Twisted Web of Truths

Chapter Sixteen

He sat silently on the stairs of the porch, a steaming mug of chamomile tea beside him. In the empty patch in front of the house, a bird flew down, pecking into the ground. Something moved at a corner of his eyes, a dirty orange color jumping from trees to trees.

He felt him, rather than see. "It's not your fault."

Kent sighs. "I feel like the things I said have offended you. Apologies. I didn't mean to be blunt."

"It's alright."

Kent moves down to sit beside him. A meter distance between them both, taking up spaces in that little stairways. He breathes, closing his eyes. Ethan saw his wrinkled face from this distance, clearer, like looking into a nicely cut nail to find its cuticle filled with dirt. He realized the color of his eyes, light brown, either from sunlight or it's just the way it is.

Ethan could feel Cole's stare from inside, burning through the window. He's pretty sure he's glaring at Kent. The Elites chose to keep silent after hearing his confession. Four only glanced at him once and told him to let it come naturally, so now, they canceled further fight sessions and started on mental evaluation.

"If you want to know, I could tell you everything I know about the project," Kent speaks after a long minute.

Turning his head slightly, Ethan glanced uncertainly at him, his hand moving to hold the warm mug. He sips, waiting for Kent to elaborate.

"I'm the director of the CIA. Missions and cases have to go through me first. The classified case, which is the bombing of Project Future hasn't been closed. The government tried to cover it up and I'm not entirely sure if the government did it or someone else.

"The thing is, Ethan, we're all so deep down in this mess, no one can figure the good and the bad from one another. We overlap each other." Kent glances at him once.

"Your point is?" Ethan couldn't dilly-dally any longer, he needs to know what happened. He doesn't care if the words he said are lies. He needed something to believe. Something to hold on before he knows the truth.

"We found your father's blood halfway across the country, a week after, he was pronounced dead. I have the hunch that your father somehow managed to get out but these people, they cleaned up real nice." Kent faces him fully.

"What about my mom?" Ethan asks, crossing his mental fingers for the sense of foreboding in his mind.

"We couldn't find her body," Kent says, hesitantly, now avoiding his eyes. After a while he adds, "I'm sorry."

***

He always thought that mental evaluation was supposed to keep him from going crazy. He was wrong. He was tested in various parts, like mental health using a method only the Elites seems to know and there was a time where he had to describe a moment of his life with details that he's seen in a passing glance, and yet, he remembered.

It's been almost a week and it felt longer than it should. Ethan starts to miss his parents. His friends. And Emilie. God, he missed her so much. No phone service and the internet wasn't the worst of it. His brother has been hanging out with Joey Barnes a lot. Sometimes, he could hear them laughing from the back. It felt like Cole has finally moved on, but again, it is his fault. If only things would get better.

His mouth felt dry because of the meat he had to eat three times a day for almost two weeks without vegetables. Unless he counted the time where he stuffed his mouth with raw greeneries that tasted nasty but healthy. He believed them. If Four could look like that eating the nasty stuff, he's in.