Chapter 21 - Damn, Does Everyone Here Have a Sad Story?

Then Ethan stretched his arm toward the closet door, trying to open it with his shadow. The shadow slipped down Ethan's arm and reached the closet door. Ethan moved his hand, as if to hold the doorknob, for the shadow to do the same.

When Ethan pulled the closet door open, the shadow just came all the way back to his arm. It wasn't strong enough to be able to pull things, even more so now that Ethan had spent some of his energy holding a glass.

He felt his own body getting weaker, he felt tired and sleepy.

Ethan opened the closet with his bare hands and started looking for some old t-shirts.

He took a few of them and put them on the baseboard of the door, and also hung the blanket over the window, so that no light could enter the room.

He sat down on the floor in meditation position and stood still for a while, waiting for the shadow energy to charge up again.

For some reason, even in the dark, it seemed to rise a little slower than normal. He could feel when he was at full energy, and now it didn't seem to fill up completely as fast as before. Maybe it was because he increased the amount of energy he could fit into his own body, but he still couldn't figure out how he did that to increase it. Maybe it would increase as he used his powers, or just over time.

A few hours passed and Ethan was still sitting in the middle of the room, charging the power. He was so tired, he was practically sleeping sitting up, he couldn't even remember what he was doing there.

It was then that sleep completely took over his body and he ended up leaning his back against the bed and sleeping sitting on the floor of the room.

And so the night passed.

The alarm clock went off the next morning, informing him that Ethan should wake up.

He opened his eyes, somewhat confused from where he was, and realized that it was already morning. Ethan was a little disappointed that he was sleeping so quickly, but he was still glad that he had managed to evolve his skills so much in the last night.

He got up, turning off his alarm clock, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. As he stepped into the shower, he realized that he was still wearing the chain he had found in his mother's jewelry box. It seemed to have a different color, it was strange to say. It looked like the silver had darkened, oxidized like cheap jewelry. He thought that was strange, but decided to keep the chain around his neck instead of giving it back to his mother, because she would probably be upset that he had spoiled it.

Ethan showered longer and longer than usual, and put on a comfortable dark brown sweatshirt for school, along with a black jean's jacket.

He went downstairs and found his mother, leaving the coffee ready on the table and running around looking for her things.

"Ethan, I'm late, I need to get to work in five minutes. Can you walk to school alone today? You remember the way, right?" Enid asked, with a piece of toast in her mouth and looking around the house for her car keys.

"I do remember, it's fine by me.". He replied, sitting down to eat. "But why do you have to go now? We're still on schedule." He said, knowing the time his mother always leaves.

"Apparently, an emergency has happened. I don't know what it is yet, so I can't explain it to you, but the way they called me, it was something urgent!". Enid replied, bending down and looking under the couch, searching for her keys.

Ethan prepared to eat the plate of scrambled eggs his mother had made, when he realized that there was something under the plate, causing him to wobble sideways. When he got up, his car keys were under the plate.

He looked with a disbelieving expression that the keys were there. Then he took them out and held the keys toward Enid, who ran toward his hand. She took the keys and walked toward the door.

"And Ethan... I don't want you to leave today! I mean it! If you leave without my permission, we'll fight!". She said angrily.

"I'm not going out!" Ethan said, drinking the latte she made for him.

"Bye! Love you!". Enid slammed the door and ran out.

"You too!". He shouted back, analyzing the mess the room was in after Enid had turned it all overlooking for her keys.

He finished eating and took his plate to the dishes, taking the time to wash them, since he had time.

After that, he picked up his backpack, which was resting in the corner of the door, and left, heading for school.

He walked the whole way calmly, since he knew he was on time. He walked, appreciating the streets and the places he passed. Until he passed the alley that made him feel a sense of energy for the first time.

He stood in front of the alley, looking around a bit. The feeling still called to him, but it wasn't as strong as before, and he already knew why, so it didn't scare him.

Ethan took small, timid steps into the alley, and stood for a few seconds in the darkness of the place, looking up.

He felt the shadow energy entering his body, but it was much weaker, but he could still relax his muscles.

Realizing that there was nothing else in that alley besides an energy source, Ethan moved out of the alley, walking normally.

It was then that he came across Mike, standing just before he passed the alley, staring at him with a confused expression.

"Hi Mike!" Ethan replied, looking both ways, wondering why Mike was looking like that.

"Holy moly! What were you doing in that alley, Ethan?" Mike asked, with a mischievous look on his face.

"Huh? Nothing, I just heard something, I thought it was a cat!". Ethan answered quickly, wondering what Mike was thinking.

"You were using marijuana, weren't you? Naughty boy." Mike asked, laughing.

"WHAT? DON'T CARE!" Ethan walked angrily towards Mike, looking at him and the people across the street, asking him to shut up, because people were looking at them.

"Okay, okay, sorry!". Mike said, laughing.

"What are you doing here?" Ethan asked, confused that he had never seen Mike on the way to school.

"I'm on my way to class, I live nearby, but I usually take a different route because my little sister goes to another school... so I have to drop her off before I go. Mike said, as the two started walking together toward the school.

"I didn't know you had a sister. Ethan replied.

"Yeah, she's ten and her name is Sophia, but that's just her." Mike replied. "You have siblings?".

Ethan had no idea, but he didn't feel any sensation when talking about brothers, just like his father. Either they died, or they never existed. Ethan decided to go for the second option. It would be the easiest to disprove later, should he need to.

"No. I'm an only child... But they say having siblings sucks, right? Especially when they're not our age." He asked.

"Honestly, Sophia and I get along really well. I think since my mom died, we've gotten a lot closer. Mike said, unmoved.

"Damn, man, that sucks. I didn't know, I'm sorry!". Ethan replied embarrassed.

- Damn, does everyone here have a sad story? What the fuck... - He thought, looking away, disguising himself.

"Nah, it was nothing, man! That was almost ten years ago, Sophia was just a little baby. I don't even remember it right, either." He said, laughing at Ethan.

Mike was so upbeat and funny. It was hard not to say that his life seemed perfect. So, knowing about it, surprised Ethan a little. For a moment, he forgot that tragic things happen in any family.

"There, do you like the Seattle Seahawks? There's a Seattle Seahawks game next week. My dad let me call some friends over to watch. Do you want to go?" Mike asked excitedly.

"Sure, it sounds cool, but I don't watch fucking American soccer, I won't understand a thing!". Ethan replied.

"Relax, bro. It's more for us to drink and eat something." Mike replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Your dad lets you drink?" Ethan asked.

"As long as I don't take his car, he doesn't care. Mike replied, not caring much.

After a few minutes of walking and chatting, they passed through some empty streets, which seemed to have no living soul there.

At this point, they began to walk quietly, as if the mood had become a little uneasy.

Ethan hadn't even realized how strange it was there at that time. Even though it was morning, it still wasn't completely clear.

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