The Two Of Us

Ethan

                    As he rode through the woods and up the mountain, he took in all the sights and sounds of the world around him.

The birds, the insects, the wind blowing through the trees and the animals in the various forestry and undergrowth. He heard a bird scream from somewhere in the distance and Ethan listened to the sound echo as it bounced off of everything around him.

He stopped his bike when he came across a cat sitting patiently by the side of the road as if waiting for him.

"Hello, there, little one. Who do you belong to?" He asked.

The feline before him gave a look as if to say 'no one. I belong to me.' Before she got up and padded over to where Ethan now stood. He knelt down to pet her and after thoroughly sniffing his fingertips, she allowed him to. 

"Someone's been feeding you well." He nodded at her round belly. "Do you know the cabin up this way?"

The cat gave a short 'meow' and began walking the trail towards his destination. Ethan chuckled lightly and dutily followed the cat.

When he got up to the cabin, Ethan noticed that it didn't really look all that different from the last time he was there. It was still surrounded by weeping willow trees, whose hanging leaves seemed like a forest of frozen rain, always about to fall but never really touching the ground.

The cat watched him make his way up to the front door and Ethan almost didn't stop himself from knocking on the hard, oak wood door. Tracing his fingers along the carved sections of the wood, he took a deep breath and stepped inside.

He turned back to look at the cat, but she had disappeared. 

Moving around from room to room inside of the large family-oriented building, Ethan made his way up the staircase and into one of the smaller bedrooms that was sectioned off. Opening the door, he instantly saw the bedding and knew that it wasn't newly bought. Judging from the Lion King bed sheets, this was a child's room, and, due to the twin beds, it was also obviously meant for more than a single child. Ethan sat on the bed closest to the door and pressed the play button on his phone, almost instantly filling the room with music. He then lay down and closed his evergreen eyes. He let the song play for a while on repeat, but then soon got bored of the repetitive beat and instead put the playlist on to shuffle mode.

Groaning at the newfound quietness that surrounded him, he suddenly realized that the previous song had ended and a new one was about to begin. 

Ethan sat up and looked around the small room, listening closely to the pounding of his heart as it synced up to the rhythm of the drumbeat of the new symphony that enveloped the familiar, near-empty childish bedroom as if his life depended on this new song. He knew this song like he knew his own name. After all, she had been the one to introduce it to him. He began reminiscing about how he would play this same exact song on repeat like it was a broken record for the entire first month that she was gone.

He hated that month. More than anything he despised it, just because it was the first of many months that began without her.

Running his fingers through his bed-tangled hair like a stressed-out student on a hard fifty-point question in the middle of an exam, Ethan picked up the phone that had previously been lying next to him on the twin bed. He needed some ideas. Maybe she had posted something online that could help him.

As he scrolled through her newly updated timeline like a scientist reviewing a study on an interesting subject, a picture caught his eye midway through the profile page. Like one of those dumb posts where it has a random two in a line of fives, he had almost missed it.

Captioning the picture of what looked to be his dream girl passed out on a lime green sofa with a lampshade over her head in a dimly lit room were the words

What happens at parties stays at parties

He looked a bit closer at the girl. Although he recognized her t-shirt, nothing else in the picture proved it was really her. And what was that black marking on the girl's arm? That couldn't have been her. She wouldn't have gotten drunk. She was smarter than that. She would probably be too lightweight anyways.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the font door downstairs which interrupted him from his thoughts.

A/N This chapter is dedicated to my dear friend Sammi. Sammi, you are beautiful. I truthfully don't know where I would be if I hadn't met you. I love your smile and your cheerful energy lights up every room you enter. I honestly feel really blessed to know you. And I want to thank you for your sweet spirit. You make me want to be happy.  Thank you for being a sun in a lonesome solar system. I love you and hope you enjoy!