Sticks And Stones

Chapter 2: Ethan I

I drop Beth home after that weird encounter with that guy with the deformed face and glowing eyes and teeth.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, babe, that's if you want to come." I say, giving her a long kiss

"I love you, Ethan." She says

"I love you too, Beth. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow. G'night." I reply

"I hope so too, I'll see you later, sleep well."

We wave each other goodbye until the car goes past our field of view of each other and I drive back a little faster than I came, still worrying that that deformed dude's still lurking around somewhere. 

We get to where we first saw him and my prediction was correct, he still stands in the exact same spot and I legitimately consider just nudging him off the road, but...he gives me this stare that makes me only want to keep driving and not slow down. The worst thing about it is that, a few seconds after he leaves my direct vision, I see him wave at me through the rear-view mirror and I get that same sense of fear I felt when I first saw him, only this time is worse.

Is he copying what Beth and I were doing? I think to myself fearing the worst

I look in the rear-view mirror again and slam my foot on the accelerator, hoping to get the fuck away from this...mental asylum escapee or whatever the hell he is.

I get home and don't bother telling my parents what I saw, it's only 25 past 10, so I play my Xbox One for a while to just take my mind off things. I send Jordan a text after an hour.

Me: Hey dude, how you holding up?

He replies after a few minuets

Jordan: What do you think?

Me: Sorry, I just wanted to know, I guess that's my answer

Jordan: No, I'm sorry, I'm doing shit, my girlfriend's just been murdered

Me: Understandable, just talk to me if you want to, I probably would have hung out more today, it's just that Beth wanted to come to mine

Jordan: Don't worry about it dude, I've just kinda been a mess today, it was probably good for me to have some time to myself

Jordan: We still haven't told Wes

Jordan: He was asking me why I was crying today

Me: Fuck, I hope he can handle it whenever you do tell him

Me: Are you coming to school tomorrow?

Jordan: Probably not, idk if I can go through another commemoration for Katherine

Me: Yeah, because School makes it better right?

Jordan: I know, it's fucking stupid, like, if you really cared about her, you would have been at her actual funeral

Me: Yeah, some things about this school don't make sense

Jordan: All things

Me: Pretty much

Jordan: Yeah

Me: Oh, I was gunna tell you about this really weird dude Beth and I saw driving from mine

Jordan: What do you mean?

Me: Well, we nearly hit him at first

Me: But, he looked deformed or something and he barely flinched when we swerved around him

Me: Like, his mouth was way wider than it should have been and his eyes and teeth glowed

Jordan: Like he put glow in the dark paste or contacts on or something?

Me: No no, like he was a cat or a dog and someone shined a light on him, but it was the same for his teeth as well...

Jordan: Was he ok?

Me: I dunno, but that's not the weirdest part

Me: You know how Beth and I do that thing where, when we're driving away from each other, we wave until we can't see each other any more?

Jordan: Yeah...

Me: Well, when I was driving back, that guy did it to me after I passed him until he was out of view

Jordan: Whoa, fluke?

Me: I hope so, because if it wasn't, he would have had to travel about 5 kms on foot faster than my car and then get back to his spot before I did

Jordan: That's...weird

Me: To say the least

Jordan: Well, it was probably some dude who got out of jail or a mental asylum or something, I think the waving thing was just a coincidence

Me: Yeah, that's what I said

Jordan: You don't think that...

Jordan: He had anything to do with Katherine...do you?

Jordan: Dude?

Jordan: You there?

Me: Idk, we can't know for certain obviously, there was no evidence left at the crime scene and no one happened to take a photo of him

Jordan: If it fucking was...

Me: I know, we'll kill him

Jordan: We'll fucking throttle the cunt

Me: Oath

Me: But before we go searching, we need to know if the Police have any leads or something

Jordan: We can find him ourselves, I don't want to see that cunt locked up, I want to see him dead

Me: So do I, but we can't go around killing innocent people, we need to check in with the Police

Me: We don't need to tell them what we're doing or what we're thinking, just where they're at with the investigations

Me: Well, you could ask her parents to if you're alright to do it

Me: Jordan?

Jordan: Fine, but if we do find the guy who actually killed her first...

Me: He's dead

Jordan: Too right

Me: I'll talk about it with Beth when I get the chance, but right now, I'm gunna go to bed

Jordan: Yeah, I'll do the same

Me: Cya tomorrow

Jordan: Cya

I turn off the console and send Beth a text.

Me: Hey babe, I was just talking to Jordan

Me: You know that weird dude that we almost hit?

Me: I know this sounds ridiculous, but...do you think he has anything to do with Katherine?

Me: It's just that he turns up all of a sudden a few days after her and it's the first time we've seen anything or anyone like...him

Me: Just tell me what you think when you can, I love you, I'll ttyl, goodnight <3

Out of habit, I go into the chat with Katherine and I and I just lose it. Her and Beth got me through so much shit. She was obviously Beth's best friend, but she was mine too.

I turn off my phone, plug in its charger and flump down on my bed, wiping away the tears to no avail. Eventually I lose consciousness curled into a ball, hugging my pillow and blankets as tight I can.