As if it wasn’t enough that I was functioning on very little sleep, life decided to throw a curve ball at me when Easton came back. He left my mind reeling with baffling questions, including a mysterious locket. My best friend had been keeping her relationship with Easton from me for five years before just dropping that bombshell in my lap. Needless to say, I have been on an emotional rollercoaster from the time I woke up that morning. 

Everything that happened that day had taken a toll on my nerves, and I felt like they were fried. But everything I had experienced was about to become more complicated.

My mom and dad had their suspicions that I could hear their thoughts, after all, when I was a toddler, I didn’t know they weren’t speaking aloud. But since then, I knew not to speak on their internal comments. Personally, I felt my relationship with my parents was strained. Not that it was necessarily bad, we just had conflicting personalities. 

My mother worked as a secretary and my father is a mechanic, owning his own shop. I have an older brother named Will, but no one has heard or seen him in over a year. He did not get along with my parents at all. Our mom was quick and rash sometimes and could be over-emotional, whereas Will was calm. He was always one to keep situations from getting out of hand. I loved my brother because he kept his heart on his sleeve. 

The last time I spoke to Will was the night he moved out. He was upset because he didn’t want to leave me behind, but he had no other choice. I could have gone, and he insisted that I go, but I didn’t want to move away from everything familiar to me. I also did not want to move away from Sara. It’s hard for someone like me to find a friend; not to mention one who believed the burden I wore. 

When I told Will that I didn’t want to move away, he didn’t quite understand and still urged me to go with him. He felt extremely guilty for leaving me behind. But things with my parents became too difficult for him to handle and he just needed to leave.

After Ruth and I finished our conversation, we decided to leave my house and go look around at our favorite shops before stopping for something to eat. While in town, we were at the bookstore, thumbing through novels when my phone began to ring. 

As I searched my purse for my phone, I noticed something shiny lying beside it. Ignoring my phone’s blatant cry for attention, I grabbed the shiny object.

“How did this get in my purse?” I murmured to myself as I pulled the locket out.

“You stuck it in there before we left the house,” Sara replied while grabbing a book to read its summary.

“I don’t remember doing that.”

She didn’t respond to my statement, keeping her face buried in the book.

I placed the necklace back in my purse, not giving it another thought. Looking at my phone, I saw that my mother had called. It was strange she was calling so soon after we left. “We need to leave soon…” I told Sara, “I’m starting to get a headache from this crowd.”

“Ok, I’m starting to get hungry anyway.”

We started dressing in our coats, gloves, and scarves before heading outside. As we walked together to our favorite little restaurant. When Sara and I first walked in, we wiped our feet on the rug at the entrance door and proceeded to look around. There were very few people inside as it wasn’t properly dinner time. 

A small group of teenagers was sitting at a booth in the back next to the window. Three people were sitting at the bar enjoying their meals and sipping coffee, as they made small talk. 

Sara and I made our way to a table at the center of the diner, placing our coats, scarves, and gloves on the back of our chairs.

A waitress walked up to us, asking if we wanted our usual, which we were more than happy to say yes! 

While we were getting settled at our table, someone walked through the entrance, causing the entire atmosphere to shift. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, but I wasn’t scared. Some type of calm mixed with anxiety overcame me. 

Sara’s eyes kept darting around like she was trying to avoid eye contact with someone. Her cheeks started to turn red around the third or fourth time she peered behind me. She started to become visibly nervous as I watched her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, getting ready to turn around and look behind me. But to be honest, I was a bit scared to.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She responded, looking down at her hands.

I shrugged my shoulders and tried not to worry about it. Hopefully, it isn’t Easton, I thought to myself. Then I realized, I couldn’t hear anyone once again today. Maybe he is here… I started to become worried for my friend as a new wave of emotions started to overcome me. 

Strangely, I feel safe, but my heart started to race, and my face became flushed. Butterflies were viciously flapping in my stomach, creating an anxious/nauseated feeling. 

I looked at Sara, who could see the fear in my eyes as I mouthed, “I can’t hear anything,” to her. Her eyes grew wide, and darted back to the place behind me. “What’s the matter?” I questioned quietly to my friend.

Her true answer caught me off guard as she whispered, “There is a very hot guy sitting behind you… He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since he entered.”

I felt my face flush when the waitress interrupted our awkward conversation by bringing us our food. My heart was still racing, and the whole situation was freaking me out. I decided it was best not to look behind me, which took every fiber of my being not to do. Sara’s constant glancing at the mysterious person also did not help my growing curiosity. The suspense was killing me.

Halfway through out meal, the waitress walked to the table where the “hot” guy was sitting, asking what he would like to order. The man spoke, but I didn’t hear what he said because I recognized the voice. My heart felt like it dropped to the floor as chills shot down my spine. 

This cannot be real, I thought to myself in disbelief. Sara noticed my sudden paralysis and grew concerned. 

“Ember? Are you feeling alright?” 

“Y-yeah…” I replied sheepishly.

“Are you sure?” She questioned, looking at me skeptically. “You are very pale now.”

“I’ll tell you about it later…” I said, unable to comprehend what was going on. I figured I could at least catch a glimpse of the guy to dismiss the thought that sprang to mind.

Sara leaned over the table after a few minutes and started speaking quietly. “Don’t you want to take a look at the guy?”

“Of course I do.”

“You better hurry. I think he might leave soon.”

Taking her advice, I took a deep, long breath before I “nonchalantly” dropped my knife on the floor. When I leaned over in my chair to pick it up, I glanced over at the person. When I saw his face, my heart felt like it had stopped beating. His beautiful blue eyes followed my movements as a knowing smirk spread across his face. Breaking my eyes away from him, I looked at Sara earnestly as I began, “We need to leave.”

“Why?” Sara questioned in confusion as I hurriedly grabbed for my things.

“No, no, no, no…. I cannot process this right now.” I threw some money on the table and grabbed my things.

“Ember, calm down and wait for me!” Sara called after me, quickly grabbing her things. 

I ignored the man as I ran out of the diner, knowing full well that if I caught glimpse of him again, I would not be able to convince myself that this wasn’t real. But I couldn’t ignore the feeling of his eyes watching me.

Once Sara and I were outside, putting our coats and stuff on, I began walking at a fast pace that she found difficult to keep up with. She started to demand answers from me. “Ember! Slow down! What was all that about? Ember, wait!” 

I did not want to slow down or stop and talk. I desperately hung on to the doubt I wanted to keep but in the pit of my stomach, I knew what I had just seen was true.

“Ember!” Sara raised her voice and grabbed my arm. “Who was that?”

I stopped in my tracks and took a deep breath. “Last night, I had a dream with what looked to be that guy in it… The resemblance is uncanny…” My head started to hurt as I tried to process all of this. “I had the same old nightmare with the shadow man chasing me, but last night, that guy in the diner, he was there. He saved me from him…”

Sara’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. “That… That is very strange…” 

My heart kept racing as I remembered the dream, his eyes.

“I would normally say that maybe it was only a coincidence…” Sara began, “but I don’t think coincidences happen with you very often…” She saw the look on my face and added, “No offence.”

“I figured as much…” I replied with a groan.

“Well, maybe… Maybe we should go back and ask him about it?” She proposed with eagerness filling her voice. 

The thought of this terrified me. If he was real… then that would mean the shadow man was real also.