Elijah has always struggled with empathy. He knows that it makes him strange and so he had learned to pretend: he acts happy when he sees others happy, he acts sad when he sees other cry, and he pretends to be concerned when he sees others distraught. For Elijah, it was just easier to pretend rather than be questioned or be "fixed". Everything felt boring but life was just smoother that way. That is, until Elijah suddenly felt compelled to kidnap you. So he did.