Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was another day in Mineral Town, the people going about their business for the time, as the sun began to set. The sky was a glorious orange in the sky as Elli looked out of one of the clinic’s windows, and she smiled. It was a slow day, no one came in and she was thankful for that, since it gave her time to catch up on some paper work that Trent needed her to fill out. Once Elli had finished with her work, she checked her watch to see that it read ‘6:00.’ Feeling the need for a bit of rest, she piled the papers neatly and put them in the appropriate spot in the filing cabinet.

As Elli stood up, she saw Trent at his desk. Something seemed out of the ordinary with him, he seemed to be down for some reason. With a worried look on her face, Elli approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Um… Doctor Trent? Is something wrong?” Elli asked, her smooth voice tainted with the sound of worry, her body leaned forward so she could look at the black-haired young man’s face.

Trent looked up at Elli and told her “It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Though she could tell that Trent was lying, Elli nodded a bit before he spoke again. “I’m going out for a while,” he told her, standing up and heading to the door without waiting for an answer.

Elli was still a bit worried as she headed up the stairs of the clinic, to where Trent’s bedroom and her own were located. She went about her normal chores as she would any other day, gathering up Trent’s and her own clothes from laundry hampers and bringing them to the small laundry room, starting a load to wash and putting in the previous load to dry. Elli took the clothes that were in the dryer and started to fold them, separating them into piles of her own and Trent’s, before putting the small stack of his into his room and her own on her bed to be put away later.

With her chores out of the way, Elli stepped into the washroom, closing the door behind her and starting the water for the shower as she stripped down. She stepped into the shower when the water had reached the desired warmth, and she let it cascade down her skin and through her hair. Elli washed every part of herself carefully, coating her body in a white, bubbly lather and massaging the shampoo through her soft, brown hair. Once she had finished, she rinsed herself down and cut off the water before reaching out and grabbing a towel to dry herself off.

Once Elli had gotten dried off and dressed in her nightgown, she walked back into her room, ready to get to bed. Suddenly. just as she had lain down, she heard the door downstairs slam shut. Normally, she couldn’t tell when Trent had come home because he tended to be a bit more considerate, instead of slamming the door shut so loudly and rudely. Elli stood up and walked downstairs, where she saw Trent standing still at the door. Even from where she stood, Elli could smell the strong scent of alcohol.

“D… Doctor Trent? Have you been drinking?” Elli asked with a slight stutter. Something about him scared her.

Trent looked up at Elli, and laughed. “And what if I have been?” he spat, causing Elli to jump a bit.

Elli walked up to him, grabbing his forearm and pulling him towards the stairs. “Doctor… I think you need to get to bed… You’re drunk…” she said, the worried tone from before evident in her voice.

“Let go of me!” Trent almost yelled, pulling his arm from Elli’s grasp. “I can take care of my ******** self!” He glared at Elli as he yelled this, and the look in his eyes made Elli whimper a bit.

“I… I’m just trying to help…” Elli murmured, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but she tried to hold them back. She grabbed Trent’s arm again and tried to get him to come along once more.
“I’ve been having a bad time as it is, I don’t need your god damned sympathy!” Trent shouted, wrenching his hand violently from Elli’s grasp. The jerking movement he made cause him to hit Elli’s face, the sound of skin hitting skin echoed in the walls of the clinic. Trent showed no regret for having hit her, the look on his face still angry. “Just… Get out of my goddamn sight!”

Elli just stared at him as he shouted, the tears starting to flow down her cheek, her cheek just under her eye stinging with pain. With a shove, she pushed Trent out of the way and ran out the door.

Elli ran down the path, unable to keep herself from sobbing, ignoring the pain of her bare feet on the brick road. She ran until she was in the woods, before collapsing to her knees at the Harvest Goddess’s spring. There, she cried until she felt she couldn’t cry another tear, staring down into the clear depths of the spring.

The snap of a branch caused Elli to turn her head, trying to see through tears and darkness what made the sound. Coming up the stone steps to the spring was Mary, the girl who owned the library not far from the clinic. She was wearing her nightgown as well, but she had her shoes on, compared to Elli who had ran barefoot from the clinic.

“E-Elli?” Mary asked, her voice soft and shy as usual. She walked up to the upset Elli and knelt next to her, eyes filled with worry. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Elli told her what happened, trying not to cry again, though her efforts were futile, tears once more flowing down her cheeks. As she began to cry once more, Elli felt a pair of arms wrap around her as Mary hugged her. A comforting hand patted Elli’s back, and she began to cry openly against Mary’s shoulder.

As Elli began to calm down, she began to feel a bit happy. Despite all that had happened, she felt comfort in Mary’s arms. The library-girl’s hands stroked along Elli’s back to comfort her more before Mary spoke up.

“Um… If you want… You can stay with me for a couple days,” the shy girl suggested, looking at Elli, still holding her.

Elli looked up, her face red from crying, moving a hand up to wipe tears from her face. “W-would it be okay?” she asked, her breathing still recovering from her sobbing. Mary replied to this with a nod, and Elli hugged her tight. “T-thanks…”

Elli stood with Mary, who took the other’s hand and began to walk back. A full moon illuminated the forest path even through the trees, and both of them were thankful for that. The walk was uneventful for the most part, the only real ‘event’ was when Mary took them through the library to get to her room, rather than through her house, to avoid waking her parents.

Once inside Mary’s room, though, Elli only saw that there was her one, twin-sized bed. Before she could speak up to suggest anything, Mary spoke first.

“Um… If you want, we could share the bed, or I’ll sleep on the floor,” Mary suggested, but Elli shook her head.

“I can’t take your bed and make you sleep on the floor…” Elli told her, “I’ll take the floor instead…”

A back and forth argument ensued, until Mary just giggled a bit. “Fine, we’ll share the bed, no one has to worry about sleeping on the floor.”

Elli opened her mouth to protest, but Mary just shook her head and sat down on the bed. Elli sighed a bit and went to the other side, sitting down and pulling the covers over her body and laying down. When Mary cut off the light, Elli turned to face the edge of the bed.

Elli couldn’t quite explain it, but something about it made her feel a bit embarrassed. She kept telling herself over and over in her head that it’s just like a sleep over, it’s not like they were doing anything. She kept telling herself even after Mary said good night, until she eventually fell asleep.



To be Continued~

No, 'cause I remember Stu saying that she only came home on her days off. sweatdrop

Also, I can open up BtN on my emulator and check it to see if she goes home at night.

I'll definitely have to check that. sweatdrop