by Ammar Habib
“Now, like I just said, I think you two might be overacting. I’ve met with Ethan myself a few times since his return and he’s shown no apparent signs of mental illness. He did completely blow off David’s auction last night, but that doesn’t make him crazy. It just makes him irresponsible.”
Marion interjected. “But you don’t live with him Charles!”
“There’s something wrong with him, man. You gotta believe us.” Emanuel added.
There was nothing Ethan wanted more than to go in there and beat the living daylights out of that back-stabbing cook. He had grown up around that loser’s constant rumor spreading and he always ignored it. But right now when he spoke it felt like ants crawling underneath Ethan’s skin. He could not take it, but remained calm as he continued to listen. Charles spoke again. “How long has this been going on?”
Marion replied, “Ever since he came back I knew something was off. He was acting strange, but at first it was only small things and I thought it would go away. But for the past two weeks his condition has been spiraling down faster than any of the patients I ever saw.”
“Alright. I’ll have a psychiatrist come and see him. But if he says that Ethan’s clear, then that’s final. I don’t want you all to spread unfounded rumors.”
There was not a reply for a few moments, but finally Emanuel answered, “Fine. But I know there is something wrong with him. I can’t keep working here under a maniac.”
Ethan had heard enough. He finally came into the doorway and looked into the dimly lit room. All three of them were sitting at the dining table, but their backs were to him. In front of them all was a large untouched plate full of cheese and crackers.
Seeing that they still did not notice him, he began to make his way towards them, hiding his anger. He looked at the back of Marion’s head as she spoke once more to the elderly man. “You don’t understand Charles. Every day I leave he seems to be worse off than when I came in. His mental health is deteriorating. He doesn’t sleep, he barely eats. His eyes are always bloodshot. I have no idea where he goes or what he does. He leaves for hours without any warning and never answers his phone. Then he comes back even more tired than before. I thought it was drugs at first. I thought it might have been alcohol. But whatever is tearing him apart is going to kill him sooner or later.”
Before Charles replied, Ethan loudly cleared his throat. All three of them momentarily froze before slowly turning their heads around to see the eavesdropper. His two servants looked like they were staring at a ghost as the color left their faces. Wide-eyed, they looked at him for what seemed like a long time before Marion and Emanuel hastily leapt to their feet.
They waited for Ethan to say something. His hands were behind his back and his eyes were full of exhaustion. He looked over his two employees and then down at his associate before his gaze went back over to Marion and Emanuel. “So this is the thanks I get for putting food in your mouths. After working for my family for years, I find you two sitting at my table, eating my food, while stabbing me in the back and betraying my trust.”
Marion and Emanuel exchanged glances quickly before she spoke. “Ethan, you have to understand that we are worried about you. You’re clearly not well.”
“I don’t think it’s in your job to be worried about me.”
“It’s not about whether it’s my job or not, Ethan. I’m worried as a friend.”
Ethan let out a short snicker. “I didn’t realize that friends go behind each other’s backs.”
Emanuel stepped into the conversation as his voice rose. “Hey man, give her a break. She’s trying to help you.”
Ethan pointed his finger threateningly towards the cook as his smile disappeared. “You stay out of this! I’ll deal with you later.”
As Marion spoke, Ethan looked her way, but kept his finger pointed at the cook. “Ethan, please, let us help you. Tell us what you’re going through.”
“It sounded to me that you already know what’s wrong. You were about to call the men in white coats, weren’t you?”
Marion did not reply, but Emanuel spoke once again. “Look in a mirror, Ethan! Have you seen how you look!? What would you think if you saw somebody looking like that? What would you do if you saw somebody acting the way that you do?”
Ethan’s facial expression suddenly filled with rage as his eyes looked back at the cook. “I said stay out of this!”
His deafening roar caused both of the people in front of him to flinch. His bloodshot eyes stared directly at Emanuel with a look that could strike terror into the heart of any soul. Fear gripped both Marion and Emanuel. For a split second, Emanuel was sure that he would not make it out of here alive.
Ethan took several deep breaths. He looked at Marion, and then back to his cook. There was utter silence in the room as Charles stayed in his seat, not sure if his saying anything would calm down the situation. Finally, Ethan lowered his finger and his hand returned to his side. “…You two have no idea what I’ve been through.”
As he spoke, the anger disappeared from his eyes. It was replaced with a sorrow that longed for peace. Marion took a step forward. “Then let us in, Ethan. Let us help you.”
For a moment, Marion thought that she was making progress. She thought that he was going to open up to them. But she was wrong. His eyes returned back to normal within a matter of seconds, hiding the pain. He looked away from them. “I’ve heard enough out of you two. Don’t you have some work to do?”
Marion’s voice caused Ethan’s attention to fall back on the maid. Her voice was filled with dignity and confidence as she gave her ultimatum. “I’m not working for you Ethan. Not like this. I won’t watch you go insane. I can’t bear it.”
“Fine. I’ll make it easy for you then…you’re fired.”
Her eyes widened and again there was utter silence in the room. She had worked for David for years. He could not just let her go like this. As those simple words sank in, she could feel a heavy burden suddenly fall onto her heart. “…Wh—what?”
Emanuel stared blankly from Ethan to Marion and then back to Ethan. Even Charles did not say anything. Ethan’s didn’t show the slightest hint of remorse “You heard me. You’re fired.”
Emanuel tried to stand up for the now unemployed Marion. “Ethan you can’t—”
“You’re fired too. Let’s see how you enjoy working for minimum wage at some fast food restaurant. I can assure you that’s the only work you’ll ever get after today. I’ll personally make sure of it.” Ethan looked back at Marion, whose face was still consumed by shock. “You can explain to your kids tonight why you have to pull them out of private school because you could not mind your own business.”
There was a long silence. Nobody knew what to do.
Ethan kept his emotions held back behind his stoic face. With a sudden move, he motioned towards the door. “Get out of here. Both of you.”
Nobody moved. Time seemed to have stopped.
Ethan suddenly roared again. “I said get out!”
Without hesitating, Emanuel began to make his way to the door. Ethan’s eyes followed the cook until he was out of the room and then went back onto Marion. He could see the tears in her eyes. Tears that were being held back, but could still be seen. Even seeing this did not change the expression on Ethan’s face. The dining hall was engulfed by another long silence.
She suddenly rushed out of the room, looking down as she dashed towards the exit. Ethan knew that by the time she made it to the elevator, the tears would have started to roll down her cheeks. But he did not care.
He heard the faint echo of the elevator bell followed shortly by the sound of the doors opening and then closing. Even before they closed, he could hear her crying all the way in the dining hall. But he ignored it. Ethan looked towards his business partner and their eyes locked before Charles spoke.
He raised his arms to his side as he came to his feet. “You can’t fire me, Ethan.”
“I can kick you out though.”
C
harles pushed his chair back under the table. “Or you can put away the attitude. You owe me an explanation. Why weren’t you there last night?”
“I was busy. There was an incident in town in case you didn’t notice.”
“You could have called.”
“And you could have asked me before scheduling the auction.”
Charles took a few steps away from the table as Ethan’s eyes followed the old man. “I hope you know how embarrassing it was for me last night, Ethan. I assured everybody you were going to be there and you did not show. Any chance you had of swaying those people’s opinions just went out the door. Most of them only came to speak to you privately. They weren’t too happy when they left.”
“And all this time I thought that they came out of respect for David.”
“They’re not the ones disrespecting his memory, Ethan. You are.”
Ethan slightly chuckled. “Really?”
“For the love of God, Ethan. You’re a complete wreck. I don’t know what’s wrong with you and frankly I could care less right now. You have responsibilities, Ethan. You have things that need your care and attention.”
The young man did not reply.
“You are a reflection of David, Ethan. Everything you do goes back to him, from your actions to your appearance. You are his legacy.” Charles paused for a moment. “And right now, you’re spitting on his very name.”
Ethan looked away from the old man and at the table.
“And what you do affects me too. The people you ticked off last night were some of the firm’s biggest clients. I heard that a few of them are planning on taking their business somewhere else. I guess at the end of the quarter, we can all thank you as to why our profits are down.” Charles shook his head. “You clean yourself up. You clean yourself up now. Start acting like a man. Take some responsibility for once in your life.”
Ethan stared at the old man.
“You’ve always lived for yourself. You’ve always lived selfishly, Ethan. It’s time you start to care about people other than yourself. You can’t always run away from your problems.”
The younger man held his tongue like he had done so many times before.
Charles turned around and made his way towards the exit. “I thought you had changed when you came back, but I guess I was wrong. You’re still the same immature, punk boy you left as. Now I have to clean up the damn mess that you made…just like David always had to do.”
Wordlessly, Ethan watched Charles make his way to the entrance of the hallway.
Before leaving, the old man said his final words. “Don’t bother coming by the office until you get yourself cleaned up and get your act together. Otherwise…I’ll have security throw you out.”
Within moments, Charles was out of sight. Ethan heard the echoes of his footsteps coming from the hallway as he headed towards the elevator. It arrived quickly and, within a minute of leaving the dining hall, Charles was out of the penthouse.
Ethan stood still for some time after everybody had finally left. He could care less about Emanuel leaving, but his heart ached to see Marion go like that. He had to hold back his tears when he watched her leave the room the way she did. He wished she could stay, but he knew that it would not end well if she did.
Nothing good could come out of her being around him.
Ethan finally walked over to the dining table. Suddenly, he let out a deafening roar and with the swipe of his hand he knocked the plate of food from the tabletop. It flew through the air for a few seconds before landing on the ground. The plate shattered, sending pieces in every direction.
Several moments passed before he took a seat at the chair at the end of the long table. He put his elbow on the table and rested his face in his hand, ignoring the mess he had just made. After a while, he finally pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on the table. His eyes stayed on the device for a long time.
Bradley had called Ethan on his way here. He had told him about the police trashing the office. According to Bradley, the police were trying to find out about any property recently sold in uninhabited areas. The manager had assured him that he had convinced the detective that they had made no transactions like that in the past year. Maybe Bradley was more trustworthy than Ethan had originally made him out to be.
He picked up the phone and held it in his hands for a long time. He needed to call Katrina. He needed to tell her that he would not be able to see her this weekend. It was time to push her away just like he pushed away everyone that he cared about. It had to be done.
With a deep breath, he stood up and prepared to dial the number.
***
The only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the grandfather clock that rested against the wall behind Katrina. Silently, she sat on the comfortable seat at the round table. In front of her was a small white plate and on top of the plate was a white tea cup half full with the hot liquid. Steam slowly drifted from the cup and its aroma filled the room. Next to the plate was a recently read newspaper and under the plate was an emerald table cover that had beautiful designs covering its surface.
Except for her, the room was completely unoccupied. All the other chairs were neatly and tucked under the table, while a crystal chandelier hung above her.
With one hand, she played with the heart-shaped necklace she was still wearing. Under her feet, she could feel the clean, white carpeted floor between her toes as it tickled the bottom of her feet. In her free hand was a small, hardcover novel she had been reading. Love stories had always her favorite. They always seemed to touch her heart. This particular story was already one of her favorites, even though she hadn’t finished it yet. Most likely because she imagined Ethan and herself as the star crossed lovers.
While the book was in her hands, her hair was tied back in a long ponytail. She wore a white sundress that was covered in pink flower designs. It ran all the way down to the tops of her knees. She had put it on just a couple of hours ago before she took a stroll through her large garden in the backyard of the manor.
On Monday, she had read the article about Ethan in the Crown City Times. She had already known about most of the things in the article, like the reason for Ethan leaving in the first place. But she did not know anything about the girl, Naira. Katrina had been too hesitant to ask Ethan about it. She figured that whenever he was ready, he would open up and tell her everything. Katrina could tell that Naira’s death, however it had happened, had taken its toll on Ethan. She did not want to push him too far.
Katrina had called Ethan after reading the article to tell him how much she had enjoyed it. He had seemed to glad to hear the news. She had meant to call him after receiving the flowers as well, but had decided that she did not want to continue bothering him.
After the events of last night, she had closed the company for the day. Katrina was glad she had so after hearing that the police were going to several businesses and questioning them. But now, it seemed like they were only pestering real estate businesses and a couple of newspapers.
She looked away from the book as she picked up the teacup with her index finger and thumb. Slowly she raised the cup to her lips and took a small sip of the hot liquid. While she swallowed it, she set the cup back down almost perfectly in its previous position before returning her attention to the novel.
Just as she began to let her mind wander off, she heard a knock at the door. Katrina turned her head around and saw the young maid at the doorway with a phone in her hands. “There’s a call for you, Ms. Katrina. I believe it’s your friend, Ethan.”
Katrina jumped to her feet and quickly went towards her servant. Her book fell onto the chair, but Katrina did not even notice. Her voice clearly showed her excitement, even though she tried to hide it. “Thank you, Alice. I’ll take it.”
Alice met her halfway and handed off the phone.
Katrina waited until Alice had left the room and closed the door before she turned back around. Her heart was racing with excitement as she put the p
hone to her ear. “Ethan?”
His voice sounded weary. “…Hey, Katrina. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Katrina hesitated in her response after hearing Ethan’s atypical voice. “No, I was just catching up on some reading. Are you okay?”
Ethan tried to cover up his fatigue, but failed to hide it. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You sound tired.”
“I’m good. Just been a long day. The police decided to shut down one of my offices today and tear it apart.”
If he said he was okay, then Katrina was not going to worry about it. “I heard about that. Is everything okay there?”
“Nobody got hurt, that’s what’s important.”
Katrina had finally made it back to the table and once again took a seat in her chair. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. Do you know what they were looking for?”
“No idea. I wasn’t there but my manager told me that they would not tell him anything. But I think they’re gone for good.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Anyways, that’s not what I called to talk to you about. I got your message.”
Hearing this, her heart rate doubled. She nervously began to slide the book across the surface of the table. “And?”
There was a long silence, and Katrina was sure that he was going to decline. He seemed as if he did not know whether to say yes or no. “…I’d love to go with you.”
Katrina barely held back herself from screaming with joy. Her girlish smile grew tenfold and he could hear it in her voice. “You just made my day.”
“Do you have a spot picked out to go to?”
“Yes…but it’s a surprise.”
Ethan let out a brief laugh. “I figured as much. So do you want me to pick you up?”
Katrina rose to her feet. “That would be perfect.”
“Great. What time?”
“Mmm…how about 10:30 in the morning?”