SOMETHING ROAMS THE NIGHT...

TWENTY SEVEN

I took a sip of pumpkin soup from the ceramic bowl. The silence wavering in the air around us was perturbing. Ezra wiped his mouth with a napkin, sneaked a glance at me opposite from where I was sitting.

"Could somebody pass the chicken, please," my mother broke the silence. Ezra immediately stood up to hand the plate over. 

"Ezra," Dad said his name suddenly, causing him to nearly fall over in his chair as he began to sit down.

"Yeah," Ezra composed himself, cleared his throat. 

"You spoke of a solution," Dad said seriously. "Is there anything more to it?"

"All my dad told me was about some kind of poison we could use to kill the reapers," Ezra answered. "He didn't tell me anything else."

"Oh," Dad nodded. "And it will work?"

"I don't know if it will," Ezra shrugged. "I hope it does. The important thing now is to get everyone out of town."

"Who took the picture?" I asked out of the blue. Everyone turned to look at me. 

"Zac," Ezra let out a sigh. "He was on his morning walks, scouring the town for goodness knows what, when he came across the body, and the...thing."

"It's a bad sign, isn't it," Andy spoke timidly from beside me. "They're getting stronger, aren't they?"

Ezra nodded sullenly. "It is all up to us to fix this. There is no other way."

"They want their town back," Andy put down his fork. "They want revenge on you Kanes. You started this, you and your family," he pointed an accusing finger at Ezra's direction. "You Kanes are the reason we are in danger."

"Andy!" my mother yelled at him to stop talking. 

"You destroyed our lives," Andy snapped, and left the table. There was a moment of silence, and then Ezra stood up, placing the napkin on the table.

"Ezra, I apologize-" my mother began to say, but he held up a hand. 

"It's okay," he stopped her. "Andy's right. I'm responsible for this. You all don't deserve to live like this. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"I'm the reason your lives are at bay," Ezra continued. "I'm terribly sorry."

He picked up his plate, together with his cutlery, and went over to the sink. I wanted to hug him, to tell him everything was going to be okay. I wanted to tell him that he could fight the reapers, that he could save us all, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. Because if I did, I would be telling a lie.

I felt a warm hand on my arm, and I turned to face my aunt. She was smiling at me understandably, as if she had read my thoughts. I realized I had been staring at Ezra for quite some time, and I felt my cheeks reddening. 

Why was I suddenly so attracted to Ezra? He was my best friend, for God's sake!

"Go on, talk to him," my aunt nudged me, her smile growing wider.

I wanted to, so I got on my feet. But before I could take a step, a piercing, appalling scream rang out throughout the house. It was so unexpected that my heartbeat rose within a millisecond.

I recognized the voice immediately- it was unmistakably Andy, shrieking at the top of his lungs, as if something was after him.