Chasing the truth

The searching

3 years ago...

When Ethan had nothing else to do, you'd always find him with a book in his hand, immersed in reading. Being a literature student, he was always fascinated by the power the words carried to transition him into entirely different world. He would sometimes write too: haikus and poems, but not so often though. Fantasy and crime thrillers were his major interests. However, he didn't mind occasionally reading biographies, classics, and historical books either. It goes without saying that he had a huge collection of merchandise bookmarks and different colored markers to mark his favorite quotes from the book. Yeah, he was that type of reader who loved to bookmark pages and write quotes on post-it notes.

That autumn morning, as he sat on the park bench, patting his grey pant legs, he opened his Harry Potter book that he was trying to finish since last one month but just couldn't. He hated when the book was about to end; he always managed to somehow delay finishing the book. It always left him a little empty.

Ethan kept staring at the book, sipping the last of his coffee from his favourite cafe that he regularly visited. He discarded the cup in the bin nearby and sat back with a loud sigh. He counted the leftover pages.

"Hundred pages! Hmm... I shall be able to finish it soon. Ugh!" He mumbled to himself, running his hand in his smooth dark hair. Though he had brought another book with him, obviously.

After a few moments of looking around the park, he finally managed to focus on the book that he had intended to reading almost half an hour ago. By the time he was halfway through finishing the book, he heard someone frantically calling a girl's name. He looked around to find the source of the screams but discovered no one. The voice then sounded distant, as if the person yelling has moved away. However, a couple of minutes later, a man maybe in his thirties came to Ethan, asking if he had seen his three year old daughter, Lily.

Ethan placed a bookmark at the page he was reading and replied, "I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone in this area."

The man looked clearly disappointed. With furrowed brows and shaky breaths, he started calling his kid again. Ethan thought of resuming his reading but looking at how miserable the man seemed, he felt compelled to help the poor guy. With a loud groan, he closed his book, put it in his bag, stood up and reached to the man, putting his hand on the guy's shoulder.

"Hey, I'll help you in finding your daughter", Ethan said.
"Oh, thank you. I've already searched that area...", the man said, pointing towards the play area.
"No, no", Ethan interrupted, "I can help you find Lily. I just..", he sighed, unable to contemplate how he would explain what he was about to say.
"I know this will sound ridiculous, but you have to trust me if you want to get to your daughter", Ethan tried explaining.
"What is it", the man looked puzzled.
"I can communicate with her through telepathy. Help you exactly locate her."
"I don't understand."
"Yeah, I know. You just have to trust me."
With no option left, the man gave up and agreed to take Ethan's help.
"I'm Ethan." He introduced himself.
"Roy."
"Okay, Roy. Now, to find Lily, I'll need something that's really close to her. Do you have her favorite toy, or anything that she loves?"
"No, her favorite toy is with her."
"Can you think of anything else? Her favorite spot, or anything.."
"She loves the swing set, especially that one" Roy enthusiastically pointed towards one of the swings in the play area.
"Good. So let's get started."

They went to the play area and Ethan sat on Lily's favorite swing.

Before Ethan started the procedure, he warned Roy to not to discuss it with anyone else. Roy promised, as he just wanted to find Lily and go home.

Taking a deep breath, Ethan held the chains tight in his hands and closed his eyes. It was a bit difficult for Ethan to reach Lily as there had been many children who had sat on the swing that day. After a few tries, he finally found her.

"Lily, hi!" He whispered in relief.
"You see Lily? Where is she", Roy impatiently asked, kneeling beside Ethan.
"No, I don't see Lily. I see through her. I can see what she sees, I can talk to her. I can feel that she is scared."
"Can you please tell me where she is?"
"Lily, I'm Ethan. I'm with your father, Roy. We're at the park, where you were playing just moments ago. Do you remember? "

Roy looked at him, squinting in confusion.

"No, no. Don't worry, he'll come and get you, sweetie. Can you help me look where you are? Can you please turn around and see if you can find a spot that I can share with your father?"

Lily must have turned because Ethan turned towards Roy and smiled, eyes still close.

"Roy, Lily is near the bus stop. Go get her."
"Oh, thank you. Thank you, so much." Roy patted Ethan's shoulder and rushed to get Lily.

"No, Lily, stop. Please stop, your father is on his way to get you", Ethan hadn't lost contact with Lily, yet. He never does. During the procedure, unless Ethan feels that the subject is safe, he never leaves their side.

"That's a very pretty bear. Do you have a name for him", Ethan asked Lily.

"Ah, Stuffy! That's a nice name."

He felt big, warm hands carrying Lily and hugging her. Knowing that Roy had found her, he disconnected the contact and came to himself, panting silently.

He didn't want Roy and Lily to witness the consequences of the procedure that always took a toll on him. So he quickly gathered his belongings, lit a cigarette, and made a run for home.

After over a month, Ethan found himself sitting on the same bench in the park, starting to read 'The book thief'. Just as he opened the book, he felt someone hoovering over him. The glaring Sun made it impossible to gauge the person standing in front of him. All he could see was a shadow of a really tall man with a little person on his side. As the shadow moved a little to his side, he found Roy smiling at him.

"Hi, Ethan", Roy greeted.
"Hello, Roy", Ethan replied and gestured to take a seat beside him.
As Roy sat with the little girl on his lap, Ethan smiled at her and said, "You must be Lily. And let me guess, that's Stuffy!" He pointed at the bear.
Lily gave the widest smile possible as she enthusiastically hugged her stuffed toy and said, "yes, that's the best bear in the world."

Roy and Ethan laughed, unanimously.

"You suddenly disappeared on us the other day. We couldn't properly thank you", Roy said.

Evidently, Ethan had no intentions to reveal the reason for his unexpected escape.

"Oh, you don't have to", Ethan said, awkwardly shuffling a pebble between his feet.

"Of course we do. And that's why I am so glad I found you today."

Ethan gave him a quizzical look.

"Lily is turning four next week and she'd like to invite you to her birthday party, won't you, Lily?"

Lily playfully looked at Ethan, "it is going to be the best birthday party ever. Will you come? There will be chocolate cake. It is my favorite."

Ethan chuckled and promised Lily to attend her party. Roy and Ethan exchanged their numbers so that Roy can share his home location. Throughout their conversation, Ethan's face held a worried expression.

While leaving, Roy patted Ethan's arm and assured, "don't worry, your secret's safe with us."

Ethan sighed with relief and gave them a genuine smile. With a pinky promise to meet again, they part their ways.