right time to talk about those things.
“Eli--.” Denise was about to say something comfortable to her daughter, but Eli immediately cuts her off.
“They said they’ve been looking for me for a long time.” Eli continues to talk while she’s still standing in front of the door without even blinking her eyes, it looks like she’s been hypnotized.
Denise can’t do anything to shut her off, so she decided to slap her daughter’s cheeks.
“What happened?” Eli asks in confusion.
“Why does my cheek hurt?”
“What happened mom?”
“Why am I here, I’m just sitting with you earlier.”
“Why is Lilo here, I thought he’s asleep?”
Eli asks continuously.
“Eli, slow down, relax, and relax your body and mind, okay darling. You can ask me one by one okay.” Denise says as she’s trying to make Eli calm down, even for a moment.
“Okay for now, let’s sit first, you’re standing there for almost five minutes, I bet you’re already tired.” Denise said ironically, so that Eli’s mind will somehow forget about what had happened earlier.
“First of all, I know as well as you know that we’re together earlier right?”
“Yeah, I know. But how did I get here?”
“I don’t either know, it feels like time stopped when you get here, and you’re the only one who’s aware of that, I know nothing as well as I don’t hear anything strange when we’re together.”
"It feels so weird mom, I swear." Eli's trying to calm down even though she actually can't.
"Don't think about that much okay, let's just ignore those things for now. Understood?" Denise says as she's trying to convince her daughter.
"Yes mom, thank you". Eli responded with a smile on her face.
"Come with me, I remember I baked some cookies last night. Let's eat it first."
Denise stood up as well as guided Eli through the kitchen. It seems like everything is messing up, when they started showing up from nowhere. But knowing Denise, she'll definitely do everything so that her daughter will not get hurt.
While happily eating their cookies, the atmosphere seems to change, from the hot and warm surroundings that easily went cold, as if someone passes by. Eli stopped eating her cookies and was caught by Denise unconsciously staring in front of her, as if she's staring at someone he can't even see.
"Hey Eli!" Denise started to panic because her daughter was looking pale. Her hands are getting cold and she starts sweating cold.
She repeatedly calls her name but Eli doesn't give any interest, she's still unconscious but still looking in front of her.
"Eli! Eli! Eli".
Denise continues to call her name.
———
"Eliiiiiii."
A blaring as well as irritated voice screaming from the outside of the room.
"Hey Eli, you wake up. You'll be late for your class". It was Denise, her mother continues to yell at her.
"Yeah yeah, I'm awake. I'll go down in 10 minutes."
"Okay". Denise responded in a cold tone of voice.
"And by the way, please don't shout, I can hear you, everyone can hear you. You might wake up the neighbors.".
"Tss, just go downstairs if you're done fixing yourself. Breakfast is already served. Love you"
“Yes mom, thank you. Love you too”
“That dream, no. That nightmare again…” Eli exhales full of exhaustion.
“What does it mean? Argh!”
“Why do I keep dreaming about those incidents? Ahh it really hurts”. Eli quietly screams as she holds her head that is now aching all of a sudden.
Being in that kind of situation makes it even hard for her to open up to her mother, for the fact that she’s afraid of what she’ll hear and what she’ll think of her.
The moment that nightmare appears, is the moment that bad luck has voluntarily come to her. It’s as if destiny is on her side, but then it’s an unknown mystery that’ll make her life miserable to the point she need to choose between the people she loves.
I’m Eli Fujihara, 17 years old. And this is where my journey starts.
