Is That Mom

Part 8 of Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Shadows of the Past

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Part 8:

Hidden Motives

The faint glow of dawn filtered through the thin curtains, casting a pale light over the motel room. Ethan stirred, the exhaustion from the previous day still weighing heavily on his limbs. He reached for the side of the bed, expecting to find Sarah still there, but his hand met only cold sheets.

A sinking feeling twisted in his gut as he sat up, his eyes scanning the room. It was empty. Sarah was gone.

Panic bubbled in his chest, and he threw off the covers, scrambling to his feet. It wasn’t until he noticed the folded piece of paper on the nightstand that his heart began to slow, just slightly. He reached for it, his fingers trembling as he unfolded the note.

Ethan,

I’m sorry I had to leave without saying anything, but there are things I can’t explain right now. There’s a place I need to be, and it’s safer if I go alone. Don’t follow me.

I’ll leave you instructions on where to meet me once I’m sure it’s safe. Trust me on this—but don’t trust anyone else. Not yet.

Stay out of sight. There are more people watching than you know.

Sarah

The note crumpled slightly in Ethan’s fist as he gripped it tighter, the words sinking into his mind like poison. Don’t follow me. Don’t trust anyone. The cryptic instructions felt like a slap in the face after everything they had been through. How could she expect him to trust her now, after disappearing without a word?

Anger flared in his chest, but it was quickly drowned by the deeper, more familiar ache of abandonment. It wasn’t the first time he had been left alone, and the sting was just as sharp as ever. First his mother, then his father, and now Sarah. All of them had slipped away, leaving him to pick up the pieces, to fight for answers in a world full of lies.

Ethan paced the small room, the note still clutched in his hand. What is she hiding? Why would she leave now, when we were so close? The questions swirled in his mind, each one more disorienting than the last. He had trusted her—or at least, he had tried to. But now? Now he wasn’t sure if he could believe anything she said.

The note warned him not to trust anyone, but wasn’t that what Sarah had been doing all along—keeping him in the dark, feeding him just enough information to keep him from walking away, but never giving him the full truth? Maybe she wasn’t just protecting herself. Maybe she was part of this whole twisted conspiracy, leading him deeper into the danger without him even realizing it.

Ethan’s hands tightened into fists as the weight of his thoughts pressed down on him. He had no proof, no solid evidence that Sarah was working against him. But doubt was creeping in, poisoning the fragile trust they had built. What if she had been lying to him this whole time? What if she was just another player in the game, using him to get what she wanted?

His pulse quickened as paranoia took hold. Who else could be involved? The idea that others were watching, waiting, made his skin crawl. Every shadow seemed to hold eyes, every stranger a potential threat. Sarah’s note hadn’t just warned him—it had planted a seed of fear that was growing rapidly, consuming his thoughts.

He threw the note onto the table, glaring at it as if it held the answers he was searching for. But there were no answers, only more questions. Ethan ran a hand through his hair, frustration gnawing at him. He couldn’t stay here, not when Sarah had left him to fend for himself. If she wasn’t going to tell him the truth, he would find it on his own.

He grabbed his jacket, slipping it over his shoulders as he moved toward the door. As he reached for the handle, a thought stopped him in his tracks. What if this is what they want? Sarah’s warning echoed in his mind. If people were truly watching him, waiting for him to make a wrong move, walking out into the open might be exactly what they expected him to do.

Ethan cursed under his breath, pulling his hand away from the door. His instincts told him to keep moving, to stay on the run, but Sarah’s words held him back. Stay out of sight. There are more people watching than you know.

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was early, barely sunrise. If Sarah was right, and he was being watched, they wouldn’t expect him to act yet. He had a small window, a chance to move before anyone realized he was gone.

His mind raced, trying to formulate a plan. He couldn’t just sit and wait for Sarah’s next move, not when everything was spiraling out of control. He needed to figure out what she wasn’t telling him, to find the missing pieces of the puzzle she had kept hidden. And that meant digging deeper, on his own.

Ethan’s eyes fell on the pile of documents and articles on the table, the remnants of their search. There had to be something they had missed, some clue that could lead him to the truth. He wasn’t ready to give up—not yet.

He sat back down at the table, his fingers tracing the edges of the old newspaper article they had found in the library. The names of the missing people stared back at him, taunting him with their unanswered mysteries. Were they connected to Sarah’s disappearance, too? Did she know something about them she wasn’t telling him?

The questions gnawed at him as he poured over the information once more, searching for something, anything, that might point him in the right direction. But the more he searched, the more his doubts festered. Sarah had led him to this point, and now she was gone, leaving behind nothing but vague warnings and cryptic clues.

Ethan leaned back in his chair, the weight of his isolation pressing down on him. He was alone again, left to fend for himself in a world of shadows and lies. The people he had trusted—his mother, his father, and now Sarah—had all left him behind. The realization settled like a stone in his chest, heavy and suffocating.

But this time, he wouldn’t let it break him.

With grim determination, Ethan stood up, his hands shaking but his resolve stronger than ever. He might not know who to trust, but he knew one thing for sure: he couldn’t stop now. The truth was out there, and he would find it, even if it meant going through this nightmare alone.

He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, glancing one last time at Sarah’s note. It was cryptic, vague, and full of warnings, but there was something else there too—an invitation. She had left him a trail to follow, even if she didn’t want him to know it. And despite everything, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Sarah was still on his side, even if her motives remained hidden.

Ethan tucked the note into his pocket and stepped out into the cold morning air. Whatever was waiting for him, he would face it head-on. Alone, if he had to.

But one thing was certain: the answers were out there, and he wouldn’t stop until he uncovered them all.