The Wishing Well

III- Ethan Lewis

'Show up girl, where are you?' I knew Lisa was emotional but I didn't know that her emotions would lead her to stupidity. I don't remember sleeping much last night but when I woke up, Lisa was no longer there by my side, she was gone. We do not have a track of time as we live in this street because we don't really need it, we simply get up in the morning, struggle to pass the day, and sleep when it is night, so we usually don't care about it, but now in this dark alley, listening to the crickets whistling and water tapping somewhere down the street, and with Lisa gone, I wished I had a watch with me. With the cries of all the hounds and stray cats in the streets, I knew this much that going out now would not be a good idea.

My sister was out there and I could do nothing but to go after her, even though I were a bit scared. By the looks of the dark and quiet streets, I got an idea that it was a late hour of the night, may be 2 or 3 in the morning. I started walking with my head bowed down so that I don't catch attention of the danger around here. 'Looks like a little mousie lost its way. I can help if you want.' The voice startled me and I looked up. A man in maybe his mid 30s was standing in front of me, wearing a dirty grey shirt and khaki pants, his blond hair were also dirty and ruffled and his eyes were red (uh oh! He is drunk), he was smirking at me with his hand resting on the wall, blocking my way. So much for not catching attention! 'Get out of the way', I tried to keep my voice firm. His smirk deepened, 'Or what? Would you fight me or something?'. 'Yeah I would, and you better watch your pants man, 'cause they are going to go wet now.' No, that was not me. The answer came from behind and all the attention was diverted towards the voice. He was my age, brown hair, brown eyes and a challenging smile on his face. He was standing just a few feet away from me, dressed in a blue shirt and ripped jeans. He looked at me and smiled, not the challenging one this time, but in a friendly way.

That's odd! I don't even know this person. 'Who are you huh? Her uncle?' The man mocked him. 'I'm not her uncle, but might become yours after a while.' Wow! He isn't afraid a bit. After that, everything happened in the blink of an eye, while I was standing there, not knowing what to do. The man jumped at the boy and drew him to the ground. He looked offended by the last sentence that boy spoke and was trying to punch him with all his might. I was looking at them with shock. Call it my careful way of living or luck, but I didn't see any of this fighting and bullying until now, even though I was living in the same streets for the past three years. 'Annabelle run, Ah! You bas***!' and then I ran without thinking about it. I ran, ran and ran until I could no longer make my feet take a single step more.

The sun was hell bent on melting everything, including my courage and determination to find Lisa. I was hungry, thirsty and pretty much exhausted by now. 'Hey Annabelle, need a hand here?' I was taking a breather while sitting underneath a shed when I heard that friendly voice again. I was too exhausted to reply so I just opened one eye a little bit to look at him. He was standing there, in front of me, all that smiles again, with his hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans. 'No, I'm fine. Just tired. So, how do you know me?' I asked the question that was bothering me since that fight. He smiled again and sat beside me, 'We live in the same "house", but I guess you didn't notice me before.' Oh yeah, house, right! I smiled at his selection of words. He looked at me and said, 'You remember old man Carter, right?'. 'Yeah, what about him?' Mr. Carter owned a grocery store and he gave us something to eat almost everyday. I was having an easy time here in the streets just because of him. 'Well, I work for him during the day and guard his store at night. Not that I go right and left like a real guard!' he chuckled, 'Actually I just sleep there, under the shed. He gave me the job because I needed it and also because I didn't accept his little "presents" for free.'I smiled again, He is a true master of the words. Now that I remember, all the fighting last night happened a few feet away from Mr. Carter's store. No wonder he came to rescue me.

I noticed a few cuts on his hands and face, and remembered that he was in a fight for me not a long time ago. 'You okay? I mean you didn't get hurt from the fight, did you?' He chuckled at my sudden irrelevant question, 'No, I'm fine. These little scratches won't kill me. So, what brought you out that late at night?' he asked me while examining the cuts at his hands. 'My friend Elizabeth,' I looked at him to see if he knew her as well, and he nodded, 'she's lost. I woke up last night and she was not there. I don't understand this 'cause she had no one else to go to. I don't know what to do now.' I rested my head against the shed and closed my eyes. 'Don't worry, we'll find her. You didn't sleep much last night I guess, and you're probably hungry too. Wait here, I'll bring you something to eat.' He stood up to go. 'Wait, you didn't tell me your name.' I remembered now that I still didn't know much about him. 'It's Ethan, Ethan Lewis. I'll be back in a minute. Don't go anywhere, okay?' and with that he left me there.

Not long after Ethan was gone, I was looking around to see where I was, when I saw Lillian running towards me. I knew her from the streets we live in. I saw her in different places now and then, and she slept a few times with us at night, so we knew each other by names. 'Annabelle, you...have to come. I need to show you...something.' She was standing in front of me, hands on her knees, trying to speak between the heavy breaths. 'Just sit down Lillian, you look exhausted.' She stood up straight and took my hand. 'You have to come. There's no time to waste.' She was worrying me now, 'but what's the matter? Would you at least tell me what happened?' She looked at me for a couple of minutes, like deciding to tell me or not, then she said the most dreadful thing in the world, 'It's about Elizabeth, I found her and there is not a good news for you.'