The Day Ethan Cole Got Sick — And Greyhaven Refused to Let Him Be Alone
Chapter 4
The fever rose during the night.
Ethan barely remembered falling asleep.
When he woke, the house was dark.
His mouth was dry.
He reached for the glass of water.
His hand shook.
The glass slipped.
It hit the floor.
The sound seemed impossibly loud.
Ethan stared at the broken pieces.
For several seconds, he didn’t move.
He felt anger rising.
Not at the glass.
At himself.
He hated being helpless.
He hated needing someone.
He hated the weakness crawling through his body.
He leaned back against the couch.
His phone vibrated.
Walter.
Everything okay?
Ethan stared at the message.
He typed:
Dropped a glass.
Walter replied:
Are you hurt?
No.
Good. Stay there.
Ethan frowned.
Why?
No answer.
Ten minutes later, headlights appeared outside.
Ethan closed his eyes.
A knock came.
Walter entered first.
June followed.
Claire came behind them.
Walter looked at the floor.
Then at Ethan.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
Walter nodded.
He picked up the broken glass.
June checked Ethan’s temperature.
Claire changed the water.
No one made a big deal of it.
That was somehow harder.
If they had made a speech, Ethan could have rejected it.
If they had told him he needed them, he could have argued.
Instead, they simply helped.
Quietly.
Naturally.
As though there was nothing unusual about coming to someone’s house after midnight because he had dropped a glass.
Ethan watched Walter sweep the last piece from the floor.
“You didn’t have to come.”
Walter looked at him.
“I know.”
Ethan looked away.
June sat beside him.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“You don’t have to earn this.”
Ethan frowned.
“Earn what?”
“People caring about you.”
The room went quiet.
Ethan looked toward the window.
Rain slid down the glass.
He remembered the years before Greyhaven.
The roads.
The temporary places.
The rooms that never became homes.
The people who had come into his life and disappeared again.
He had learned not to expect permanence.
Expectations hurt less when they were small.
June watched him.
“You okay?”
Ethan nodded.
This time, he meant something different.
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s dangerous.”
He smiled.
She smiled back.
For the first time that night, Ethan relaxed.
