Keep Me Together

“Leni, it’s so good to see you,” Angelo whispered and hugged Elenia tightly.
“I missed you!” she whispered back. “But what are you doing here?”
Angelo smiled as he pulled away. “Long time no see.”
Tears glittered in her eyes. Angelo hugged her again. “Everything is going to be okay now. I’m staying till over Christmas.”
“I’m sorry for being a cry baby, I just missed you and I’m so happy to see you.”

“Elenia, where’s Robbie?” Paul asked after he had searched the house for the ten year old.
Elenia thought about it for awhile and notice her mother setting the table for one more and couldn’t help but smile. “I sent him over to grandma, Austin and I had to study.”

“Boyfriend?” Angelo asked her teasingly as Paul turned to the phone to call his mother; Robbie had to come home for dinner.
Elenia shoved his shoulder. “Shut up,” she mumbled and blushed slightly. “Mama, why didn’t you tell me Angel was coming?”
Elia smiled at her daughter. “We wanted to surprise you, but blame him; he is the brain behind it all.”

“Are you sure?” they heard Paul asked in a concerned tone in the phone. “I’ll call Darin and hear if he’s seen him.”
“Isn’t he with Melinda?” Elia asked when he’d hung up and was dialing another number.
“She hasn’t seen him at all today. He is probably with Daniel.”
“No, I don’t think so. Robbie told me they had fought.”
“I’ll call anyway.”

~~~

Paul called around to all of Robbie’s friends; no one had seen him. Elia grew worried and a search was started. The wolves – plus Angelo – searched the woods, Paul, Darin and Leah walked around La Push knocking on doors while Elenia and Elia waited at home in case he showed up.

“I’m so sorry, mama,” Elenia said slightly panicked because of her mother pacing the living room floor. “I shouldn’t have sent him away, but I had to study. I’m sorry.”
“No, Elenia, it wasn’t your fault. We should have brought him with us to Seattle.”

The dinner was forgotten; the casserole was placed in the fridge for later. Elenia sat with her mother on the couch but none of them said anything.
The front door opened hours later and Elenia jumped to her feet and rushed to see who it was; her father, Angelo and Seth.

Elenia’s face fell when she saw the looks on their faces. “You didn’t find him.”
“I’ll call the chief; we’ll have to call all the surrounding officers to be on the lookout.”
“They won’t do anything before sunrise, Paul, it’s getting dark outside.” Angelo said to him. “It’s getting colder as well. The waves were enormous.”
“Don’t say it,” Paul said and walked over till his wife who stood in the doorway with shaking shoulders.

Elenia looked around frenetically for a second before she felt Seth’s hand take a hold of hers and she calmed down enough to think rationally.
“Are you sure you’ve seen everywhere?” she asked.
“We checked the diner, the woods, all the houses on the rez, the beach,” Seth listed.
“But not the cliffs?”
“Robbie knows he don’t have permission to go to the cliffs alone,” Paul said.

Elenia jumped in her shoes and was out the door before he was finished talking. She didn’t take her jacket on, and it was cold outside. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her and she could hear someone run after her as well.
She stopped at the path over to the cliffs with a defeated look on her face. He wasn’t there. It had been her last hope.

Seth stopped beside her with a flashlight in his hand.
“He isn’t here,” she whispered.
But her eyes widened as Seth let the light glide over the cliff. She saw a pair of black Superman boots sticking out from the big boulder at the top.
“Robbie!” She yelled and ran up the path to the boulder. She knelt in front of the sleeping little boy and brushed her hands over his cold cheeks with shaking hands. “Robbie.”

Robbie opened his eyes slowly just as a snowflake landed on his cheek. He touched it. “The first snow,” he whispered.
“Robbie,” Elenia said again, relieved. “Why did you run away?”
He stared at her. “You didn’t want me around.”
“But of course I do, Robbie, I just had to study. You should have gone straight to grandmas.”
“But I wanted to be with you,” he said and sat up. Elenia held his ice cold hands in hers in an impossible attempt to warm them.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and pulled him into a hug.
“Why don’t you like me, Elenia?”
“I don’t know, I’m sorry,” she said and managed to hide the tears from her voice.
“Come on, you two, let’s get home before it gets even colder,” Seth said and picked Robbie up in his arm; he was too tired to walk for himself.

~~~
Robbie was given a hot bath and fell asleep in the middle of his parent’s bed. Darin had come over to check him but saw no need to take him to the hospital; he just needed a good night’s sleep.

“Do you want me to stay?” Seth asked Elenia as he stood in the hall in front of the front door.
She shook her head. “No, its okay, I’ll just go to bed.”
Seth leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you later, Leni.”
Elenia nodded with her eyes closed.

She locked the door behind him and walked slowly up to her bedroom. She met Angelo in the hallway and he stared at her for a second before he took her hand.
“Want to talk, Leni?”
“I can’t talk now,” she said monotonously.
Angelo wrapped his arms around Elenia and she closed her eyes to keep her tears from flowing. “I’m right here, Leni.”

“Good night,” She said in the same voice and stepped away from her uncle and into her bedroom. She closed the door tightly behind her and slid with her back against it to the floor.

Elenia sobbed, not managing to keep her tears hidden or her cries silent, but she knew that both her parents and her uncle would let her be. She needed to be alone.

The evening proceeded and eventually she fell asleep curled together into a ball in front of the door with tear streaked cheeks. The next day she would have to wash her face, put a smile on, be kind to her brother, pretend like everything was okay in front of her parents and go to school and be hated for something she never did. Elenia would be superwoman.

Austin would keep trying to figure her out and be there.
Seth was the only one she truly needed.