It All Started At 6 a.m.

Chapter 29

Ethan

---flashback to five years ago---

I let out a loud whistle as my brother showed me a new roller skating trick that absolutely blew my mind. We were roller skating for the past thirty minutes now and the sun had already disappeared from the sky. 

"Don't be so loud kid. The neighbours will shoo us back home." Nathan chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"But that was so cool." I grinned at him.

"Want to learn?" 

"Why would you even ask that?" Roller skating with Nathan every evening was the best part of the day. 

"Come on then." He started skating away from home and I followed him on my skates.

"Where are we going?" I asked him when I was side-by-side with him.

"The neighbours will complain if we skate there and make noise." He said and rolled into an alley.

"But Nathan, this alley is kind of creepy. I think we should turn back." I looked at my surroundings. The alley was lit by a single bulb that looked like it could give up any given moment.

"Don't worry kid when your elder brother is with you." He smiled at me and skated further down the alleyway. "Okay, now, watch this." He showed me the trick all the while maintaining his balance on the skates.

"A bit slower." He laughed and did as I said, demonstrating the trick a bit slower this time and tripping over the pebble at the end that he didn't see because of the dim lighting.

A distant sound of someone's footsteps had me stopping in my tracks and straining my ears. The footsteps kept on advancing and I rushed towards Nathan.

"Did you hear that?" 

"No. I didn't hear anything, Ethan."

"But I…" I could still hear it. "Nathan, let's leave, please. Someone's coming towards us and this alley is giving me really bad vibes." I pleaded with him.

"But you wanted to learn that trick?" He got up with my help and dusted his jeans off.

"You can teach that some other day and somewhere else. Please, let's go."

"But I didn't hear anything. Maybe you were just hallucinating."

"Nathan, I swear I heard someone's footsteps and no sane person would dare to come here at this hour." I wiped the sweat off my forehead on my T-shirt as my breathing got heavier by the moment.

"Okay. Let's leave." He agreed and the moment we turned around to leave, we saw a shadow of a person that was hiding behind a pole. It can't be good. It definitely can't be good.

Without saying a word, Nathan turned us around and we both started skating as fast as we could, with him holding my hand tightly. I turned my head back when I heard those footsteps again but the shadow behind the pole wasn't there anymore.

"Nathan!" I panted as he looked at me questioningly. We were almost at the other end of the alleyway and I could see the scatter of houses on the other side of the road. "The shado-"

"Hey, watch out." Nathan shoved me forcefully and I stumbled down, my body rolling down towards the end of the alleyway, my arms pierced and scratched, due to the small stones on the concrete. It hurt. It frigging stung and my eyes brimmed with tears.

But all the ache went down the gutter and numbness took over my body as I saw Nathan struggling to get up from under the silhouette who was bashing Nathan's face repeatedly. My heart started pounding against my chest as I saw blood trickling down his face.