Mark My Words

Chapter Six

Ethan never thought the numbers on a digital clock could look so ominous. In horror movies, it was always the rickety and antique grandfather clocks that were used to set the mood. The loud and foreboding ticking on top of the haunting echo of the hourly chimes were perfect for setting just the right creepy atmosphere. Digital clocks usually just didn't have the same effect. There was nothing mysterious or interesting about them, no creepy face or broken pendulum. Just some glowing numbers.

But somehow those glowing numbers still filled Ethan with a revolting sense of anxiety, doing a better job than any grandfather clock could at setting the mood on this particular night.

The group, which now consisted of just Ethan, Kathryn, Amy and Chica, was sat in Ethan's apartment, contemplating what to do about the set of events that had occurred a couple of hours ago. The invisible wall that had appeared in the park turned out to actually be an invisible box, which had left them trapped there for quite some time. After about an hour or so it finally went away, but by then Dark, The Author and Tyler were long, long gone. None of them had any clue as to where the three would be, so following them had still been out of the question. They'd come to the conclusion that they should head somewhere to regroup and think things over before making their next move, and Ethan's apartment had been the closest. So that's where they now sat, a couple of hours later.

Another glance at the ominous digital clock across from him told Ethan it was now 11:42 pm, exactly one hour since they'd gotten to his apartment, roughly one hour and fifteen minutes since they'd been freed from their invisible prison and approximately two hours since Mark and Tyler had gone missing. So much time that could've been used to find their friends, wasted, and who knew how much more time would pass before Tyler and Mark would finally reappear. Precious minutes, ticking away, valuable time that could've been used to save their lives now gone.

This is was what the clock kept reminding Ethan, and what made it so ominous. The fact that each silent change in the digits meant that they had lost another minute to find Tyler and Mark was making him anxious. What if they were missing their chance to save them? What if their chance to save them had passed long ago, with no indication that their time was up other than a silent and inconspicuous change in the glowing numbers?

Each passing minute made Ethan more and more tempted to punch the clock, just so he wouldn't have to be reminded of the lost time.

"Are we gonna do something?" He finally asked.

"Like what?" Kathryn asked.

"I don't know, something. Anything."

"We can't exactly do too much," Amy cut in. "We have no idea where Mark and Tyler are right now, or if they're coming back."

"What if we go to the police?"

"And tell them what?" Kathryn asked. "What are we going to report? That our friend was magically thrown across a park and knocked out? That we think our other friend was possessed? They'll think we're crazy!"

Ethan said nothing in response, realizing that she had a point. The cops would never believe them, and they wouldn't have anything useful to tell them anyways. There had been no indication as to where The Author and Dark had been heading, or what they were going to do to Tyler.

"What if we went out and searched?" He said.

"That's not really an option either," Amy replied dismally. "LA is a huge city, and we don't have any clues to narrow down our search. We don't even know if they're still in LA."

Ethan grew quiet again, his arguments countered once more. He'd kind of known from the start that arguing was pointless, and that his poorly planned ideas would be shot down easily, but he'd still wanted to try anyways. He just wanted to do anything besides sit and hope, to at least suggest that they take action. It wasn't much, but it was something.