Thread by @Lckstat, He needed to take a break from the Manor, from all of [...]

He needed to take a break from the Manor, from all of the chaos and commotion that went on every day. Every day felt like he was being pushed closer to another breakdown, and he found himself more prone to hiding away in his bedroom from everyone else. If anyone asked him, he -

would tell them he was busy working on paperwork or the like, but the truth was he wasn& #39;t. Not most of the time, anyways.

The nightmares were only growing more persistent now, pockets of memories from months ago when he first arrived at the Manor. Back in those days, the rules -

weren& #39;t quite so lenient - lives were lost, much to the enjoyment of the hunters who partook in those games. Most of the games he& #39;d tried his best to forget about, but there were still ones that haunted him, snapshots and images that could never be scrubbed from his mind.

-

Come to think of it, he was one of the only survivors left from those times, as most of the others came later, after the bloodbath. They had no idea the kinds of things he& #39;d seen and experienced firsthand, what horrors had soaked the very grounds they still played games upon. -

All those lives that were lost before his eyes... it was almost as if they& #39;d never existed in the first place.

After one such nightmare, he finally decided he& #39;d had enough. It was under the darkness of the night when he left his room, leaving behind his phone on his dresser. -

He doubted anyone would come looking for him, nor did he expect to leave for very long, so he didn& #39;t even bother leaving behind a message. The only person who would likely try to contact him would be the detective, but he figured that he& #39;d understand what he was going through.
-

Elliot quietly made his way through the Manor, being careful not to make too much noise or draw any attention to himself as he walked. Thankfully, on his way to the front door, he didn& #39;t come across any of the others. He didn& #39;t want to explain what he was doing or where he was -

going.

Cracking open the door just wide enough for him to squeeze through, he left the Manor. The cool night breeze felt soothing on his face as he stepped outside, taking a deep breath. His mind already felt a lot more clear just from being outside. He made a quick mental -

note to take more frequent walks in the future.

But this wasn& #39;t simply a walk. There was a specific place he wanted to go to, a specific spot in one of the areas where the games took place. At this time, there wasn& #39;t likely to be anyone there... The Arms Factory, it was -

called, one of the more well trodden of the game areas.

It wasn& #39;t too far of a walk from the Manor, only some minutes away from it. The sight of the familiar debris and run down buildings greeted him, eerie in the light of the moon. He headed immediately to the outskirts of -

the area, searching along the edges for a specific spot on the ground...

"Aha."

To anyone else, the pile of oil barrels and planks of wood would be indistinguishable, but to him, he knew exactly where he was. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the moment unfold in -

front of him, he could feel his heart racing and his chest tightening with fear as he ran...

It was the sixth day. The sixth day after he& #39;d come to this Manor when it happened. The specific game in which his brother had lost his life. It was this, specific patch of soil where -

he& #39;d fallen, never to get up again. In those very last moments of his life, he remembered he& #39;d called out his name, a sound he could never push out of his memories. He hadn& #39;t turned back to watch, but he could picture his expression as he was dragged downwards... the sickening -

noise that followed after words-

Elliot took another deep breath. He inhaled, counting to ten, before exhaling again.

Up until now, he& #39;d always ran from those thoughts, those memories that kept hunting him, day by day. He thought if he kept his mind off of them, the pain of -

it all would grow numb and senseless, and he& #39;d be free from it. It was the complete opposite - it nearly plagued every waking second of him.

He needed to come to terms with himself.

He couldn& #39;t remember the first time it& #39;d happened... the first time someone in his life had -

d*ed. In the beginning, he thought it was a mere coincidence, but as more and more incidents kept occurring, it became much more blatantly obvious - though he was blessed with good luck, the people in his life were cursed. He told himself it was superstition, over and over -

again, but he believed himself less every time. Once his parents had lost their lives, he started to isolate himself from other people. He kept contact with others to a minimum, terrified to bring unnecessary tragedy into more lives.

But his brother hadn& #39;t given up on him, -

insisting that he stuck by his side no matter what. And... he really believed him. Nothing bad had ever happened to his brother yet, so maybe he was spared by his luck?

He was wrong. So, very very wrong.

Elliot crouched down beside the patch of soil, running a hand through -

the dirt. He picked up a handful, letting it fall through his fingers.

He didn& #39;t come here to continue blaming himself, however. He had lingered long enough on that. What had happened in the past was in the past, and he couldn& #39;t control anything that had happened. It wasn& #39;t his-

fault. None of it was his fault, it was all an unlucky draw of the dice of life, that all those things happened. To say he had any part in any of those tragedies was like... believing that black cats were bad luck, or that stepping on a crack really broke the backs of mothers.

-

In the end, he was just a normal guy. A guy who kept pulling the right cards in life, but just a normal, every day person, like everyone else.

Normal...

The dirt stopped falling from his hands. Or more specifically, it froze in the middle of the air, suspended beneath his -

hand, mid fall.

Ever so slowly, it started to flow in reverse, back into his palm, controlled by some invisible force.

"... well, I guess not that normal." The ginger& #39;s mouth curled into a faint smile as he stared at the moving dirt. He still had yet to tell anyone besides -

two other people about this... ability of his, but what they didn& #39;t know couldn& #39;t hurt them, right?

Not yet, that is.

Elliot sighed as he returned the dirt to the ground, patting it flat with his hand.

That was another problem for another day.

-

For now, he just needed to go for a long stroll... A couple days& #39;s break, even, would be good enough.

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