Chasing Shadows

Part One ~ Chapter Thirteen

“I felt bad that Mrs. Fisher was trying to brighten our moods, but she didn’t realize that we were no longer the little boys she remembered leaving for school in September. “

-Ethan

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I woke up at an odd time, my mind blurring as I found myself confused as to why I was on the floor of Johnny’s room. Then it all came rushing back to me, the car accident, my family in the hospital, and that little peace I had between the moment I woke up and the moment I fully revived conscious was gone. Turning towards  Johnny’s clock, I saw that it was only four in the morning.

            “You awake too?” I heard his sleepy voice from the bed above.

            “Yeah,” I sighed. “Anything happen during the night?” I bit my lip, hoping that there was a call on whether Matt, Amy, or my dad had revived conscious. I hated not having any clue what was going on, but it seemed to be happening a lot more often lately.

            “Nope.” Johnny sat up in his bed, turning on his lamp light and looking down at me. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we’d have told our parents about everything? From the start? Or maybe the police.”

            I nodded, wracking my brain for an answer. I had asked myself this question one too many times. And there was no real logical answer or than the fact that we couldn’t. We just couldn’t. For the sake of just about everybody we loved, we just could not tell anybody what was going on. Mr. Grey would always have the upper hand.

            “We’ve dug ourselves too deep now to think about it,” I finally responded. I could sense Johnny nodding, as if he had expected this response. “I think we too are a part of the bad now. Even if we’re trying to work towards the better.”

            Johnny didn’t respond. I looked up to see that he had fallen asleep. I got up and turned the lamp off, settling back onto the floor and closing my eyes. For some reason, I think out of sheer exhaustion and just emptiness, I fell right back to sleep.

***

            “Pancakes are ready, boys!” I opened my eyes to the bright sun shining through Johnny’s window. I squinted and yawned, sitting myself up. It was already nine in the morning. Johnny got up too, and we both just looked at each other. Both of us were just out of words, out of things to say on the whole situation.

            I staggered down the stairs to the kitchen, where fresh pancakes, syrup, and cut strawberries were waiting at the table. I felt bad that Mrs. Fisher was trying to brighten our moods, but she didn’t realize that we were no longer the little boys she remembered leaving for school in September. We had changed since then, and no longer were we able to bribed by the joy of pancakes in the morning.

            Johnny and I ate the pancakes in solemn silence. “So boys,” Mrs. Fisher finally said. “A package came for you. It’s a movie, I thought maybe you guys would like to watch it?”

            “But I didn’t order any package,” Johnny stated blatantly.

            “It was signed anonymously. Probably from a friend of yours at school or something.”

            Johnny and I exchanged a glance. There was only one person it could be from. Which meant we had to watch it.

            “Let’s watch it after we finish?”

            “Here you boys go.” Mrs. Fisher handed us the movie, that was wrapped in bubble wrap. Johnny and I scarfed down the rest of our food so that we could go watch it. My heart was racing, wondering what on earth Mr. Grey had up his sleeve next. He had already done enough damage. Half of my family was in the hospital. It showed Mr. Grey would go to whatever lengths he wanted to get to us.