The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa fell asleep around midnight, while Elias stayed wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

The sound of bugs chirping and cars driving by sounded from outside of the motel room, shadows passing by the window every few minutes. It was time.

Part of Elias wanted to stay in the bed and hold Alyssa close. They could just hide out here until the morning, but then Melina would want to talk.

They would come up with another plan that would endanger everyone, and he would go through this painful process all over again. He couldn\'t stay.

Carefully, Elias slipped out from under Alyssa, placing her arm back down on the mattress. He stepped away from her before pausing and looking back down at her.

Sadness swept over him like a wave, crashing through him when he realized that this could possibly be the last time that he ever saw her.

As she snoozed, with her lips slightly parted, she looked beautiful. He wanted to reach out and brush his fingertips along her cheek, to feel her skin one more time, but he stopped himself.

He didn\'t need to wake her up. He already said his goodbye before they fell asleep.

Elias slipped on his shoes, moving mindlessly. Honestly, his plan wasn\'t even much of a plan, which didn\'t matter to him anyway.

It wasn\'t like any of his past plans worked out that well. He was going to roll with what was on his mind and see what happened.

Quietly, he opened the door to the motel room and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. He hurried away from the motel before anyone could hear him or catch him.

He ventured down the street of the small town, passing by businesses with lit neon signs in their windows. He didn\'t know where to go exactly, but he wasn\'t looking to find anyone. He was looking to be found.

Elias walked for thirty minutes, going as far from the motel as he could until he found a small park. It wasn\'t even much of a park. There were a few benches, a walking path, a slide, and three swings.

He walked through the trees surrounding the park and stepped into the main grassy area before the playground equipment.

His eyes swept around, looking at the shadows that the park lights casted on the ground.

"I know you can find me. Come get me!" he shouted into the darkness.

His heart thumped heavily in his chest as he looked around, knowing that someone had to be listening somewhere.

Alaric had his ways of finding Elias and his group. Now, Elias was giving himself up. "Come out, Alaric!"

Elias stopped yelling after a few minutes, breathing heavily as he listened to the quiet area all around him.

When he thought about it, it was eerily quiet. He swallowed hard before hearing a light crunch behind him.

He whipped around to see a woman with dark hair stepping out from behind a tree. His anxiety spiked, but he stayed still as she moved closer to him.

The woman stopped a few feet in front of him, cocking an eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

She wore black jeans and a black lace top, nearly blending into the darkness that surrounded her.

"You\'re here to see Alaric?" she asked.

Elias suspected that she was one of Alaric\'s followers. He figured that one of them had to be lurking around somewhere, keeping taps on the group.

He kept his guard up around her, watching her closely. He knew that she wouldn\'t try to kill him. That would have to be Alaric\'s honor.

"Yes. I want to talk to him," he replied. He knew that talking would only get him so far, but that was where he wanted to start.

The woman hummed under her breath, seeming intrigued.

"I\'ll take you to him," she said before motioning for him to follow her.

Elias stayed still for a moment, asking himself if he was seriously going to do this. He didn\'t know her.

Maybe she would kill him, but he believed that he could take her.

He decided to take a risk and follow her away from the park to a black car. He got into the passenger seat, trying to ignore how hard his heart was beating.

The woman got in the driver\'s seat and pulled onto the road, driving in silence for about fifteen minutes.

Elias kept his cool, peering at the woman out of the corner of his eye.

"Does Alaric know that I want to see him?" he asked her.

"Of course. He sent me to find you," the woman replied before pulling off the main road and stopping at an abandoned gas station.

Cobwebs and dust covered the old pumps, and dark stains tainted the concrete and asphalt. The storefront had faded paint and broken windows from years of being broken into.

Elias braced himself as the car shut off. He got out of the car and stared at the gas station\'s glass front door or what used to be the front door since it was shattered.

He glanced at the woman, who motioned for him to go inside. He breathed in deeply before heading toward the store. 

He started to question his own sanity. Maybe Scott was right, but it was too late to back out now. He had to see this through for his friends.

Protecting them was his main priority, and he was going to do that to the best of his ability. Against Alaric, his abilities were limited, but he believed in what he was doing more than Alaric did.

Slowly, Elias stepped into the gas station, broken glass crunching under his shoes.

The interior of the gas station was dark, but he could make out empty and overturn shelves. He glanced around, trying to make his way through the dark without running into anything.

"I didn\'t expect to see you so soon," Alaric\'s voice sounded to Elias\' left.