“Alicia,” Ethan whispered from my left. I glanced at him and, well, he seemed normal. Normal brown sweater, normal jeans, normal face. So utterly normal. But then I noticed the small, intricate details one’s eye would miss on the first look.

His sweater was crumpled in places, as if he’d forgotten to iron it. And his jeans were in the same condition. The face I’d grown up looking at every day at school was missing it’s usual easy smile and glow.

No, I realised. This was not normal, not at all. Something was wrong. I shifted my position so I was sitting cross-legged on the café seat, facing him. And then I was hit with the misery emanating from him. It was like you could feel it, vibrating in the air, shifting uncomfortably, unable to find an escape or moment of rest.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to keep my face neutral but I knew some of the panic showed. Maybe he was just unfocused today, or this really was a bad situation, because he completely ignored my little slip up and continued.

First he cleared his throat and then tried to speak. Several times. But it was like the words kept on getting stuck in his throat, no matter how many times he wanted to.

“Ethan, is everything okay? You know you can tell me.” I was beginning to get increasingly worried. He was never like this. Not even when his mother passed away and his dad wouldn’t leave his other kids to come to the funeral. I remembered that day very clearly, and I was fully aware it was probably one of the hardest of his life.

But nothing compared to this. The utter speechlessness, the silence. Because Ethan always had something to say, someone to compliment. And when he didn’t speak, that’s when you knew it was bad.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” he started,

“But I don’t think it’s something I can tell you. I think… I think it would just be better if I showed you… yes..”

He said all that as if he was talking to himself rather than the person in front of him. Like he was trying to convince himself of something.

“Has something happened??” This time I couldn’t keep the desperation out of my voice and I had this urge to grab his face and turn it towards mine. It was kind of hard to talk to someone who was looking in the almost completely opposite direction to you. Which, in our case was the window of the café.

Maybe my shrill voice snapped him out of his reverie or the waitress approaching us and telling us to “clear off because the shop’s closed”.

He stood up suddenly and without turning to look at me said in a monotone voice: “Come.”

I slowly slid out of my seat and followed him. As soon as I was out of the door I rushed to catch up to him.

“Ethan! Ethan! Wait up,” I called out to him.

He stopped, but only for a few moments. Then, as soon as I’d caught up, he resumed his fast walk towards, well I don’t know. This definitely wasn’t the path we took back to our neighbourhood.

Trying to ignore that unsettling fact, I observed his demeanour. He was almost shrunken in on himself, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, which I’m sure he was. Being an orphan with barely enough to get by was a really tough situation to be in.

But to be fair, everyone in our town was in a tough situation. Some were orphans like Ethan, most were homeless and the very few who were lucky to have a roof above their heads fought and argued day and night. Wives were abused, men were drunks, children were neglected.

It was the normal. The sweet, blissful normal I sought in life. But the weird way in which Ethan’s leg was jerking back and forth as he almost-sprinted was not normal. And I was not a fan.

“ETHAN.” I shrieked, halting mid-walk and putting a hand forth so he did the same.

“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, then I can’t help you! And where on Earth are we going anyway?? This path leads to the woods.”

“Alicia,” He sighed,

“Don’t worry, I’m taking you to the woods because what I want to show you is there.”

He resumed walking and so did I. I opted to stay silent during this because I needed to get my thoughts in order and come up with a plan. Because this wasn’t the Ethan I loved and adored and talked to every day.

We stopped at the mouth of the woods for a few seconds and then continued into the thick vegetation. The canopy blocked out most of the remaining light in the sky and since it was already 7pm, it was eerily dark.

Not to mention the silence was suffocating. It was like its hands wrapped around my throat and restricted my breath and ability to scream. I wanted to get out. This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t okay.

We suddenly stopped in an opening. It was a bit more lit up here but not enough to stop me from panicking.

“Ethan, where are we?..”

He just ignored me and strode forward to a pile of leaves. Not natural, I thought as he started digging through the pile.

My eyes widened as he began to make animalistic sounds.

He stopped and looked back at me with a crazed, manic smile on his face.

“First him, and now you, Alicia darling” Ethan drawled.

And then I knew.

And then I screamed.

And I didn’t want to look in the hole but something compelled me to. So I walked forward and sure enough, that’s where it was.

I looked down and the hollow eyes of a deceased man, a particular deceased man stared up at me.

Then, just blackness.