Not Alone.

Chapter 6

No more games.

It's easier said than done.

Ethan could consider himself as a very impulsive kind of person and could show courage at difficult times. But he was also a human, and it only took him one round of shopping to realize how Not-normal the whole situation was.

Ethan felt like he was also losing himself, his own body.

Anger made him so blind and red that he was having difficulty remembering exactly when he even got out of his house, walked straight to the shop in his shorts and home slippers, and ended up buying the actual cameras.

He felt like a robot when his pent-up anger slowly simmered away. As more of it melted away, he started to realize that he was losing himself and had no control over his own life. Still not able to comprehend anything happening around him.

He must have scared other customers of that shop because of his odd behavior.

.

.

" What am I doing? " Ethan was sitting on the sofa, head in his hands, and in front of him were the cameras.

After what felt like hours contemplating what he was supposed to do,

Ethan stood up from the couch and took a big sigh as he started installing the cameras.

He spent the whole afternoon deciding and angling the cameras, cross-checking onto the monitor to have the best possible coverage.

The maximum number of the cameras he put was in the living room and the room next to the living room (which was still locked and sealed).

They were all put at a high level where he had to use the ladder himself.

All in all, He thought that then he had the upper hand in the situation.

.

.

.

He thought that after the 'guitar' incident, he might need to wait for something bigger to happen but

The house remained silent.

Eerily silent.

Ethan thought that the peace he was praying for had finally arrived.

He doesn't know why or didn't know precisely when the spirit stopped bothering him but, he didn't think much about it as Ethan just wanted to enjoy his life as long as it lasts because even if he was unbothered at that time, he knew,

He just knew that this silence was nothing but the calm before the storm.

And Ethan was correct.

.

.

A week later, something happened. When Ethan was in his office, he got the notification.

NOTIFICATION: the movement captured. ( room near the living room)

NOTIFICATION: the movement captured. ( in the living room)

No one was supposed to be in his house. He lived alone.

Goosebumps crept all over his body.

He was hesitant before clicking the notification.

Ethan opened the personal laptop with which the cameras were sending all the footage. He also attached the hardware so to save anything if captured. With shaking hands, he opened the tab.

The camera window in the living room was showing the movement as the notification told.

He clicked on that window.

At first, he was confused as nothing looked out of the ordinary but, then when he zoomed a little to check thoroughly, he caught a movement. He saw something.

A shadow figure.

In the beginning, it was a little far away from the camera, out of focus. Ethan thought he might be hallucinating, but then it became more obvious what was happening. The shadow he thought he was imagining was getting clear as it moved in the general direction of the center of the living room.

The shadow had no body attached to it. It was a free shadow, was moving, very leisurely.

Head held a little low, low as the hair obscured the face.

Walking action was calculated and slow as if it had some weight attached to the legs.

It seemed like it knew exactly where to look because the moment he was in the center of the room, the spirit stopped and tilted the head toward the camera. The hair obscured its eyes but had some heavy negative feeling attached to it.

The moment it tilted the head, all the lights started flickering rapidly.

And at the exact moment, the camera started shaking abruptly.

Then, the darkness and everything stopped.

Then his screen became white. Like the connection was lost.

He was not able to see anything.

But after checking different camera windows, Ethan realized why he was only able to see white on the monitor from the living room camera.

The screen was white because the camera was turned, tilted so much that it was only able to capture the white wall.

Ethan felt like his soul just left his body.

He was shivering very hard and was feeling nauseated.

He ran toward the washroom and entered the first cubicle quickly, and vomited his gut out.

His friend John saw him rushing inside the washroom and was worried about his health. So to help him, he entered after him.

He saw Ethan kneeling head hung low, curled up to himself.

He had gone pale and was smelling off like vomit.

Ethan's friend rushed toward him and shook him "hey, hey! are you okay?"

Ethan didn't budge.

"Hey, you are making me worry. Stand up, stand up!" John pushed Ethan up forcefully and, when Ethan stood up, he opened his eyes.

John directed him toward the basin. He grabbed the basin tightly as he was feeling very sick to stand up on his two legs.

John flushed the toilet, cleaned his clothes, grabbed him some water, and again entered the washroom with some fresh clothes for Ethan.

Ethan seemed to be more present than earlier as he had freshened up and now was standing with his eyes closed, taking slow deep breaths.

His friend stood near him and offered with a water bottle. " Thank you," Ethan thanked him with a timid voice.

"Want to talk about it?", John asked.

"Not now," Ethan replied.

Indeed his friend is caring and would understand him, but at that moment, he just wanted to be alone as Ethan still think no one would support him and had to suffer their judgemental comments.

Ethan thought his excuse was convincing enough to keep John less worried but, he was wrong. His friend had seen him at his lowest and was not leaving him no matter what Ethan said.

His decision of not talking to others about his house 'situation' was slowly crumbling as he felt that he should at least give a chance and talk to his friend about it. He no more could handle the loneliness and wanted to rant out all his pent-up emotions.

He had to be strong. Ethan had to show or at least pretend to be strong.

The spirit wanted him to know its presence, and this little act was just another example of it.

And it also meant that things were going to be more aggressive.

Ethan had to prepare more.

They were sitting in the cafeteria and were drinking coffee.

Still hesitant, Ethan didn't tell him the whole situation but said that he was having trouble in his apartment.

"I got so scared when I saw you sitting near the toilet seat, shaking like a leaf. I should feel guilty for interfering in your personal life but, I can't see you going through this type of mind-cracking episode again," John said.

" If you don't want to talk about it, then don't just don't close yourself.

All I am saying is, right now need someone to be with you. If you want, I can come over with you to give you company", John asked.

"I am okay with sleeping on the couch also" he chuckled a little.

Ethan didn't say anything for a hot minute. His mind was spiraling.

The idea of someone else suffering like him was getting him to feel sick but, an idea was also swimming in his mind.

If something haunting occurred when John was with him, he doesn't have to explain anything his friend will understand him automatically.

"Okay, you can come with me tonight but trust me, nothing good will come out of it. Giving warning is my duty, it's upon you to follow it or not,"

Ethan told him after thinking about the whole thing.

It felt right to Ethan to at least warn him.