Ezra

                 Fear fills my chest and manages to escape by erupting from my mouth in a shriek of absolute terror. I watch as the ground comes closer and closer to me. I squeeze my eyes shut as my body becomes only a few feet away from the ground. Instead of the unimaginable pain I thought I would have to suffer through, something tight wraps around my stomach before I plummet to my death.
                I hesitantly open my eyes to see the ground only a few inches away from my face. I stare at the ground in shock. I thought I was going to die.
                When I realize that I’m not going to die here and now, a sigh of relief escapes from my lips. My shoulders relax from their tense state and I can feel the fear in my chest slowly become replaced with relief.
                I look behind my shoulder to see what saved me. To my surprise, one of the tree roots is wrapped around me. The very thing that almost killed me saved my life.
                The root releases me and I drop to the ground with a thud. I won’t be surprised if a few bruises appear on my body in the morning. The root dropped me without warning. I wasn’t able to catch myself.
                The boy gets on his knees, dirtying his blue jeans with mud. He looks down on me. The anger is gone from his eyes and is replaced with an irritated look. “Now, was that fun?” he coldly asks.
                I push myself onto my feet and I quickly step around the kneeling boy. “Shut up! You’re insane!” I yell, my anger getting the better of me. I wanted to remain calm and make him feel bad about his actions, but having him do that to me is just too cruel. I don’t want to be with him for another second.
                I’m about to start rushing home when he suddenly asks, “You think I did that?” His voice has returned to being high-pitched. It sounds less threatening than his deep voice that was filled with anger.
                My curiosity gets the better of me. Instead of running home, I turn my attention towards him. “Are you saying you didn’t?” I question, trying to sound like I don’t care. I impatiently wait for him to answer. I want to know if he did raise the roots from the ground and how. It should be impossible and yet it is possible somehow. My curiosity for answers is too great for me to run away now.
                “I’m not saying that. I’m just asking you a question.”
                I hesitate for a moment before reluctantly admitting, “Yeah, I think you did do that.”
                “Congratulations,” he unenthusiastically says, “You’re right.”
                I wouldn’t have believed him if I hadn’t witnessed his power with my own eyes. Amazement overwhelms me. I have so many questions I want to ask him.
                The only thing is that I don’t want to sound excited. I don’t want to give him that satisfaction.
                He raises an eyebrow, looking a little confused. “You’re not going to ask how I did it?”
                I do want to ask him how, but I don’t want to give him the pleasure. I’d rather act as if I don’t care about it than if I did care. “No,” I simply say, sounding apathetic despite my desire to know how he was able to do something so magnificent.
                He frowns at my response, but he doesn’t say anything.
                I’m about to start running home when I remember what made him so angry. I shouldn’t have found it funny when he was angry. He was genuinely upset over something he cared about and I laughed at him about it.
               I begin to feel bad about my actions. Although he was cruel to me, I was cruel to him also.  Damn it, Piper, you big jerk. Apologize, I think. I don’t want to apologize to him to give him the contentment, but I know that it’s the right thing to do.
                “Sorry,” I say quickly, not sounding very sincere.
                “What?” the boy asks.
                I wish he would have had heard me. I don’t want to repeat myself, especially since I’m apologizing. Apologizing means that I’m in the wrong and it’s hard to admit that someone else is right. I know that I have to do it again otherwise my apology won’t hold any meaning and it would have been useless to have admitted that I was wrong without being heard.
                “Sorry,” I repeat, louder this time.
                He looks shocked for a moment before he looks down at the ground in shame. I stare at him, not knowing why he looks so remorseful and ashamed. I'm surprised by his reaction. I thought he would have cockily grinned and told me how I wrong I am for hurting the plants.
                “You okay, dude?” I ask, somewhat concerned about the boy who's beginning to look depressed.
                He looks back up at me with his dark brown eyes. His remorseful look is replaced with a sullen look. “I’m sorry, too.”
                His apology makes my lips split into a satisfied grin. Yeah, that’s right! He’s in the wrong, too, for scaring me like that! Ha!
                “Why are you grinning like that?” he questions with a hint of bitterness in his voice while giving me a frown.
                “No reason,” I lie with my cocky grin still intact.
                He notices my giddiness over his apology, but he doesn’t say anything about it. He only looks tired of having me here with him.
                “So, why are you out here in the rain?” he questions, acting as if he didn’t scar me for life a moment ago.
                I point towards the direction I was heading towards before he interfered and reply, “I’m trying to get home.”
                “Oh,” is all he says.
                There’s a short moment of silence. The rain seems to be not falling as much, but it’s still a heavy downpour. The warmth of my home sounds better than awkwardly standing in the cold rain with this guy who has paranormal powers that he almost killed me with. “So, yeah… I’m going home now.”
                “What’s your name?” he nosily asks before I can walk home.
                I don’t to tell him my name, but I reason that it doesn’t matter anyways since there’s a small possibility of us ever meeting again. “Piper.”
                “Ezra,” he simply says.
                I blankly stare at him. I have no idea why he said that.
                He notices my confusion and he sighs hopelessly. “That’s my name.”
                “Oh,” I say, chuckling in embarrassment, “Right…” I would have known that was his name if he hadn't said it so vaguely.
                “Well, Piper,” he continues, ignoring my stupidity for my sake, “Take the dirt path and be careful.”
                I want to tell him that I can tell that he’ll be a nagging parent when he grows older, but I keep mouth closed. I don’t want him to get angry again. “Okay, yes, I get it. I’ll take the trail even though it takes longer,” I say with a hint of bitterness in my voice, “And I’ll be careful to not step on any plants. Okay? Okay. Bye.”
                I hurriedly follow the muddy path that curves around the direction I usually take to my house without waiting for him to speak another word. I’ve been out in the rain for too long. I’ll probably catch a cold at this rate and it’s all that guy’s fault.
                “Yeah, be careful with the plants, but I also want you to be careful about other things out there!”
                His message sends confusion and fear plummeting into my chest. I turn around to ask him what he means by that, but I don’t see him when I look back. He isn’t there anymore. It’s as if he was never there.
                I face forward, trying to suppress my fear. It’s okay, Piper. He’s just trying to scare you. Walk home like you always do and you’ll be okay!
                I try to believe myself, but I can’t get rid of the fear that there are other things out there like him that have powers. Maybe powers that aren’t as nice as his and are used for wrongdoings. I shake the thought away. I can’t be thinking like that. It will just cause me to be scared all of the time.
                I try to convince myself that there’s nothing out there as I continue to walk home, but dark shadows that I notice in the corner of my eyes make convincing myself that there’s nothing to be afraid of harder.
                I eventually make it home through the woods that have suddenly become scary to me. The small house that looks more like a log cabin than anything else doesn't seem as friendly anymore. I hated the cramped house before, but I hate it even more now. My house is in the middle of the woods that have become a terrifying place to take shelter in. I wish I lived in the city where I'd be safer.
                You think it's safer in the city because you think there's some ghosts, Piper? God, I really am an idiot, I think, shaking my head in shame at stupidity. There's nothing to be afraid of. There was nothing to be scared of when my family and I first moved here and there's still nothing to be scared of now.
                I step into my home and I close the front door behind me, keeping the terrible weather and all of the things that scare me outside.
                When I step inside my house, I know that things will never be the same. The encounter I had with Ezra completely changed my outlook on the world.