Chapter 9

Eli sobbed alone, after a few minutes of crying, she started to feel sleepy and fell asleep in a sitting position. She could still hear the faint and increasingly faint voices of her parents and siblings, Eli fell asleep with blood already drying in her nose. 

Two hours later, at exactly 12.30 pm Eli woke up from her sleep. Almost all the lights in the house had been turned off, Eli could hear the sound of her father and brother snoring in their room. Eli swallowed hard and walked slowly with her face lowered. She hoped she could go out tonight without her family knowing.

She crept outside, she tried to hold her breath and the sound of her footsteps, so that they wouldn't be noticed. Tonight Eli managed to get out of her house again like the previous nights. It had been almost three months since she had been out at night when everyone else was asleep in their own dreams, but for her, the middle of the night was a time for her to go on an adventure.

Eli walks barefoot, she rarely wears sandals or shoes when she leaves the house. Eli felt more comfortable if her feet touched the cold and damp ground, she felt her sadness could be reduced a little. If other people saw her during the day they would definitely think that she was a tramp, it was natural for them to think that. Because Eli's condition is really unkempt.

Her long hair was always left loose and very rarely combed, the clothes she wore had many seam marks and the sleeves were even torn. When she goes out at night Eli always wears her mother's shabby jacket so she can survive the cold night wind.

The road was very quiet, only a few vehicles passing by. Eli walked slowly while looking at the sky. There were lots of stars shining, for her the stars were very beautiful and amazing. She continued walking even though she didn't actually know the direction, she just walked by marking the objects she passed with small stones that she had picked up earlier so that she wouldn't get lost and could return home before her family woke up.

Tonight Eli walked quite far than usual, in an area where there were rarely buildings such as houses or shops. The area is surrounded by large trees, there are only a few houses that are quite far apart. However, there was one building that caught Eli's attention, a large building in the middle of a large field filled with trees and tall wild grass.

Eli didn't recognize this building, even though there was faded writing on a board that had tilted and almost fallen to the ground, she couldn't read the writing. Eli became increasingly interested in the old building, even though it looked very scary, it was very quiet as if there was no one around.

Eli walked closer to the building and climbed over the wooden fence that surrounded it. Eli walked along a field filled with weeds, there were lots of objects scattered around the field. There are used cars that are damaged, and there are also toys that fail. Eli explored the field in the dark, the darkness didn't bother her at all because she was used to the darkness.

The only light in the place was the street lamp which glowed dimly and yellowish. After several minutes of searching, Eli finally found a wooden doll in the shape of a boy wearing a suit and bow tie. This doll is like the dolls of artists who often perform puppet plays on television. The owner can make this doll talk in their stomach voice.

Eli was very interested even though the doll actually looked scary, in fact no one would want to pick up an object like that even if it was lying on the road. After seeing lots of toys around the field, Eli intended to go home. As she was about to climb over the fence, a boy walked alone in front of the old building.

Eli was surprised to see the boy, it was unusual for a child to walk alone at this time of night. She thought she was the only one who came out at night, but there was something strange about the boy. She also walked barefoot, his head lowered so that his face could not be seen.

Eli tried to guess the boy's age, from his body it seemed like he was a little older than Eli's ten year old little brother. Eli became more curious and tried to follow the boy. The boy stopped for a moment, he knew that he was being followed by someone. Panicking, the boy immediately ran as fast as possible away from the stalker who was following him.

Eli was confused as to why the boy ran away from him, Eli did not realize that her actions made the boy uncomfortable and afraid. Eli let the child run away while she just walked fast because she couldn't run. After a few minutes of running, the boy stopped right at the edge of Niagara Falls.

Eli was silent, not understanding why the boy had stopped at this place. There was no one around the waterfall at this hour, Eli stood and could only watch the boy from a short distance. The boy thought that the person following him had already left, he didn't know that Eli was not far behind him.

The boy was silent for a moment while looking at the fast flowing waterfall and the frightening sound of the current. Step by step the child is now standing right at the edge of the waterfall, if he takes another step he can be sure that he will fall to his death. Eli felt something was wrong, the boy seemed to be trying to jump down. It had only been a few seconds since Eli had guessed what the boy was going to do and he wanted to jump.

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