| Ephemeral |

fourteen

Alex - two days later

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing the familiar whitewashed ceiling of my bedroom. I feel like I have a hangover, my head is pounding. 

What happened? I can't remember anything at the moment, my brain is a big blur. Then it hit me, Ethan. I sat up quickly and felt my chest becoming tight. My breathing began to quicken, as did the pace of my pounding heart.

I tore my blankets off of my body quickly and stumbled out of bed. I had to catch myself on my dresser when I felt a stinging pain in my leg. 

I looked down and saw a wide white bandage covering it, right, Will stabbed me. I limped out of my room and went straight to Ethan's, maybe he didn't go, maybe he found a way. If I got back here safe, there's a chance he did also. 

"Ethan!" I yelled down the hallway as I reached his door. I swung open the door and saw no sign of him, nothing. None of his items have been moved, his bed was still the way he left it the other morning. 

He has to be here, I thought to myself, but somehow I knew he wasn't. "Alex, you're awake," Someone said behind me, making me turn around quickly. 

"Theo, where is he?" I asked him quickly, my voice was already unsteady. I felt tears at the brim of my eyes and my hands shaking.

"Alex, why don't you sit down and breath for a minute," He spoke slowly. "Stop talking to me like I'm in a psych ward Theo, tell me what happened!" I ordered, raising my voice at him. 

"He's- he's not here Alex." He responded quietly, not even making eye contact with me. "So you guys could save me but you couldn't save him?" I questioned back, my eyes couldn't hold the tears any longer. 

"Look, Crimson called me and told me where to find you guys," He started, still not looking at me. "They were already on their way out when I got there," He spoke again, making my hand curl into a fist. 

"We have to go after him, now." I spoke, but Theo looked at me like I was stupid. "You've been out for almost 48 hours, who knows how far they've gotten," He responded, making me look away from him quickly. Have I really been out that long? Why did they let me sleep for that long we wasted so much time. I felt emotion taking over my body, mostly anger. It was like a surge of it approaching me. 

I punched the wall beside me quickly and leaned against it. "This is my fault if I hadn't cut myself with that stupid fucking knife, I literally caused him to leave by going off of a stupid hunch," I said to myself out loud, looking at my bleeding hand and the hole I caused in the wall. 

"It's not your fault, Crimson would have gotten him one way or another," Theo spoke, making excuses for me. I closed my eyes tightly and felt the tears run down my face slowly.

"You can't make excuses for me this time Theo," I responded, shaking my head. I felt a surge of anger just bursting through me.

I felt my same hand began shaking and more tears approaching me. I began punching the wall in front of me again and crying loudly. I couldn't feel anything, not even the wall breaking beneath my fist. 

Ethan was gone now. Who knows if he's dead, if he's being turned into a Mortel. The only thing I know is I have to get him back before it's too late.