Devil's Eye

Chapter 13

5' 3"

Morgan was full of surprises. It was such a sweet gesture of respect for the elderly. Ethan had never met his grandparents. He was born too late to meet any of them in person. He was jealous as a child when other children of his age were bragging about the upcoming weekend at their grandparents' house, where they could live off the fat of the land. He was also jealous of those who said that hanging out at their grandparents' house was lame. Ethan had neither interesting trips nor lame ones, though he wanted both. But all of these relationships had other sides. Nothing lasts forever. The more relatives you have, the more people you have to lay to rest. A lot of people of the same age as Ethan had to go through the loss of their grandfathers and grandmothers in primary school already. They either had to go through the loss or, like in Morgan's situation, they had to watch them die.

Ethan didn't expect that the retirement home would jog his own memories-not the nicest ones. That emerald grass. Flowered beds, which were so bright they didn't look real. Nicely cut bushes. And there were nurses and volunteers swirling everywhere with a tight smile and deeply tired eyes. They were constantly reminding that everything around them was just a nice picture, hiding the horrible truth: residents of the retirement home were living out their remaining days, waiting for their time to pass away. Nothing could erase that feeling: neither beautiful benches, where the old people were playing chess, nor even beautiful maple trees, where the residents of this place could sit down and relax in the shadow. Nice weather and fresh air couldn't reduce the feeling of loneliness and desolation. The smell of fresh pastry couldn't mute the feeling of an upcoming loss. That place was deflecting him and making him feel anxious. There was death everywhere-between nice pathways, beautiful fountains, and thick, aged laughter.

That's why Ethan was amazed that Morgan visited this place every week. It was possible to guess that the retirement home affected him differently than Thomson. It was easy to understand at a glance: Noah felt even worse than Ethan. He didn't just feel that dark, suffocating feeling, no. He hated this place.

While wanting to spend more time with Morgan, Ethan didn't lose hope of finding out something about Noah that could alienate him from Thomson. Ethan had already done it before, but not once. Sometimes it was enough for Ethan to hear one dumb phrase for an interlocutor to be dead for him. On the contrary, every word, gesture, or reaction of Noah had led Ethan to the opposite outcome. Even when Morgan, who was pissed at Ethan at the receptionist, took him outside like he was a guilty puppy, Thomson didn't have a single doubt that they could make a great couple. This situation had probably persuaded Ethan that he and Noah rounded each other out. And when Morgan raised his voice, angry with the situation... Good that Noah couldn't read people's minds, or else he would shut his mouth and never say a single word again, in order to never know the fantasies of a hungry Ethan.

Overall, Thomson was mad after their small fight. His inner being was mad, and it was screaming on top of its lungs in desperate wish for obedience because Ethan had been making himself a straightforward, carefree, not thinking about the rest of society kind of person for years. However, in bitter reality, he did care about Noah's opinion. There were two reasons why he couldn't ignore him: firstly, Ethan didn't want to offend Morgan, and secondly, Noah had a point.

Because of his spoilt character, Ethan had lost all of his friends and mates. There was no person (except his father, who was too busy to teach him wit) who could make Ethan look at his own behavior from the side. There was no one who could try to slow him down and explain why he was wrong.

There was no one, and then he appeared.

Ethan was quick-tempered, but he definitely wasn't stupid. He was aware that he wasn't always right. Sometimes feelings just take over. The feelings that others were trying not to notice, and then they became surprised why Ethan was suddenly sore about something. He couldn't say that Noah was more sharp-eyed than the others. However, he wasn't afraid to show his dissatisfaction, looking Ethan directly in the eye and not gossiping behind his back like others did.