Visitor

“Dude. It’s 3 in the morning.”

Ren’s voice was laced with unconcealed annoyance. They rubbed the sleep from their eyes, groggily surveying their best friend, Eli, standing anxiously on their doorstep. 

“Can I... come inside?” Eli asked, his voice breaking. 

Ren sighed, stepping aside and allowing him to enter, closing and locking the door behind them. They switched on the lamp in the living room, turning around to find Eli peering between the thick white curtains into the darkness of the street outside. 

“So... what’s going on?”

Ren’s words seemed to startle Eli. He pried himself away from the window and sat uneasily on the edge of the couch, as if poised to bolt at a moment’s notice. In the weak light provided by the small lamp, Ren studied their friend in more detail. 

His eyes were wild, constantly darting around the room as though he was expecting something to materialize from the shadows. His face held an unnatural pallor under a sheen of sweat. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His clothes were tousled, as if he’d pulled them on in a hurry, and he kept tugging the sleeves of his hoodie down to conceal his wrists. Everything about him was so far removed from the Eli that they knew that Ren hardly recognized him. Eli was supposed to be put together, confident, not... this. 

“I...” Eli hesitated for a second, then realization flashed in his eyes. He stood abruptly, heading towards the door. “I shouldn’t be here.”

Ren’s hand shot out, clasping around Eli’s wrist. He whipped around at them, his face a mask of pleading terror, his eyes seeming to glow electric blue for an instant. 

“Please, Eli,” they begged, brushing aside their initial shock. 

Eli stared at his friend for what seemed like an eternity, his eyes now back to their normal muted hazel. 

“Okay,” he said, his voice a trembling whisper. “But only for a minute.”

A moment later, Ren stood in the kitchen, watching Eli expectantly as he desperately gulped down a glass of water. 

“... I need some money,” Eli said, setting the glass down, not meeting his friend’s eyes. 

Anger flared up inside Ren. “I don’t hear from you for weeks, and then you show up at my door in the middle of the night asking me for money? I don’t believe you,” they scoffed. 

“Ren, please,” Eli whispered, signalling them to stay quiet. “It’s not like that. I need to get away. Just enough for a bus fare, or-”

A terrible thought occurred to Ren. Their world listed sideways, and suddenly the small section of counter separating them from Eli seemed painfully insufficient. 

“Oh god, what did you do?” Ren asked, panicking. “Did you hurt someone, or k-”

“No, Ren! Please, just relax. It’s nothing illegal. I promise. I just... they’re looking for me, Ren. I can’t let them catch me.”

“Who? Who’s chasing you? What do they want?” 

Eli just shook his head. An uncomfortable silence spread throughout the room as Ren took in this development. 

“How long have you been running?” they asked finally. 

“I don’t know,” Eli admitted. “Three days, maybe?”

“Why me? Why not someone back home? I’m two states away.”

“I didn’t... When I got out, I was in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t care where I went, just as long as it was far away from there. I had nothing. I walked, hitchhiked, whatever I could. By the time I realized where I was, I was already in town, and found you.” 

“Wait, you walked here?” Ren interrupted.

“Please, Ren. I need to leave. Now. Before you get mixed up in all this too.”

Ren stared into Eli’s eyes, taking in the barely controlled terror hiding below the surface, the tension in his clenched jaw. They sighed, picking up their wallet and plucking out about $150. 

“There. That’s all the cash I have on me.”

As Eli reached out to take the money, his sleeve slid away from his wrist, exposing a mass of bruises and scars. Ren only saw it for a second, but it looked almost like he had been restrained, maybe for a long time... and were those needle marks?

“Jesus, Eli, what the hell happened to you?”

Eli snatched his hand away, hiding his wrist in a pocket with the money. He looked at the ground. 

“Honestly? I don’t even know.”

The two of them stood in the kitchen in silence for another minute or so, the realization that this would likely be the last time they ever saw each other slowly sinking in. 

“Eli?” Ren said finally. 

“Yeah?” His voice was hoarse. 

“Take care of yourself, all right?”

Eli offered a thin smile. “All right.”

As Eli turned to leave, the window above the sink exploded, a metal object tumbling onto the floor, spewing gas into the room. Ren took a breath in surprise, and instantly black spots began to dance across their vision. 

“Shit!” Eli exclaimed, pulling his hoodie up over his mouth and nose. “Ren, come on! We have to leave!”

Ren tried to take a step towards him, but stumbled to the ground. Eli hesitated, unwilling to leave them behind. In that instant, figures clad in black began pouring into the house, swarming around Eli. He tried to get away from them, fighting like a cornered animal, but he was being overwhelmed. His eyes shone, the same strange electric blue as before. 

A pair of hands grabbed Ren by the shoulders and dragged them roughly away from the scuffle. They tried to escape, but their strength was already gone. 

Ren let out a stifled scream as one of the figures struck Eli in the temple with a blunted weapon. He crumpled to the floor, blood from his head flying across the cheap tile and painted cabinets. He didn’t move. 

As Ren’s vision faded, they heard a deep, distorted voice speak to their left. 

“Take this one too. They might be useful.”

Then everything was gone.