Fifteen

            That Friday was the last day of school for two weeks, since Christmas was the following week, and the week after that was New Years. I’d been keeping my normal routine with Ethan�"walking with him in between certain classes, dragging Angela and Dallas to sit at his lunch table�"even though there was an unspoken tension between us. For some reason, I just couldn’t forget the fact that he’d ignored me for a week. It seemed beyond ridiculous to worry about such a little thing, but I had a strong feeling that he was hiding something important from me. Not because he’d avoided me, but because of his lack of an explanation. It was better if I didn’t know? It would be safer for me? It made me think he was in some kind of danger, despite his objections.

            As I continued to think about the possibilities of what was going on with Ethan, I dug through my closet, searching deep.

Finally, it was the night of the Christmas party�"the one I’d gone shopping for with Dallas and Angela weeks before. It was supposedly going to be the biggest party of the year, even though the year wasn’t even half over yet. Some girl’s parents were spending the week before Christmas in Europe, and she’d been planning the party for months. It was one of those “anyone’s invited” parties. I was willing to bet this girl wasn’t going to know over half the people there.

I dressed in the cutest thing I had in my closet, making sure I would be warm enough. Then I went into my bathroom, heated up my curling iron and began to curl my golden brown hair.

Around nine o’clock, my doorbell sounded. I hurried down the stairs and swung open the front door. Ethan stood on my porch, a crooked smile on his lips.

“Hey,” I greeted. “Come in.”

He stepped over the threshold and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful, as always.”

I flushed slightly. “Thanks. You look good too.”

I looked him over quickly. He was wearing a thin jacket�"which I found very odd, since it was freezing outside�"that hung open to reveal a red and black plaid button-down shirt. His jeans were light wash and frayed. I smiled to myself. He really did look amazing.

“You ready to go?” he asked sweetly.

“Yep,” I answered as I slipped on my coat and gloves, following Ethan out the door.

 

{   -   -   -   }

 

I stumbled ungraciously through the dark basement, my hand sliding along the wall, trying to find a door, a light switch, anything. The cup of beer I held in my other hand wouldn’t stay still�"it kept swaying back and forth, and I couldn’t seem to hold it up straight. It tipped to the side and a bit of beer poured onto the front of my shirt.

I definitely drank too much, I thought to myself as I wiped at my shirt, frustrated. I continued to move through the empty basement, quickening my pace. How did I even get down here? And why are all the lights off?

I couldn’t think straight�"everything felt fuzzy and out of focus. I could hear the pounding of the bass from the music playing overhead, and the sound of people talking, dancing, and laughing�"typical soundtrack of a party.

            At that moment, I heard a quiet noise coming from behind me. I spun around and instantly fell off balance, the weight of my drunken body all too much for me to hold up. My cup slipped loose from my grasp as I tumbled to the floor, landing in a heap.

            I looked around, trying to find the source of the unusual noise, but it was too dark to see anything. I reached out, searching for the wall so I could pull myself back to my feet. Suddenly, my hand touched something�"and it wasn’t the cold cement wall I’d been expecting. I slid my hand up along what felt like the torso of a person; a leather belt, the fabric and buttons of a shirt, the solid sturdiness of a man’s chest. I instantly jumped backwards in fear, still on my hands and feet. An involuntary scream pushed its way out of my throat.

            Why was there a person just standing there? Could they have seen me in the darkness of the basement? If they could, why hadn’t they said anything? Were they watching me? Or was it just some guy from the party, trying to be funny by scaring me?

            “H-hello?” I called into the blackness.

            There was no reply. All I could hear was the sound of breathing�"and it wasn’t mine.

            An icy chill filled my veins�"an instant sober. I had a feeling this guy wasn’t just trying to play a trick on me.

            “Heidi?” I heard suddenly, coming from the other side of the basement, higher up. It was Ethan, and his voice was coming from the top of the stairs.

            I sensed a movement in front of me, and I closed my eyes in fear. “Ethan!” I yelled. “I’m down here! Hurry!”

            I pulled my legs tightly to my chest and listened as Ethan rushed down the stairs at an impossible speed and reached my side. “Are you okay?” he asked in a worried voice, his lips right at my ears.

            “Turn on the light!” I cried out desperately.

            “It doesn’t work,” Ethan answered calmly, “but I can see, don’t worry.”

            I squinted into the dark. “How can you see?”

            He lifted me up carefully by the shoulders and used his hands to protectively lead me towards what I could feel were the stairs. “I have good night vision I guess.”

            I shuddered deeply and raced up the steps as soon as I felt the first one underfoot. Instantly when we reached the light of the main floor, I yanked Ethan into a nearby coat closet and fell into his chest.

            “Heidi, are you okay?” he asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

            I closed my eyes again, taking a deep breath in through my nose. “Yes…” I paused. “No… I don’t know. Someone was down there�"a guy. And he was just standing there, watching me in the dark. Ethan…” I was almost in tears, yet the fact that I was slurring my words didn’t get past me.

            “What happened?” He leaned down to look me in the eyes, and I could see that his were full of worry.

            “I don’t know! I don’t even know why I was down in the basement, or how I got down there!”

            “You just wandered off, you’re pretty drunk Heidi,” Ethan explained. “I was looking for you, then I heard a scream come from the basement.”

“I fell and I was trying to get up, and my hand landed on some guy’s chest. I mean, it could’ve just been someone from the party. But he didn’t say anything, even when I screamed. He just stood there and… I-I think he was watching me.” I felt close to hysterics.

Ethan ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the ceiling. There was something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite name�"a mixture of fear, and… knowledge? Did he know something I didn’t?

            “It was probably just someone from the party, trying to freak you out,” he replied half-heartedly, absently touching the fur on one of the coats that hung around us.

            “Ethan, I�"”

            I was cut off as the door to the closet swung open and a girl I knew as Julie stood there, staring at us.

            “Oh! I’m sorry…” Julie said awkwardly. “I was just getting my coat…”

            Ethan grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the closet. “I’m taking you home,” he whispered sternly in my ear.

            I didn’t exactly have any objections against this suggestion�"which sounded more like a demand to me�"but if Ethan thought it was just some guy from the party that was trying to scare me, then why was he acting so weird? Why was he forcing me home?

            “But you said it was just somebody trying to freak me out.”

            He shot me a look that I knew meant to shut up as he tossed me my coat. I slipped it on and he took hold of my hand again, leading me through the bouncing crowd of partiers.

            I slid into the passenger side of Ethan’s black car, and watched through the windshield as he walked around the front and got in beside me. I knew by the look on his face that I shouldn’t speak, so I kept my mouth closed the whole way back to my house.

            We pulled up into my driveway and Ethan shut off the engine. He stared straight ahead without speaking. I didn’t know what the right thing to say was, so I spoke hesitantly in the silence of the car. “Is everything okay?”

            He blinked at the sound of my voice, as if it was a reminder I was still in the car with him. “Yeah.”

            I raised my eyebrows at him, disbelieving.

            “Heidi,” he said, still staring out the windshield, “everything is fine.”

            “Doesn’t seem that way. And you’re freaking me out even more with the way you’re acting. It seems like something is wrong. Am I in danger?”

            This time Ethan turned to look at me. “Of course not. That was just some creep, like I said earlier.”

            “But�"”

            “I’ll see you in a few days, hopefully before Christmas,” he said, cutting me off.

            My thoughts came to a halt at this news. “What? Where are you going?”

            “I’ve got to… visit some family.” Ethan spoke quietly, almost uncertainly. He leaned over, kissed me on the cheek, and started up the engine. I took this as a hint, so I got out of the car and stood in my driveway, staring after him as he drove off.

            Something was going on, and I was determined to figure out exactly what that was.