The Day Eliza Elijah Woke Up

The Day Eliza Elijah Woke Up

Eliza Elijah had always colored between the lines, played by the rules, walked a straight line, and never ventured too far from the pack. She was

seventeen years of inexperienced and uneventful life and, she liked it that way. In fact, the only crazy, out of the box thing about her was her name, and she did not have a choice in that. Living simple and structured was the only thing that kept Eliza alive. She’d watched her sister lose her life to a good time and she grew up fearing the same would happen to her, because that was just her luck (there was that time when she broke her foot playing with a kite, and that time when she’d nearly drowned after taking off her floaties when she was five).

Although as her final days in Leeland ticked by, a curious beast grew inside her, hungry for the piece of her sister that she neglected to know. The beast ate at her conscious, reminding her that she was moving on with her life with loose ends left in the past. It knew she felt nothing but guilt the past two years for focusing on everything but her sister’s death. Most of all, it wanted to know the appeal of living on the other side, the side with danger and free spirits, and why her sister loved that place so much. Which is how she found herself standing outside the house on Maple Street, wearing her lucky T-shirt and an anxious look on her face; she was about to do the unimaginable.

Except, doing the unimaginable took a lot of time and a lot of guts, so instead of jumping right to it, she stared at the front door of Jackson Tale’s house. It had been ten minutes since she biked the two miles to get here. Ten minutes of silent internal debate.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t knock on the heavy wooden door and meet her fate for the day, it was more the reasonable argument that she shouldn’t. She’d lived a quiet and safe life, free of risk and danger, as life should be. She felt there was no point in disturbing the peace, what would that get her? Eliza felt she could live with the nagging voice in the back of her head telling her to at least flirt with the idea of adventure. She knew she could, but still, she thought it would be better to demolish the voice once and for all. Rid of its taunting way and move on with her life.

At least, that’s what she told herself when she went to bed last night and again when she woke up this morning. Although, she wasn’t feeling the sense of adventure now, as she stood on the other side of it.

Catching her off guard, the door opened itself without needing the weight of her heavy fist on its surface. Jackson Tale stood on the other side, nursing milk straight from the carton.

Disgusting, she thought as she watched the white liquid move to his face hole.

Jackson stared at her with a blank expression. It was then she realized she needed to say something.

“Hi,” was all that came out and all she could let out, her mind blank of anything other than that annoying voice in the back of her head. He raised his brow.

Jackson Tale was her sister’s best friend and possibly boyfriend before she died two summers ago. He was the only person who knew Layla for who she really was. Eliza remembered the nights hearing Jackson and Layla on the front porch, filling the night with laughter until her father sent him home. She remembered watching the two her first year of high school as they clowned around the wide hallways of the East Wing, bumping into anyone within a three foot radius. Jackson probably took Layla’s death harder than Eliza did, you could see it in the way he stopped coming to school, stopped caring altogether. Eliza moved on with her life, and he was stuck in the past.

“What are you doing here, scout? You’re ma know you’re here?” Jackson took a quick glance over her shoulder expecting to see Mrs. Elijah waiting in her Ford Explorer; instead he saw her bike leaning against the wooden fence.

Eliza swallowed the lump of coward in her throat and shook her head. “She knows I’m out riding but she doesn’t know I’m here. I need you to do something for me, and I need you to understand that I need this.” To her surprise, her voice did not shake.

“Scout—“

“Wait, let me finish.” She jumped before he could turn her away. Since Layla died, Jackson dropped any and all ties with her family. His place as the closest thing Eliza had to a brother, was buried with Layla. This was the first time they’d talked in two years. “There has been this voice in the back of my head that won’t shut up no matter how hard I tell it to and I know that the only way to make it go away is to give into it. That’s why I am here. I need you to take me to her places. I need just a day of her life, so I can get on with mine. That’s all I’m asking of you. One day.”

Jackson’s mouth tensed at the mention of his best friends name, his knuckles clenched on the doorframe and he shook his head in disbelief. “Eliza, go home. You’ve never once stepped off that pretty little tightrope of yours, why are you starting now?”

The question filtered around in her brain before she knew her answer.

“I leave next week. I move into the University and I leave this place behind. My parents are moving back to Rhode Island and there will be nothing left of us here, except her. It’s too hard for them to be miles away from her body, so they have to leave. And I have to get on into the real world, but I can’t just leave her. I need to take something of hers with me and you are the only person who knows her better than anyone else. So, I need you to give me parts of her, the adventure, the dance, the risk, everything she fell in love with. I need parts of it to take with me or I will never be totally okay.”

As the words leaped from her tongue she found that they not only got her point across to Jackson, but they managed to convince Eliza as well.

“No. This is not some John Green novel, Eliza. You can’t expect me to go through that shit ag—“ Jackson started but Eliza cut him off before he could finish.

“I get closer, and you get to be with her again. We both know you’re not over it, and I don’t expect you to, but why not have her for one day?” Eliza gripped the doorframe to imply how serious she was about this.

Jackson, on the other hand, blew out a breath of grief and clenched his jaw in the way that showed his reluctance. Eliza knew he was thinking, always overthinking. He nawed on his lower lip and shook his head, look back to her. He took in her T-shirt and the worn out Birkenstocks, and then her eyes, which weren’t the same color as Layla’s but definitely the same shape—wide and doe-like. “Fine. But you don’t get to ask questions. That’s my one rule, follow that, you got a deal.”

Her chest deflated with relief. “Okay, yes, okay! Deal! Where to first?”

“Did you just ask a question?”

“Right, sorry. Lips are locked.”

“Call your mom, tell her you’re here. Then, meet me out back, where my car is parked there.” He left the door open, giving her freedom to walk in or stay out on the porch.

She obeyed his order, dialing up her mothers cell and quickly explaining where she was and that all was okay. Her mother’s voice, filled with worry, accepted the situation before they hung up.

Finding Jackson in the back, where he said he would be, Eliza shuffled into the vehicle trying to calm her nerves the best she could. What had she just agreed to?

“First thing’s first, we stop by Ike’s Ice Cream, and before you ask, Layla started and ended her day with ice cream, therefore, it’s on the list.”

There’s a list? How long is this list? Thought Eliza as the car started and they pulled off Jackson’s land.

—

The bell above the door chimed as Eliza and Jackson shuffled into the cold building filled with the town’s sweets supply. The elderly man, Ike, sat behind the counter half-asleep until he laid eyes on the pair.

“Jackson Tale, my boy! It’s been two years since you walked in this shop! Come ‘ere son!” Moving quickly, Ike rounded the counter and took Jackson into a bear hug. Eliza dismissed herself, feeling out of place. She glanced at the wall adorned with photos of the town’s people. The most apparent were pictures of her sister and Jackson. She’d never noticed before, but then again she’d only ever gotten ice cream when Layla brought home a scoop for her.

Leaving the two rejoicing gentlemen, she approached the wall in amazement. There were pictures of her sister everywhere, capturing the beauty of her red hair and blue eyes in a way that Eliza had never seen before. It was then she knew that this place wasn’t just a stop for sweets to her sister, it was important to her, and she was important to it.

“Ike have you met Eliza before? Layla’s sister, the brains of the family.” Jackson gestured to the Eliza, who spared a last glance at her sister’s shrine before walking back to the pair. His eyes shifted quickly to the pictures behind before dashing away just as fast. The blue in his eyes grew melancholy for a moment, before he shook the look out and returned them to Ike.

Ike smiled a warming smile. “I can’t say I have, but I can see a lot of her in your face, darling. Your sister was a gorgeous girl. What can I do for you two today?”

“We’ll take mine and Layla’s original.” Jackson returned quietly. Pulling off to the tables, the two sat and waited for Ike to bring out their scoops. Eliza debated speaking.

“I didn’t know,” she started. “I didn’t know that she’d—both of you were a huge part of this place.” Her voice was small and shameful as she scolded herself for not knowing her sister as much as she should’ve.

Jackson shrugged as Ike dropped their cups off. Eliza’s ice cream, mint chocolate chip, was adorned with marshmallows, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate syrup. Her eyes grew wide imagining her petite sister devouring this beast two times a day.

“They call it the ‘Layla Special’. Eat up and then we can head to our next destination.” His voice had grown thick with pain and exhaustion, so Eliza opted out on answering.

—

She could feel the ice cream in her veins. She felt the rush of the sugar and the warm chocolate syrup invading her heart as Jackson’s red 1960 Chevy pick up crawled through the small town of Leeland. They’d spent an hour at the ice cream shop, listening to Ike tell his fondest memories of Jackson and Layla.

“That is where your sister spent every Sunday morning. If she couldn’t adopt all the dogs she was going to at least make the dogs feel at home, so she played with all of them for hours.” Eliza followed Jackson’s finger to Leeland Animal Shelter. They drove past. “And that is where your sister got cited for refusing to where a helmet our freshman year of high school, she claimed ‘helmets were for kids of helicopter parents and the other chums of the world.’”

They’d gone through the whole town, Jackson explaining every little memory of Layla as they passed the shops and businesses. It was clear to Eliza that Layla did not just leave her mark on Jackson’s life she left it on the whole town. There was hardly a spot without her presence. This town was her entire playground.

Pulling off to the parking lot of Leeland’s Books, Jackson threw the car in park and hopped out.

“What are—“

“No questions remember. Get out, let’s go.”

Eliza obeyed, following him into the store. If Eliza was one thing, it was a reader, so she’d spent hours in this place finding new things to stick her nose in. Leeland’s Books was not a stranger to her.

Jackson led her inside, grabbed two books from the closest shelf, brought them to the counter and paid for it. Then he handed her the bag and walked her back to the truck. That was it.

She stood outside the door as he buckled himself in, wondering what had just happened.

“Your sister hated planning but she liked reading and finding new things. So once a week she’d go in there, grab a random book, buy it and read it. She didn’t read the synopsis or stick to one genre. Bought it, read it, that’s it. Get in, next stop.”

—

“Why did you take me here?” Eliza asked the question, knowing she wasn’t supposed to ask questions. The rule didn’t matter any more as he stepped over the line beyond her comfort zone. “Is this some kind of cruel joke?”

The lake. He’d taken her to Heart Lake (which was named according to it’s shape, though it looked more like a lima bean to Eliza), the same place where her sister drowned last summer.

The day it happened Eliza was at a friend’s house trying to finish a presentation for class when her parents called telling her she needed to bike home immediately. When she pulled up to the house police cars were littered up and down the street, as was Jackson’s truck. No one in her family, nor Jackson, had enough strength to tell her that Layla died cliff diving into Heart Lake, where she’d hit her head on a rock before drowning, instead an officer passed the information. Everything after that was static.

“Why did you take me here?” Eliza repeated the question through clenched teeth.

“Do you honestly think this isn’t hard for me, too? I don’t want to be here any more than you do, but you asked for the full package, Eliza, and you’re getting it. She’d spend hours here and I know she’d still be here doing the same thing if she lived. That’s who your sister was. She looked death in the eye and didn’t think twice about challenging it, no matter the consequences.” Jackson finished, his eyes transfixed on the blue water. “Besides, I need to do this for my own damn self.”

Jackson nodded a stiff nod before gripping the handle with a vice grip and throwing the door open. Eliza pretended not to notice how his voice tripped over sobs in his throat.

Eliza waited, looking back at the lima bean shaped lake, trying to picture her sister jumping off the cliff and into the water. She guessed that Layla probably screamed when she jumped, not from fear but rather excitement. If this was Layla’s favorite place then it was probably where she felt the most free spirited. She needed to jump.

Cursing all the Gods, while praying at the same time, she forced herself from the truck and followed after Jackson.

You can do this. You’re an Elijah. Your sister is Layla, and if you want that part you have to stop being a coward. She thought to herself, her hands so tightly clenched she knew if she undid them there would be crescent shaped indents where her nails had been. Her feet felt as heavy as bricks as she brought herself closer and closer to where it all ended.

Ahead of her, Jackson tense back continued up gradual incline of the cliff, hands opening and closing as if he was trying to convince himself. Between the two of them, it was unclear who conjured up more nerves.

After minutes of walking, they reached the spot at the top. Below them, the steady current rocked to an unheard beat, carrying with them the last moments of Layla’s life. They stared, until Jackson broke the silence.

“I would just slip off your shoes, we can always air dry.” His chest expanded as he spoke, forcing the weightless words from his mouth. Peeling his shirt off, he turned away from the water, still shaking his head.

Eliza removed her sandals, counting to ten in her head. The drop had to be a hundred feet, not too bad in theory, but not in mind. She breathed deep, imagining that she was breathing in some part of her sister’s spirit.

This is where she died, except it wasn’t. Layla was everywhere; Eliza had learned that today. She knew that her family’s absence would be okay, because Layla’s soul was never going to be alone—she had Jackson and the whole town—and Eliza wanted to leave part of her own self here at the Lake. She’d leave a piece of the Old Eliza here, the Eliza that Layla knew and loved, and take a new part with her to University. There was no promise that she would become an adventure enthusiast, but she no longer feared the idea of it. This day had given her that, despite the fact that is was not over yet.

This one is for you, Layla. Keep me alive. She thought.

Then, she jumped.

—

Eliza Elijah stared in wonder at her sister star adorned ceiling, whilst lying spread eagle on the queen sized bed. She replayed the day in her head as she did this.

After her jump with Jackson, she’d swam to the side of the lake, climbed back up the cliff, and jumped again. Eliza had felt the rush, understood the need to have it, and altogether took advantage of that rush. She’d tired herself from experiencing and feeling so many things at once, but wasn’t sure if she’d do it again. One day of wild was enough for her.

Following the lake, Jackson took her to the cemetery, where they placed one of the books from Leeland’s Bookstore and a bottle of the lake water in front of her headstone. Layla was not the type of girl who deserved simple flowers on her grave sight; Eliza knew that now.

After the cemetery, they stopped at the Animal Shelter and tossed the ball around for the dogs left there at the end of the day. They ended the night back at Ike’s Ice Cream shop where they indulged on the ‘Layla Special’ in substitution of dinner. Ike had taken a photo of Eliza to add next to her sister’s candids. They hadn’t been that close in years.

Now, all her sister’s belongings and tokens of adventure surrounded Eliza and she couldn’t be more content. She’d spent the day in her sister’s shoes, looked at life through her sister’s eyes, and gone to the places that filled her sister’s heart. She’d done exactly what needed to be done before she left.

Eliza Elijah had spent the day with her eyes wide open.