The Third Word

Chapter 64

"Trapped? What do you mean?" I asked. Someone like me, who didn't know anything about spirits apart from what I'd seen in movies, would only think that Ethan could pass through walls and ceilings and teleport in seconds, so I found it really hard to understand how he could be trapped.

"Look," He said, facing me again and lowered his voice," Check your house for anything that keeps spirits away. A cross, holy water, anything." 

"My house doesn't have any-"

"Ask your parents. Maybe one of them brought something into the house recently which you aren't aware of." He said.

"How am I supposed to ask them that?" I asked because I wouldn't go and ask them if they brought anything that keeps spirits away. That would make them question me and I was so done with lying that I might just blot out bits of it.

"Then look for it. Search your house thoroughly." He suggested.

"And what do I do if I find it?" I asked.

"Throw it out of the house." 

"And...what If I fail?" I asked like a little kid. I wanted to know every possibility, which would tell me exactly the chances of seeing Ethan again. Honestly, I wanted to see him.

"You can't fail and if you do, then it's over." He said, inching me.

"I'll try..." I said.

"Only you can do it." He gently placed his warm hands on my shoulders and nodded," I trust you." He said. Just, those words, those eyes full of honesty and the confident voice of his could make me feel worthy and trusted.

Mere words- If they're good, they make your day and If they're bad, tears wash you away. And words could be a key to what we wanted to achieve, If only we could understand the third word. Somehow, at that moment, our hopes were high, thinking that if we cracked the third word, we would be able to solve the case.

Little did we know, the significance of the third word was zero, compared to what all we had to put on stake to bring justice to the dead Ethan Miler. And we were ready.

"By the way...are you okay?" I asked, thinking he must be hurt to know about Stace. He removed his hands and took a step back," Ethan is more important." was all he said before a smile appeared on his face, turning into an adorable grin as he lowered his head.

"Why do you want to...help him so much?" I battled my thoughts a thousand times before the words actually came out of my mouth.

"Sorry, you had to come all the way and stand out in cold." he said," I'll borrow dad's office keys and our next meeting will be indoors." 

"Thanks." I said awkwardly. He clearly ignored my question. Maybe he didn't want to answer it then or maybe he didn't have an answer to it yet. It was left for me to assume. I wanted to know how far the investigation had reached, but I doubted he would tell me anything related to it yet.

He turned back to leave, so I too sighed and turned away from him. Since mom wasn't going to be home and dad wasn't the type to check on me, I could easily look around the house that night. I had made up my mind to find whatever was preventing Ethan from coming inside the house and get rid of it. 

"Gwen," Elijah called as I began to walk away. I stopped and faced him," Yeah?"

He started walking towards me with a troubled expression. His ears suddenly appeared dark pink and he was trying his best to hide his face by looking down. And then, he looked up at me for one moment, when I noticed his eyes were glistening.

Before I could ask why he was crying, he rested his head over my right shoulder and sobbed. I could feel him trying to keep his hands on the sides of my arms but he lowered them. He didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable, but he wanted me to comfort him.

He was sad about Stace leaving him all along. He just didn't show it.

"I feel a huge loss inside of me." He said.

"Trust me, I do too." I said, remembering how my first kiss was forcefully taken away by Edwin. I wanted to pull him closer and make him feel a little warm, since he was keeping a distance between us. But something about the whole situation made me so nervous that I was losing breath. I managed to hold his hands in mine and gently rubbed my thumb on the back of his hands.

"You'll be fine." I said.

"You too." He said and sobbed for the last time before pulling away. I slowly let go of his hands. I was taken aback by his words. Not even knowing what I had lost, he hoped I would be okay. I didn't know he was that good of a person. At that moment, I thought

I'm glad to know you, Elijah.

If I had spoken those words out loud, would he have said he was glad to know me too?