XV The Incident
Journal
Journal
It had been a year since the incident, and it had been a year since Ethan was without the constant companionship of Caden. As the pea soup fog vanished on that fateful day, so did Caden’s stone-like body. Of course, the event was marvelous. But that made it all the more devastating for Caden’s young guardian. Ethan went on with his life, obviously, settling into a whole new schedule without the mysterious little fog boy and his daily Earl Grey. He stood the abuse of loss quite gallantly, but careful examination would lead observers to understand otherwise. To put things simply: the once self-confident youth wilted, and sought to fill his time with other things of a much more destructive purpose than caring for a floating spirit-child.
Nevertheless, like many cases of this sort (disappearing children and moving on with your lives and all that), nothing superficial seemed flawed after a certain amount of time. Therefore, it was on one of those “perfectly typical days” that a knock was heard at the entrance to Ethan’s dorm room commons. He was by himself as usual, but at midday, visitors were scarce. Quite curious as to why his noontime guest did not bother to use the doorbell, Ethan put his book down, hopped off of his bed, and went downstairs to answer the door. Positively inquisitively, looked through the view-hole, but there was absolutely no one around. He opened the door, baffled, and was greeted with a plain and empty porch.
Ethan shrugged. Perhaps someone was embarrassed about going to the wrong address. Well, he’s got more work to do anyway, and soon, he’ll have lunch to worry about. With his eyes half-closed in weariness, Ethan pulled himself back up the stairs and collapsed into his bed (pushing his book off in the process). Buried inside his pillow, Ethan could only think that for some reason, he hasn’t had much energy for anything recently. He breathed out stuffily into the cotton cover, and heard a rustling… which was soon followed by clinking noises. Perplexed once again by his peculiar situation, Ethan lifted his head slowly, and turned around.
By the time Ethan’s golden eyes met HIS turquoise peepers, Caden already had an old china teacup extended straight towards his guardian.
