Page 21 of Ethan's Sky

The memories come flooding back.

“Ethan, you have to come home.” My mother’s voice sounds shaky as she speaks through gasps and tears. “It’s Emily. She’s…she’s...” She struggles to finish her sentence.

“What did she do this time?” I ask, grabbing my things from around my room giving them the sniff test before tossing them in my bag to head to my next sparring session.

Emily’s always doing something our mother doesn’t approve of. Dating some guy Mom thinks is below her standards. Wearing clothes “too revealing for a young girl her age.” Going to parties with friends Mom doesn’t approve of. She’s not all together wrong about Em. She is a little wild. With Mom working two jobs to keep up with the bills, she’s always tired. My leaving for camp taking half my income with me so I could take care of my own needs, making it to where Mom has to take on extra shifts to make up for the loss. Things are a bit shaky at home to say the least.

I’m fully expecting Mom to rant about another ridiculous stunt my sister has pulled, I’m still going about my way getting ready for the gym. But her next words tilt my world on its axis stopping me cold in my tracks.

“She’s dead, Ethan.” My mother sobs through the phone. I drop mine to the floor as time seems to come to a screeching halt. The numbers on the digital clock across the room blur. The drip in the bathroom sink attached to my room becomes louder. Even my own breathing sounds loud and labored, as if Darth Vader himself entered the room, piercing the silence.

Slowly, I bend to pick up the phone and put it to my ear, my mind racing with questions. The walls of the small two-bedroom apartment I rent with my teammate, Andreas feel like they’re closing in on me. Trying to stand up straight, catching myself with my hand on the wall, I begin to move slowly through the apartment gathering my things to leave.

I need air and to get the fuck out of here. I’ve got to get to Mom.

With each wobbly step I take, I feel like I’m trapesing through a funhouse surrounded by those silly mirrors. They change and distort things. Everything seems fuzzy, blurring together as I try to fight back tears.

“How?” One word. It’s all I can choke out past the lump forming in my throat. I don’t know what I’m expecting her to say. Car accident. Drowning in the lake she loves to frequent with Skyler. Anything, but what she says next.

“The sheriff said she overdosed based on the call that came in. But Ethan, he said there was more to it. Emily was found in the back seat of her car. Her clothes were torn. Covered in blood. Her body broken and bruised. They said she was…she was…”

I know what she’s going to say even though she struggles to get the words out. She was raped. Beaten. Murdered.

“Shh. Mom, it’s okay. I’m coming.” I gather every ounce of strength I can muster to keep my voice calm and steady. She needs me to be that for her. “I’ll be home soon, and the police can tell me everything okay. Give me a few hours. I’m coming. Call Aunt Madalyn. Have her come sit with you until I get there.”

“The sheriff only came to the door to tell me a few moments ago. He’s out front on his radio talking to someone. His deputy is in the living room. I stepped away to call…y-you. I n-need you, Ethan.” Mom sobs.

“I’m coming home. I need to get things sorted. To get a plane ticket, then I’m on my way, Mom.”

I came to this camp for an opportunity to become professional MMA fighter. I came into this thing with little more than the clothes on my back. The camp takes us through rigorous training, a series of team challenges, and carefully matched cage fights. The top two competitors who make it past elimination are guaranteed contracts and a televised debut fight on pay-per-view. It was my one shot to make something of myself.

Promoters. Sponsorships. Training camps. Teams.

None of it matters now. Nothing except getting home.

Mom sniffles and whimpers into the phone, “I’m sorry. I just can’t…I...”

“Shh. I understand. I, um…” I need to ask her one more thing. I need to know because Skyler and Emily are like two peas in a pod. They’re always together getting into trouble with one another. If Emily was killed and Skyler was with her, I need to know was she…Oh God.

“Mom, where’s Skyler?” Everything in me is hoping and praying they weren’t together. Maybe it makes me a fucked up person to hope my sister was alone, but I don’t know what I would do if I lost them both. If they were both…I can’t think about it.

Mom’s silent on the other end.

“Mom?” I try again. Putting my phone on speaker, I open the text screen and shoot off a message to Skyler.

Another soft sob sounds through the phone. “Ethan. Skyler was the one who called the police. She was with Emily.”

My heart stalls out for a beat at her words. So many paralyzing thoughts run through my mind, but I can’t bring myself to ask my mom anything too detailed. She’s already rattled enough as it is.

Hearing Skyler was with Emily in the end, makes me wonder how this all came about. Were they together when it happened? Was Skyler injured or drugged? Did Skyler witness Emily’s death? I need to get to her. I shoot off another text to Skyler’s phone waiting impatiently for her to answer me.

“Ethan…”

“What?” I snap. Panic takes ahold of my lungs, squeezing until I’m gasping for the slightest bit of air. My mind takes another gruesome turn. What if the sick bastards found her? I’m on my feet again, moving quickly throughout the room, shoving the rest of my belongings into my bag. I type out a text to the coach telling him I quit. I don’t have time to get into details with him; I’m in a hurry to get back to them, so a simple text will have to do. Not that it matters. I’ll be replaced within the hour.

Realizing my dickish outburst, I quickly apologize. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m worried about you. About Sky. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

The next three words cut like a knife through my chest and tip my entire world off its axis.

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