CHAPTER 4: Ethan

7 0 0
                                    


The loud knocks on the front door woke me up. 7:32 in the morning. 'What the fuck man, I wanna sleep'. I heard my mother and father talking downstairs. I couldn't make out what were they saying but I knew something was wrong when I heard my dad screaming. I ran down the stairs and even missed the last three steps.

-What happened!? What's wrong!? Dad, why are you crying!? - He's been always the sensible one. He was on the floor crying his heart out. My mom was sitting on a chair, massaging her temple and crying softly. Next to her was a police officer. He was tall and blonde, with short hair, he was holding my brother's lucky hat. 'No, no. This can't be about Ethan'.

-What happened to him? - I asked barely louder than a whisper. The officer turned around to face me. His partner grabbed my arm and leaded me to the couch. I sat down examining their faces to know how bad it was. Oh god, it was pretty bad. The blonde officer knelled in front of me. Holding my hand he looked straight into my eyes. He was sad, he didn't want to tell me.

-Miss, I'm so sorry to inform you that your brother, Ethan, have died on a car crash tonight - I felt my heart break. I literally felt it. He was gone. Ethan was gone. My brother, the one who teach me how to ride a bike, who gave me my first guitar, the one who used to hug me randomly just because he wanted to. He was my best friend. My hero. I looked up to him. I wanted to be like him when I grow up. He was just 21 and the most pure soul on earth. He was my everything. I loved him more than everything. What would I do now? I got up of the couch and went upstairs into Ethan's room. The band posters on the walls made me emotional. I turned on his computer and it asked for a password. I knew it, it was 'chlochlo' and it was because of me. We were the best friends ever. I opened the music app and played his Twenty One Pilots' favorite song, 'Fairy Local'. He loved that song and 'Lane Boy'. Looking around his bedroom I thought about my last time with him, just a few hours ago.

"-I can't believe you really said that! – We were at our house porch. He was telling me about how he argued with his college teacher. He was so smart, no one could beat his brain.

-I had to. He was wrong. But anyways, stop talking about me. Did you talk to Scarlet? – My best friend and I fought that day. It was over a stupid thing – You know, you should forgive her, she's always been there for you and this whole Homecoming thing is so dumb. I bet that she'll be there for on your hardest times. Just go and talk to her, plus I think you-

My mom called us in. Later that night Ethan went to his girlfriend's house. When he didn't came back we all thought he'd spend the night there. My mom was pissed he didn't called to let her know. I texted him and told him that. He sent me a response:

Ethan: Thnks fr telling. Love ya too. See ya in the morning. Sleep tight monkey :3

That was the last time I heard about him alive".

I cried and went to my room to grab my phone. I dialed Scarlet's number, I knew it by heart. It sounded for a bit and then her sleepy voice came through the phone.

-Chloe? What do you want? It's 8 in the morning... on weekend! – I could tell she was mad, not for the call but for our little fight. I started crying – Wait. What's wrong?... Love, calm down, I'm not mad I swear, don't cry. Everything is fine, you can go with Max to the-

-Ethan's dead – I managed to let out. She went silent for a while

-I'm on my way – Then she hung up. Fifteen minutes later she was knocking at out front door. The officer opened it and went to Ethan's room to tell me she was home. I walked with him downstairs. My dad was asleep on the couch, his face red for the crying. My mom was on the phone. The officer told me they wanted to stay enough to know my dad was okay. I nodded and thanked him. Scarlet ran to me and hugged me tight. Ethan was right, she'll always be there.

Scarlet stayed with me for the next week. She went with me to Ethan's funeral. Jess, Ethan's girlfriend was there too. She looked dead inside. I gave her the ring Ethan brought for her the week before the accident. He was proposing the night he died. I was the only one who knew about his plan. The blonde officer gave me the ring when they gave us Ethan's belongings a few days after the accident. I needed Jess to have the ring. She cried and hugged me for a long time. I'm glad to say I'm still friends with her.

Two weeks after the funeral, the tall, blonde officer that told me about the accident was at my door. My parents were out, both at therapy. He looked at me and blushed.

-Uhm... my name's Matthew Fox, I'm the officer that informed you of your brother's accident. I... uhm... I was worried about you and your parents, I wanted to know if you were okay and ask you if you need anything – He was shy and cute. To be honest, that act melted my heart.

-We are fine, I think, it's kinda hard to wake up and not hear him singing horribly – We laughed. I told him to come in. He stayed the whole afternoon. I didn't want to be alone and really enjoyed his company. We talked about Ethan and how amazing he was. He asked me about myself and told me a little bit about himself.

That become a routine. Every Monday he would show up at my door, some days with coffee, others with cookies. We became closer and closer. Three months after we met, he asked me to be his girlfriend.

I said yes.

The biggest mistake of my life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: So, this is a flashback pretty interesting. Something that made me want to write a story like this is that I found really interesting how life can GET WORST. Actually, it really can get worst sometimes, but as you've seen on the previous chapters, it got kinda better.

You get to know a lot about Chloe's past and how strong she actually is. I really like the break on her life after her brother passed (not because I hate her) because it shows how we can fall into the trap of someone on our weakest moments. 

So, based on this chapter, I wanna say: Stay strong. No matter what, no matter how hard it is, stay strong. 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. More to come :3

ThatWhere stories live. Discover now