here and back again

Here he was being nice to Clare again. Eli wondered how long that would last. He'd have to play this game, and it was fun and all. After all, she did have pretty eyes. But then the tedious stuff would have to happen and then..then what.

Fact was, it had nothing to do with Clare. Nothing at all. She was sweet. Always did the right thing. Why couldn't it be perfect? Why couldn't it last? That's what he wanted. That's what Eli really wanted. She was easy to talk too. She cared. But would she care when she really knew the truth. The whole truth. Not the half truth like he'd told her.

How would she feel if..if she knew the guy who had had that fight with his girlfriend wasn't even really Eli. But someone else. A dark part of himself who..who went by some other name. Not even Eli, but Darth. His evil twin.

OK, so he couldn't say Darth was exactly real. He felt real. Especially, when he pushed Eli into a very dark place. Locked him in a closet, so to speak, and went on his little tangent. Like he did with with Lizzie.

It left him tired to think about. How it had been. How he'd spent his whole summer away from his family, trying to straighten himself out with straight jackets. All the therapy. Hopefully, KICKER! still wasn't on his file, but it might be.

Those days were over. He so hoped they were. He really hadn't had any bouts with Darth in so long now. It was as if he were a faded memory. Or was he?