Aloveen Rising

23. Lasting Life

Ethan stared at him, "Your ex?"

Blake nodded, "He left,"

Ethan bit his lip, "Is he?" he stopped, feeling sympathetic,

Blake stared at him, "Dead?"

Ethan nodded hesitantly,

Blake laughed humorlessly, "Some people would say he is but I don't know, he just vanished one day,"

Ethan could see Blake didn't want to talk about it and let the conversation go,

Blake nodded to him and then walked to his room and shut the door, he sat heavily on the bed and looked at his phone, he pulled up an old image and sighed sadly, "I miss you," he whispered,

He stared at the photo for a long time as if trying to commit it to memory. Trent had been young when he vanished. He was only seventeen and had just finished school, they'd gone on a camping holiday together over in the states and Blake had just woken up one day to find Trent missing. He'd looked and eventually he called the police but Trent was never found and his body never recovered so he'd been assumed dead. Blake ran a finger over the space above the phone as if stroking Trent's face.

His hair was an unusual brown, familiar but no one could ever figure out where they'd seen it before, he had dark brown eyes too. Blake smiled sadly at the memory of them together and one in particular where he had persistently poked Trent's nose for almost an hour, his nose had been very small, almost too small for his face and his smile, his smile had driven Blake crazy, he'd never met someone who could annoy him so quickly then force him to forgive them with a smile. Blake tried not to smile in vain then shook his head, even the memory of Trent's smile was enough to make him smile. He sighed, fell back on the bed and closed his eyes hoping to dream of his time with Trent.

Ethan bit the corner of his nail trying to remove the little spike that continued to bother him, it finally came loose and he spat it out with satisfaction. He brushed his hair away from his eyes and looked around Blake's apartment. He wondered if there was some way he could decorate one of the bare walls, Blake would probably appreciate the change. He made a mental note to find something and checked his phone, he still hadn't heard from the twins and decided the doctors hadn't contacted them yet. He sighed and sat down on the lounge, he hadn't realised how tired he was and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

Nate tapped his foot loudly on the wooden floor of the kitchen while he waited for some news, the doctors had answered when he'd called but they hadn't known anything new and reassured him they would call when they were finished. He looked at the stairs and felt the more recent feeling of worry, Jacie had barely left her room since Ethan left and she'd practically dived from the room when he'd turned the tap on near her, he found that particularly strange as she didn't normally scare easily. He nearly walked upstairs to her room but decided against it, she would talk to him whenever she was ready.

His thoughts travelled to Justin and Lucy and again he wondered why they'd been there, he'd barely got an answer if he could even call it that and he felt a flash of hatred for the pair of them. Suddenly without thinking about it he stood up and kicked his chair across the kitchen, it crashed against the table and splintered on the floor. He stopped struck by the realisation that it had been his grandma's chair and was one of the four matching chairs, his anger surged and he turned punching the fridge. His hand ached which only made him angrier and he lost himself in his fury punching the fridge over and over, somehow he heard Jacie's door open and her footsteps rushing downstairs,