DEMENTED | Ethan Dolan

TRANCE

The name she hasn't thought of—or at least, tried not to think of—popped up in her head and startled her awake. She sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes profusely, keeping the squeezed tightly out of fear of what she had dreamt was in fact, not a dream. That Ethan was actually in her bedroom, standing there before her while Grayson was out and about somewhere. Sucking in a deep breath, Y/N slowly fluttered her eyelids open and looked out around the dark abyss that surrounded.

He was gone.

Neither Jake nor Ethan was there; it really must have been a strange dream. She exhales deeply and lays back down, unable to get her former lover's face out of her mind. As terrible as he was, she couldn't help but wished she had held him back, for a part of her still yearns for him. She could still feel his fingers dancing across her skin gently, the light graze making her heart beat of her chest. It really felt like he was actually there, though she knew that wasn't possible. There was no way of him getting to her, he's stuck in that house far away and he absolutely cannot leave...

Right?

It's difficult for Y/N to understand all of these supernatural occurrences and "rules" to such. No matter what, something took a turn which complicated her already complicated life. She honestly doesn't know who to trust anymore, what's right or what's wrong, what's supposed to happen... she just doesn't know anymore. She's also sick and tired of life's "little" surprises that is thrown her way constantly. She just wants to be normal.

Suddenly is yet again startled right out of bed when the front door is yanked open and slammed shut. She gasps when Grayson quickly bursts into the room and grabs at her wrist, "We have to get the hell out of here—or call the police!"

"What?" Y/N questioned, bewildered by the angel's panicked demeanor. "Why? What the hell is going on, Grayson? Where were you?"

He shook his head and scoffed, "Jake is what's going on. I knew he was nothing but bad news, Y/N, I just knew-"

She was quick to cut him off, an annoyed expression on her face, "Gray, I know you don't like Jake, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy. You still haven't answered my other questions."

He sighed. "I was at the bar to clear my head—I was not drinking, by the way—when the news came on and showed Jake's picture. He's a murderer, Y/N. They're looking for him—he killed his girlfriend in your old house, and now he's shown up out of the blue next door. I knew there was something off about him!"

"Woah, Grayson, calm down," she frowned, heart dropping from his words. "That cannot possibly be true. You must have misinterpreted something—Jake's not like that. He's sweet and honest, though mysterious, I'm more than certain he didn't kill his girlfriend in my old place."

Even as she was talking to Grayson, she was moreso talking to herself; she didn't want to believe what the man before her saying was true. She finally found a friend—a normal, human-being companion—to confide in and she wasn't going to let that be taken away from her.

Grayson furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would I lie? I saw it with my own eyes, Y/N!"

"You'd lie to keep me away from Jake. You hate it when he and I are together."

"He's the liar here, are you serious?" he spat. "After everything we've been through, I would have thought you'd have some faith in me. Some trust. Still, you're taking some stranger's side who you barely even know over me."

"I'm not believing him over you," Y/N defended, feeling a twinge of guilt at his words. "We just don't know Jake's side of the story. The entire situation could be one big misunderstanding."