Don't Call Him That

Chapter 15

I wake up the next morning, going through my morning routine as usual and heading to school. I decide to walk, just so I can stop by Erik's house. I get into his backyard, climbing up the tree to look into his room. As I predicted, he's not there. He's probably downstairs in the basement, so I know what to do to get him back into his room. I walk around the house and ring the doorbell. Eleanor answers the door, still dressed in her pajamas. She has a fake smile on her face, the kind that you can easily tell is fake.

"Erik's still upset. He's refusing to speak and every time I turn away from him he bangs his head against the wall. He cut himself again recently, too... the poor baby." I sigh, sickened by this horrid woman's excuses.

"Can I... can I see him?" I ask. Eleanor shakes her head.

"He's too depressed at the moment, but you can always come back later."

"I won't have time later," I lie, knowing exactly what I'll do. She just sighs.

"I'll tell him you stopped by." I leave her house, walking to the school. It's been lonely not having Erik here for these past few weeks, but at least he wasn't here because he was in the hospital. Now he's not here because of his abusive mother. I go about my day as usual, trying to spend time with some other students in Erik's class. There's a really nice girl named Sarah who uses a wheelchair. She tells me that she used to be able to walk but she got in a car accident a while back, so now she can't. There's another student who reminds me of a female Erik. Her name is, ironically, Eleanor. That makes me wonder what it would be like if Erik had a good mother. Ellie (that's what Eleanor prefers to be called) talks to me about how she used to like Erik, but since he never talked to anyone, she gave up. She says she thinks he has problems at home, but she's not sure. She doesn't seem like she's been abused, though, so that's a pretty good sign. Aside from being a little shy, she's talkative and doesn't have panic attacks. I'm not sure if she's intellectually disabled or not, but she told me she's autistic. I do admit, she and Sarah help keep my mind off Erik, but that doesn't mean I don't still miss him.

"You miss Erik, don't you?" Sarah asks. I nod. "What happened to him? Like... Why's he always so anxious and stuff? Does he have problems at home?" Ellie and I exchange glances.

"I'm not really sure," Ellie starts, "but he said something about his mother being mean to him one day. But when the teacher heard him and asked to talk about it he never brought it up again."

"Well, um... Erik has told me a lot. I've seen it, too, actually. He's abused pretty badly at home," I say, my voice dropping to a low whisper. "His mother... she does horrible things to him." Ellie and Sarah share a glance, cringing.

"Oh my God, I hope Erik is okay..." Ellie says. I nod.

"He's... he's doing the best he can for now. I'm going to call the police on his mother tonight because she's making him even more depressed lately." Ellie and Sarah nod, giving me sympathetic looks.

"Well, when you see him, tell him we're sorry for not talking to him. We didn't mean to be rude, we just weren't sure if he wanted to talk. He's always been really quiet and anxious, we weren't sure... But now we're definitely going to talk to him," Sarah says.

"And I'm happy he's dating you. You really love him, don't you?" Ellie asks, making me blush.

"I do love him, very much. I can't wait for him to move in with me and be okay..." I sigh.
"Tonight. When I call the police, I'll make sure Erik moves in with me right away." Ellie and Sarah both nod as a teacher comes up behind me.

"Clarkson, may I speak to you for a second? It's about Erik." I nod, saying a quick goodbye to Sarah and Ellie. The teacher looks me in the eyes. "I overheard you girls talking about Erik's home life, and I'm just curious. Did Erik tell you this, or did you go to his house and see it for yourself?"