hidden | ethma

thirty two

as i unlock the door to my apartment, ethan steps out of his. he wears a dark brown leather jacket and holds his phone in his hand, his expression serious.

"hi," i greet him, setting down my groceries just inside my apartment before turning back to talk to him.

he nods to me absently, still looking at his phone. "hey."

"where are you off to?"

he locks his phone and looks at me. "running some errands."

he's a good liar.

"sounds fun," i say. i peek at the time on my phone. 2:36. "thanks for organizing my apartment, by the way," i say. "you didn't have to do that."

"it was no problem," he says, shrugging.

"well... thanks, anyway." ethan's eyes dart around and he chews on his lip. i've never seen him look so anxious.

"so how's accounting going?" i ask.

"same as always," he replies. "it's math, nothing really changes."

"right." i nod. "doesn't it get boring, doing math all the time? i mean, i know i'd get bored."

"i don't know, i like it."

"yeah, i guess. i've always been better at science myself-"

"hmm." ethan looks at me impatiently.

"ever since high school, you know? no, scratch that, since middle school-"

"yeah, listen, emma, i really have to go-"

"right, sorry. have fun!" i internally curse as he nods to me and walks down the hall into the elevator. i check the time. 2:44. well, i kept him for eight minutes.

i wait another two minutes before hurrying down the stairs to the lobby. i look through a crack in the door of the stairwell and watch as ethan steps out of the elevator, eyes cast down. he exits the building and i quickly hurry after him.

i expect him to get into his car, but he walks right past the parking lot and out into the street, looking both ways quickly before crossing. i fall back into a crowd of people, keeping an eye on his back.

i know i'm risking so much by following ethan again, but i consider myself part of whatever it is he does now. i've had two run-ins with these people, and i want to know what the hell they do.

ethan turns a corner. i follow him down three more blocks until he ducks into a narrow sidestreet.

i watch him from behind a dumpster as he walks up to a grey door in the side of a tall, brick building. he takes a yellow piece of paper out of his pocket and i squint to see what he's doing.

he reaches out to a keypad next to the door and punches in a number. i squint, memorizing the sequence he punches in. i watch carefully as he puts the yellow paper back into his pocket and the door clicks open.

i know i have to act fast.

as soon as the door shuts, i hurry up to the keypad. i reach out and hit the four numbers i watched ethan enter.