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It was a cold October night, specifically October 5th, Hannah's birthday. How old was she now? Ethan couldn't remember; all he could remember was the warm hazel eyes she had and those stupid overalls she always wore. Ethan wondered if Hannah still thought about him—or is he just a distant shadow in the back of her mind. He placed a hand on his cheek as he brought a can of beer up to his lips with his other hand, the stubble on his chin reminding him of how many it’s been since they up and left. He shut his eyes as the familiar sting of alcohol slid down the inside of his throat, trying to picture how Lex would look—she probably moved on from him and got with someone else who is financially stable.. Enough. Ethan frowned slightly, the alcohol causing his mind to slowly grow fuzzy.
His mind couldn't grasp at the fact that they were gone forever, even as he hoped that they would, and as he coped with this by drinking himself stupid. The ring on the chain around his neck felt cold and mocking, everything reminded him of Lex. Of how she smelled like sunscreen with the undertones of cigarette smoke that never seemed to leave her, or how she always cried herself to sleep at night thinking that no one was actually awake. Was he the actual reason for her and Hannah leaving? It wasn't exactly plausible, if he had just stayed up he could've talked to Lex, he could've stopped her from leaving with Hannah. Why couldn’t he have just been normal. The alcohol in his system caused everything to get blurred—he missed Lex, he missed the way she’d react to his stupid flirting, he missed how she’d make sure that had the best life they could've had.
Ethan had loved Lex to the moon and back, so why would she have left. Was he that bad of a boyfriend that he had forced Lex to leave due to the consequences of his actions? Ethan didn’t know where he lost himself along the way, he should be getting over Lex! Not getting drunk on his ex's apartment floor, drowning in self-doubt and grief. no. He needed to cool his mind, he needed to go on a walk. Maybe a walk to the cemetery could clear his mind. Ethan stood up on trembling legs, like a newborn baby deer walking on ice–He went to slip on his shoes and his leather jacket, shaking hands going to tie the laces he had been gifted by Hannah as a gag gift, they were these rainbow laces that stuck out like on a sore thumb on his usual dark and brooding outfits.
Of course Ethan wouldn’t drive, he wasn’t an idiot to drive under the influence! But he was an idiot for just deciding to go onto a walk. He stumbled around the road, his body jerky and his legs seemed to lock with each step. Ethan was always a lightweight whenever he would drink, and Lex would always be there to help him through the worst of the buzz but now—well now she couldn't. Why did Ethan decide to walk to the cemetery alone, in the dark, when it was about to rain? You could call him stupid or a daredevil.. he truly didn't care. The wind blew in his face as he continued to walk, it was cold and sharp–tugging at the edges of his leather jacket like it wanted to pull him back to the apartment. Streetlights were few and far between, and the ones still lit flickered, casting long, uneven shadows across the cracked pavement. He passed the part of town where the houses thinned out, and the trees grew thicker, their branches clawing toward the road like they knew where he was going. But Ethan didn’t stop. His steps, though clumsy, were steady in their purpose.
It was like time had stopped, seeing the bright lights of a car speeding towards him. The beams cut through the darkness, blinding and sudden, freezing him in place like a deer caught mid-breath. His heart lurched, but his feet refused to move—as if the ground had latched onto him, unwilling to let go. The roar of the engine grew louder, drowning out the wind, the crickets, even his own thoughts. For a split second, everything slowed—the world shrank to nothing but those lights, that sound, and the weight of everything he hadn’t said. Then, just as quickly, time snapped back into motion.
Ethan was jolted out of it when a searing pain started to spread throughout his whole body—practically being flown across the road by the force of the car hitting him. The blood curdling scream Ethan let out had been covered by the sound of tires screeching against the road, it was horrifyingly beautiful–his body twisting and contorting mid air in a fury of despair. When he had hit the ground below, he almost slid across the road—practically smearing him on it; Ethan's head throbbed as he laid broken and bleeding rapidly on the road, for some reason the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins caused him to stay awake and feel every little struggled breath.
All Ethan could feel was the pavement against his broken body and the sticky feeling of blood growing under his head and parts of his body. The sound of people screaming had been unimportant to him, was this going to be Ethan's final moment? Smeared across the pavement of the road when he could've been relaxing and drinking on the sofa. Ethan could feel his mind slipping away as everything stung and his head throbbed in sync with his heartbeat, the only thing going on in his mind was the feeling of Lex, her presence—if Ethan did end up dying at least he’d die knowing that Lex and Hannah would never find out.
He saw the familiar yet beckoning figure of a woman in the distance holding holds with a young teen–ethans vision blurred with tears. “Hannah…” he muttered, his pulse dropping suddenly. Ethan could feel himself slipping away, he felt at peace. The idea of death filled him with a sense of joy. “Lex..” he whispered, eyes now feeling randomly heavy. “Ill be- there soon..” Ethan said, before everything went black, his heart stopped and so did his breathing at 9pm on October fifth. Ethan Green was presumed dead at the scene, and Lex never figured it out.
Even if Ethan never physically made it to California, and he’s there in spirit..
All of them made it.