Chapter ~ 7# ~ Secrets

Ethan ~ POV

Sitting across from Noah, I could tell I messed up badly dragging him into this without telling him before. Now I could only hope to get back the friendship I betrayed. Noah and I sat in silence for a few minutes before the bell ending lunch rang. I grabbed the food I had barely touched and stood up from the table.

"Talk after school," I whispered to him.

Noah nodded in understanding what I meant. I dumped the food I had been eating and went to class. The night of my visit still played in my head. It was just after Noah left me and rode off in his dad's car. I honestly couldn't blame him for being angry with me. I would too, if a friend dragged me into the middle of a police investigation. After Noah got pissed off at me, I couldn't help but send him a text; I didn't know what else to write other than 'something happened to Nathaniel.' I didn't get an answer back, which I wasn't expecting.

I ended up dropping by Nathaniel's home; it was a small house; I noticed Mr. Davis's car was still parked in the carport off to the side. I pulled my bike up and stopped at the small fence; I saw the lights were off. Not just the ones inside the house but the porch lights too. I parked my bike and leaned it against the fence. As I took my first step, the lights came on, not just the porch lights but also the living room light. I managed to make it to the porch when I heard Mr. Davis yell out to me from the doorbell. Mr. Davis was always into those fancy, high-tech doorbell cameras.

"Mr. Davis… it's me, Ethan…." I called out into the doorbell camera.

"Ethan… how can I help you?" He asked.

"I wanted to see if Nathaniel was home… Emily and the others…." I began to say but got interrupted by Mr. Davis.

"Nathaniel's not feeling well, so he's in his room. I'm staying home to take care of him." He said quickly.

I was caught off guard by that, honestly. I've spoken to him a few times through the doorbell camera, but this time, even through the speaker, I could tell something was off.

"Oh… ok. Well, I have some homework too…." I began to say but got interrupted again.

"You can just leave it under the welcome mat.”

“But,”

“Ethan, it's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting home?" I could tell I had overstayed my welcome and left.

After getting home, I decided to call the police and tell them about my suspicions. Ben answered the phone, the deputy that had interviewed me at the park. He sounded happy when he heard my voice; I smiled as I spoke with him. He's one of the local officers that offer gun safety courses at the shooting range.

"Well, Ethan didn't think I'd be hearing from you again," Ben said with a cheerful voice.

"Hey, Ben… I'm calling because I wanted to report something." I said as I sat in my bedroom, feeling a little anxious.

"What's up?" He asked as I heard the old sheriff's station doors creaking in the background.

"I think something might have happened to Mr. Davis and Nathaniel… I'm calling because they didn't answer the door when I stopped by earlier to talk. It might just be me, but… Mr. Davis sounded…." I got interrupted by Ben.

"Ethan… don't worry about them. I'm sure they're just being careful… everyone's a little on edge with this whole creeper running around… heck, you mentioned she had a knife." He said, which made me stop.

I was silent for a moment as I processed what I heard.

"I… never said it was a girl," I noticed Ben's voice grow serious over the phone.

"Ethan… Mr. Davis and Nathaniel are fine. Why stir up trouble when it isn't there? It's late; you should head to bed before your Micheal gets mad.’ I could tell he had a serious undertone in his voice.

Honestly, I only felt more on edge after the call. Ben might have leaked some info about the creeper case being a girl. But it's still bizarre for him to do that. I ended up getting another restless sleep that night. When I woke up and the police didn't show up at my house in the morning, I knew I’d need to face Noah. And that, for some reason, scared me more than it should have.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

At school, everyone was whispering about the creeper again; apparently, another attack happened last night in the residential part of town. A dad was walking with his son and dog when they noticed someone following them. The dog's barking scared off whoever was following them. Though some were starting to freak out even more. Grandpa mentioned at breakfast the town might be going into lockdown if this keeps up.

I met up with Noah during lunch, to which he gave me the cold shoulder. I didn't mind it; after all, I did get him involved with a police case. And boy was he pissed; I tried a few things to get him to talk to me. Even talking about some of the anime he recommended to me. He still ignored me; when I sat down, I could tell I was pushing it. Finally, after I apologized and let him snap at me, he seemed ready to talk. I told him what I wanted… needed to say. As we spoke, I noticed Noah slowly starting to ease up with the conversation. I shared my suspicions with him, and he bounced some possible answers back at me. But most of them didn't feel right; the answer was right in front of us, we just can’t see it.

"I'll have to check out Mr. Davis's house," I stated simply, even though that would be breaking into someone's home.

"We'll…" Noah said with confidence.

I was about to tell him that he should stay out of this when the lunch bell rang. I looked at him as he gave me a smirk and walked off to dump his food. I couldn't say much as I had to abandon my food and head off to class. Rumors about what might have happened to Nathaniel and Mr. Davis filled the locker room. I mostly ignored them; I went about my workout routine in the weight training room. I mostly kept to myself during the workout, though it seemed clear that I was a little pissed to everyone.

After the last class ended, I went over to my bike. As I walked up to it, I saw Noah already sitting there waiting for him. He was fiddling with his phone as he leaned against the bike rack. He gave me a smile as I unlocked my bike.

"You're not coming," I clung to the lock for my bike around the handlebars.

"Ah, that's too bad." He said, causing me to stop in my tracks.

He held up his phone with a smirk.

"I just texted my mom. I’m on my way to your house for history tutoring." I swear the smirk turned devilish for a second.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's got little horns, and a tail hidden somewhere on himself. I let out a frustrated sigh as I sat on my bike.

"Fine… but if I say run, you run. Got it." I stared him in the eyes.

"Got it…." He moved to climb onto the back seat.

I grabbed his wrist that held his phone as I stared him in the eyes. He was surprised as he stood there; I guess he wasn't expecting this from me. I didn't say anything as I let the weight of the silence between us sink in. I'm ok with risking my own life, but I put too much on Noah now. He seemed to understand how serious this was as he looked at me. I know we haven't been friends for very long, but the last thing I want to do is get him arrested alongside me.

I handed him my helmet, he took it and put it on. I started up the bike as I felt him wrap his arms around me. The ride to Mr. Davis's home was uneventful; I made sure to park outside the fence line this time. After we came to a stop, I turned off my bike. I didn't see the lights coming on; I motioned Noah to be quiet as I climbed over the short fence. I helped Noah after I climbed over. The lights didn't come on this time; I looked over to where I had parked my bike before. A small black box hidden behind a potted plant. I guess that's how Mr. Davis knew I was here.

I motioned for Noah to follow me as we snuck around to the back of the house. Nathaniel told me about a spare key he hid in a false water sprinkler head. I found it right next to the steps leading up to the backyard porch after pulling the fake sprinkler head from the ground and twisting the cap off. Inside was a single metal key tied to a thin wire. Nathaniel told me about this when he needed me to grab a piece for a robot he was building. Noah and I entered the back door; the lights were still off. I looked around and could tell no one was or had been here in a while.

The house had a simple layout with two rooms and two bathrooms. The dining room and living room were connected with a small doorway leading to the kitchen. I looked and noticed a few photos had been pulled from the walls. The lone nails sticking out against the white were apparent even in the dark setting. Noah stuck close to me as we walked down the hallway that led to the bedrooms and first bath. At the end of the hallway, I peeked into Nathaniel's room. I felt a chill go down my back as I noticed a few things were left behind. All the robots he had built over the years sitting on their shelves.

When I looked to the bed I noticed the bracelet Nathaniel would always wear sitting on top of a folded note. The bracelet was a simple design with a bolt that had been silver plated. Picking it up I stuffed it into my pocket; the last thing I’m sure Nathaniel would want is to leave this. I opened the note to see what it said. ‘I’m Sorry Emily.’ ‘I love you.’ Was all that was written. Ok something new I learned about my friend. He's in love with the co-founder of the club. That only confused me more; if he really loved her why did he run away?

He wouldn't have left these if he had a choice. I walked up to one of the robots and picked it up. Looking it over, I couldn't help but feel sad. He even had some of the robots displayed on his shelves from years before. One was a remote car that had a camera built into it. We mostly used it to explore the surrounding forests and mess with some of the local pets. I set the robot in my hands back down on the shelf as Noah walks into Mr. Davis' room. Unlike Nathaniel's room where there were shelves of robots and his bed still made from before they left. Mr. Davis's room was rather bleak, with only a large queen bed in the middle of the far-off wall.

The master bathroom still looked like the same double vanity with a full wall mirror. It looked like it hadn't been updated since Mr. Davis bought the house. I looked to Noah, who seemed to be examining a built-in wardrobe. He looked around the room for a bit before turning his attention to me.