elijah crest. d3. fin.

Elijah is a boy who lives in his head.

The world is not spectacular enough; people can't grow wings, knights in shining armor aren't real, and everybody dies. It's a shame that people were created with such limitations, but that's why stories exist - to create tales of wonder and leave the reader inhaling a breath of fresh air in their bleak world.

Elijah started writing as a toddler. Incoherent scribbles and messy drawings turned into journal pages filled with creativity. He never could hone his skills in drawing, but he could write a short story faster than his mother could heat a bowl of stew. His older brother, Laurent, was his cheerleader mentor. He read every single one of his stories and praised Elijah for his creativity. Then Elijah would bring them to school and show his friends. Most of them didn't take the time to indulge his hobby, but his teachers would. Mom always encouraged him to study hard in all of his classes, just in case writing a book didn't work out - but Laurent always had faith that he would be a writer someday.

Laurent was his best friend, his anchor. They wrestled, they laughed, they built forts in the living room and camped in the backyard when the stars were visible. They were best friends. Elijah thought he was invincible.

The concept of death didn't quite sink in until he was older.

The doctor's visits were confusing. A sickness was something that could be healed with medicine, yet there was something different in the way the doctor looked at Elijah that day. Like he was a puppy left out in the street. Elijah would come to understand that as pity.

He also remembered the tears welling up in his mother's eyes - why was she sad? All he needed was medicine.

Laurent was the only one who kept his composure. Elijah could sense the tension in his shoulders, but they hugged each other as their mom stepped out to talk about treatment.

The Crests couldn't afford it. Cancer treatment was too expensive.

The family didn't talk about it much - how Elijah's life was on a very fast timer. The idea of death didn't register until he noticed everyone's behavior at school. Teachers hugging him, paying him special attention. Kids that weren't his friends coming to sit with him and say they're sorry. What did it all mean?

Elijah learned eventually. The permanency of death, how it was coming for him. He decided to continue his stories like everything was fine.

And then Laurent was reaped into the 84th Hunger Games.

His parents never allowed him to watch the Games on TV. He knew what it was and what usually happened - Laurent would whisper information to him, because he felt Elijah had a right to know even if he was young. He said it was better for Elijah to know, since his name would be in the Reaping one day.

He knew it meant people died, especially District Three. Nobody from Three had won in over ten years.

That didn't stop Elijah from tuning in. No amount of screaming in the District Square or crying in the Justice Building convinced anyone to give Laurent back, so Elijah had to see him any chance he got. He remembers Laurent's interview, how beautifully he was dressed. "Mom, look! Laurent is on! He looks so cool!"

Hope was all he had. Dying was already a foreign concept, but dying without his brother was so much worse.

Their mother refused to let him watch the Bloodbath no matter how persistently he begged. "But mom, what if something happens to him?"

"I'll tell you if something happens."

"But-"

It was too violent. He was "too young."

Elijah resorted to sneaking out of his room at night to watch Laurent on TV. He needed to check and make sure he was okay, and came to find out he had won the wealth. Laurent slowly became the hero of Elijah's imaginary story, and his mother finally let him watch the Games after day 2.

Sadly, a hero's story must end. In his own worlds, Elijah always let the hero survive. Happy endings were his favorite, but they were unrealistic.

The real world held nothing in store for Elijah but a broken heart.