Wrong-An Ethan Morales FanFiction

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟖

𝓔𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷

     Tʜɪs ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ I ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴄʀɪᴇᴅ sᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ. Sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ɢᴇᴛ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ ɪғ I wanted. But Isabel wasn't something I could get easily.
     She was a rare diamond that could only be found in the dark pits of a mine and that anyone would kill to have. That anyone would sell to the highest bidder.
     I had lost her to something. I thought she'd be supportive about it, about me literally getting the blood of a man on my hands. Yet, she didn't. She left. Hoping I could heal. It only made me hurt that she left.
     I sat back pressed against one of the wheels, barely breathing as I stared at the floor, feeling the tears fall down my neck while the engine of my truck roared, muffling any noise of the garage. This was so dramatic.
     I'm so dramatic.
     Imdramaticimdramaticimdramatic.
     The tears fell faster.
     I got up from the floor and walked over to the window of the driver's side, peeking through the open glass and turning off the engine, before I walked away and opened the door that led into my house, turning off the lights of the garage and heading inside.
     The inside felt cold, and shiver after shiver rippled through me, eliciting a groan from deep inside my throat. I strolled over to one of the radiators and it was on, full temperature.
     Another one, which was also at the max.
     I checked every single one. One by one. And they were all on, but I still felt cold. Everything felt cold.
     My only choice was to go to sleep, it was almost 1AM anyways. I had spent the whole afternoon crying about Isabel, and maybe if I continued in bed, I could get the best sleep. I always did.
     So I headed upstairs to my room after I turned all the lights off, fell on my bed face down and scrunched the pillow against my face, trying to muffle the noises that came out of my mouth as the only thing I thought about was her. Her words. Her everything.
     When I said that she consumed my thoughts completely, I wasn't joking. She really did. And all of it hurt like a bitch.

     Wʜᴇɴ I ᴡᴏᴋᴇ ᴜᴘ, ᴍʏ ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ ᴡᴀs ғᴜʟʟ ᴏғ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇs ғʀᴏᴍ Sʜʀɪᴍᴘ, ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ ᴄʜᴀᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍʏ friends and...Devi? Now that was interesting.
     I was too late for school now, so I guess I wasn't gonna go. 
     Instead of opening my friends' messages first, I went to Devi's. It was on Snapchat, and I had added her a long time ago. Even before this year. When I opened the message, my heart dropped.
     Devi: Ethan, we can't find Isabel
     Devi: She's missing
     Devi: I've tried to call her a million times but she won't answer
     Devi: Answer me, asshole
     What the fuck did she mean?
     I quickly sat up on my bed and started typing, my fingers dancing across the keyboard that had appeared on the screen.
     Me: Meaning?
     A few seconds later, three dots appeared at the corner of the chat.
     Devi: Are you dumb? I just told you nobody can find Isabel and Maria is going balls right now
     Me: Where are you rn?

     Devi: School, dumbass

     Me: No need to curse me out

     Devi: Are you retarded? I did not cuss you
     Me: You did now

     Devi: Whatever, we're meeting up at the cafe where she works to see if she's there or something. Shrimp is coming bc i told him you're coming too. Now get ur lazy ass out of bed, man
     I groaned at the last message and dropped my phone, screen down, on my pillow. Guessing that I should probably get out of bed before Devi would drag me out of it, which she is totally capable of by now.
     My body moved on its own but my head hurt, so I just ran a hand though my hair and got dressed in cleaner clothes because these ones were still dirty with car grease from last night. Once I was done with changing clothes, I took my car and drove off to the Sherman Oaks Cafe, where they all were.
     The drive wasn't supposed to be long but with Isabel in my mind, it was too much.
     When I got there, I saw Shrimp and Brody, plus Devi, Eleanor, Fabiola, Aneesa and Isabel's little sister. Her face soaked in tears.
     My heart ached.
     "She's not here, man. We have to go all around Los Angeles or shit. If she really is missing then we have to report it to the police." Shrimp said as he pursed his lips, one hand scratching the back of his neck while the other one stayed in his pocket.
     "We'll do anything it takes to find her, then." I answered casually, the lack of worry in my voice making everyone's ears perk up.
     "I'm broke, Ethan. I am not gonna pay for like, 100$ of gas do find the—"
     "I'll pay it." I cut Brody off.
     "What?" They all said in unison. I kissed my teeth for a second before I nodded and started walking out of the cafe, trying to act unphased.
     While actually, my heart was trying to escape from my body with the fear of Isabel being injured or worse. Or just completely missing.
     Everyone followed behind, each other getting in their own cars as we started riding around LA. Everything was packed, which meant, restaurants, bars, shops, everything was. Even Target, and barely any people go there during Mondays. I'm surprised these people even decided to get out of their bed in such a horrible day.
     We drove all around the city, trying to find any trace of her. To see if we could actually find her, hoping we actually would. She could fight, but any person could bring her down enough for her to stop fighting back. Sex traffics have been crazy.
     I froze in my car once again, the words haunting me and my memories, too. I shut my eyes closed and tried not to think about it, trying to not remember any of it, but the memory of mom being on the floor pleading and crying and screaming for them to stop while they made me watch, came back to my mind and a bead of cold sweat rolled down my forehead.
     I continued driving instead, trying to relieve the burning feeling behind my eyes as I slowly made the window of the driver's side slide down, the fresh air hitting right in the strands of my hair, making all the cold sweat that had formed, dry out.
     With everyone, we continued driving and driving around, until we reached Malibu. My eyes rounded when I saw someone laying on their side on the sand. The hint of brown and curly hair making me know who it was right away.
     I made signal with the headlights to the other people and parked in one of the designed spots before I took off my belt, and right when I thought I was about to be the one to see her first, I was wrong.
     A crying Maria ran down the stone stairs, running over to her sister before she fell to her knees on the ground and woke up Isabel, who opened her eyes instantly and pulled her little sister into her arms, letting her cry into her shoulder.
     We all looked at each other before walking down to meet the two girls, the wind blowing through their hair as Isabel held her against her chest, letting the young girl sob and cry into her, saying whatever she was saying.
     "I thought you left without me, Isa." Maria sobbed, wrapping her arms tight around Isabel who gave her a small kiss on top of her head before answering her.
     "I wouldn't go anywhere too far without you, amorzito." She said, running her hands through Maria's tangled hair.
     Amorzito. That's what her grandmother called her when she was a kid, from what she told me. She barely had any memories from her childhood because of the several times she hit her head and how much times her idiotic parents injured her, but that was one thing that would stay with her forever. The same way the soul of her grandmother would.
     "Thank you for bringing her, Devi." She whispered, not even looking up from the little girl.
     "You're welcome, but you better explain why the hell you weren't responding to my texts. And also why the hell you're here. I threw my dad's ashes here, you know?" Devi said, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of crying.
     Isabel looked up at me and cleared her throat, and when she looked away I couldn't stop looking at her.
     Eyebags. Curly hair with tiny beads of sand tangled in them. Shaking body from the cold she must have endured during the night. Her car wasn't even here, so I was impressed to how she could have gotten here.
     "I'll tell you later. I just really need to rest right now." She explained, giving everyone a soft smile.
     The sobs of a familiar voice shocked me more than anything could before, and we all looked...at Shrimp. Hands wiping his tears.
     "I need a hug too, man. This is too sad." He sobbed, holding his arms out as Brody rolled his eyes and wrapped his around him, letting the guy cry into his shirt.
     We all chuckled at the sight, and it made she shitty ambient into something a little more comfortable, while the only thing I wanted was to get out all that was bottled up and yell at everything and everyone, but that would only ruin the mood and I would be at fault of it. So I held myself back and just nodded before walking away.
     Once I was far away from everyone and felt like no one was watching, I let the tears roll down my face and my hand went to my wrist, scratching the skin until redness spread all around, making me wince at the slight pain and making that area become numb quickly.
     I unlocked my car and got inside, locking it and making sure nobody was around, and I kept dragging my nails against my skin.
     Dragging away the pain.
     Trying to "heal".
     Imgoodimgoodimgood.
     The same phrase repeated over and over inside my head, and it made the tears fall faster as blood starting showing.
     "Shit." I cursed, pulling my hand away and wiping my wrist on my thigh, staining my jeans with the crimson fluid, wincing at the rough friction it created.
     I brought the bleeding bruise to my sight and bared my teeth at the nasty image.
     You could literally see I had scratched my own skin, the blood already slightly dry and tiny red bumps all around, redness spreading through the area as I winced whenever I touched it, and I knew I had to get this cleaned before it infected and I got a stupid disease for scratching my skin.
     I drove home without telling anyone, not letting anyone know.
     But she was still in my fucking mind, and the fact that she walked all the way from wherever she was to here was fucking crazy. I gritted my teeth at the thought, not even liking the idea of seeing her alone for a single little second.
     No, she was never gonna be alone again. She would never see the light of the sun without having some supervision around her. I was not letting anything happen to her.
     If anyone touched her or even tried, I would've kicked their ass half to death so they could never do it ever again. She was mine.
     She would notice it soon.
     This is so bipolar, I swear. I was just crying two seconds ago from a small but nasty bruise and now I'm acting all powerful and thinking that Isabel fucking Belmonte is mine.
     And while this looks like I kind of am bipolar, I am right. Isabel is mine. Only mine.
     She was not going anywhere without my eyes on her.
     Even if it meant I had to stalk her.