"Stop! Stop, please!" Phoebe's scratchy screams seemed to echo through the house. Eli lay limply on the ground, ears only tuned into Phoebe. He'd never heard her like that before.

Something bubbled up. Eli would never be sure if his anger came from a sense of justice, or from hearing Phoebe's pleas. He had a strange feeling though, that on that night his entire persona shifted. A switch turned on in his mind for the first time that told him he was more than capable of fighting back. So he did.

Eli clambered up to stand, and ran, throwing his arms out to push Mitch over. Mitch flew into the dining room table, an awful cracking sound echoing as he hit it.

"Eli!" His Mother gasped, her shaking hands coming to a close over her mouth. Eli felt a shaking in his own hands, adrenaline and fear over his sudden act of violence. Phoebe slowly moved her eyes over to him, and he could tell she was both grateful and mortified. It wasn't uncommon for conflicting emotions to override her.

The silence seemed to last both an eternity and a split second, as Eli was suddenly forced into a wall, his head smacking it with such force that he couldn't see for a while.

"Dad!" Phoebe shouted. Eli could hear the cries in her voice. He slowly started to reach his hand up to feel the back of his head, but was quickly pulled up to stand by two meaty hands. "You little weasel, you little bastard, you little-"

He felt the hands grip him by the neck, and closed his eyes, determined not to cry out. Phoebe's screams and Mitch's insults became fainter and fainter as Eli felt the world go fuzzy around him. Pixels clouded his eyes and mind. He was no longer breathing.

Suddenly, he was dropped. He hit the ground and tried to start breathing again, sputtering and coughing as he did. "Phoebe! Phoebe!" Mitch's rough screams filled the air as Eli's hearing resumed. A moment later his sight returned. From the floor he watched his Mom start to pace, hands shaking at her sides.

"How'd you let her do this, Karen?" Everything was sideways. His Mother's stocking feet with holes in the soles were stood five feet from him. He still couldn't move. "She grabbed it! I tried to take it away but she ran!" His Mom was already pleading for forgiveness.

"Get out of that bathroom, Phoebe! Unlock this door!" Mitch started to pound at the door with such ferocity that Eli was worried it might actually break. But alas, Mitch was no superhuman.

"The police are on their way!" Phoebe's voice finally rang out from behind the door. Mitch and Eli's Mother started to look around, frantic at the scene the police would find.

Eli's eyes finally met with his Mom's. There was the briefest flicker in her eyes, where Eli swore, even from the floor, he could see his Mother again. "What about him?" She asked. The flicker was gone.

"We've gotta move him." Mitch said solemnly. All of a sudden, Eli was being lifted. With a few grunts and groans, he was left on his bed, the door slamming. He stared out into the darkness, mute and paralyzed.

Eli gulped in air like water, never quite getting enough in. He finally calmed and closed his eyes, listening. He heard the sirens, the knocking, the murmurs.

Phoebe would say that she was mistaken, that her Dad never meant to hit her so hard. Something she'd actually make herself believe. Mitch would apologize and squeeze out a few fake tears of shame. His Mom would stay quiet, rubbing her husband's shoulder consolingly.
No one would mention Eli. He didn't exist.

Phoebe would regret that moment. The moment she lied to the police, knowing Eli was in the next room, barely clinging to consciousness. It was that scene that she played over and over in her head. The officers leaving the house. She knew what was right, and felt a pulling to call out to them and cry out the truth. But it never happened.

A sickening conditioning had befallen them all. A mute button pressed so they could all protect a man. After all, that's all he was, just a man. It would be strange to Phoebe in the future, that she'd thought of him as something more for so long.

                                                                                       ****

Every day that passed, Audrey was finding it harder to coordinate her outfits. She was acutely aware of the fact that Eli could see what she was wearing.

She gritted her teeth as she looked into the mirror. Why was is that boys hadn't really taken an interest in her before? She pulled on her curls, slightly frizzy no matter what she did. Maybe that was it. The boys she had gone to school with all seemed to take an interest in girls with long, blonde, straight hair. 

There was her skin, always tanned. Perhaps her complexion wasn't pale enough. She frowned as she touched her cheek. What was it? She wondered if boys had been afraid of her sickness. She knew that was true for James Weir, who told her so when she was 15. Whatever it was, Audrey shook it off and tried to focus on what was ahead, not behind. 

The boy waiting outside had called her pretty. No, he had said, 'very pretty'. He laughed at her dumb jokes and she had caught him staring a few times. She wondered if he'd caught her staring too. Soon, she wouldn't be sick. No, she would be normal, and that would scratch one big thing off of her list of potential reasons why (most) boys didn't like her. 

"Should we find a place to sit?" Audrey asked as they walked, both full from their greasy fast food dinner. "I think I saw an internet cafe." Eli pointed towards the street to their left. Audrey let out a deep sigh, "Oh, sweet WIFI." She said wistfully, starting to walk faster. 

Suddenly, police sirens sounded. Eli froze, the sirens getting louder as his heart beat faster. Three police cars rushed past them, so fast that Audrey had to hold her dress to stop it flying up. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. "That's how you know you're in a city, I guess." 

Eli could feel his throat closing up. He tried to swallow, heat blinding his eyes with tears. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut, and started to hyperventilate. All of a sudden, he could feel the bruises on his neck again, the stinging on his eyebrow. The night the cops came rushed back into his memory, and he could feel it happening to him all over again. 

Audrey's eyes widened as she watched Eli's pained expression, the way he was breathing. "Eli?" She asked. When he didn't respond, she panicked. "Eli!" She rushed over to grab his hands, and his eyes opened slightly, but he was still afraid. Afraid of something that wasn't there. Audrey helped him towards a wall, where he slid down to sit. 

He was still hyperventilating, tears involuntarily rolling down his cheeks. She put a hand on his cheek, stroking the tears away with her thumb. "Okay, it's okay." She couldn't piece it all together, and was terrified herself. But, if there was anything that Audrey Kepler knew about, it was not being able to breathe. 

She knelt beside him and put a hand on his chest. "Eli, listen to me." She said softly, mirroring what had been said to her a long time ago. She found his rapid heartbeat and pushed onto it, squeezing lightly. Grabbing his hand, she moved it in place of hers. "Feel your heartbeat, okay?" She said, putting her hand on top of his. 

His eyes were still squeezed shut, but he seemed to nod slightly. Audrey nodded back. "Okay, now count your breaths. Breathe in for six seconds, and out for eight. Ready?" She watched his jaw set and his lips form a straight line. "1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6..." 

After 10 minutes, it was over. Eli was silent still, but he was breathing normally, and the tears were long gone. Audrey remained kneeling next to him, one hand still on his over his heart, and the other brushing through his hair. She watched him staring out into the street, expressionless, his knees drawn up. 

She felt her own lip tremble, thinking of what would have happened if she weren't there. A few tears escaped her worried eyes, and she pulled herself ever closer to him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. The pair of them stayed in that position until they had to go back to the bus. 

Eli remained silent and robotic, sitting and immediately leaning his head against the glass. This wasn't the first time this had happened to him, but no matter how many times it happened, he could never get over it immediately. Thoughts swam around his head as he stared out the window, completely drained. 

Audrey put her blanket over him and sighed shakily. She tucked her hair behind her ears nervously and sat next to him, gently rubbing his shoulder. 

"So, I guess I'll go first." She joked quietly, still teary eyed. Eli's head moved slightly, and Audrey licked her lips. 

"Okay, here it goes." 

((A/N: The title of this chapter is from one of my all time favourite poems, 'The Panic Bird' by Robert Phillips. Link here if you wanted to read it: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-panic-bird/ 

Thanks to everyone still reading and supporting my book! I'm really enjoying writing it as well, and it's got a lot to do with issues near and dear to me, so bonus! xxxx))