21. | sparkling green eyes

''This place is going to be the death of me.'' My best friend, Lexi Nichols, cries out in the seat next to me as we enter the street where Ethan's family supposedly lives. While Lexi is staring dreamily around to catch some guys playing basketball, I try to take in my surroundings.

Yesterday, Ethan and I decided it was time for me to visit his family. For me, this is a big step. His mother can make Ethan's story complete. From there on, Cole and I can speed up the process of finding the complete truth.

After a prolonged one-hour drive through the noon traffic, the cab finally comes to a stop in front of a street with a bunch of houses, painted a variety of dull colors.

''Thank you.'' Lexi and I say in unison and I smile politely towards the driver, handing him the money and a tip for the ride. I step out of the vehicle, scanning the environment around us as the cab driver drives away. We'll either call another one or take the public transport on our way back.

It's chilly today, the sun is nowhere to be seen. I visibly shiver as the wind blows around us, which is quite normal for the beginning of December. I wonder if there will be any snow this year.

We start walking towards the houses, both looking around trying to find the right house.

''15a... 15a'' I mumble to myself as we walk for a few minutes. ''15a. This should be the right house.'' I let out a breath I've been holding and without further ado I knock on the door.

As I hear the sound of footsteps and see a shadow growing as they get in front of the door, my palms start getting sweaty. A girl around the age of thirteen opens the door and it doesn't take me a second to recognize her as Lizzie, a small and female version of Ethan Dean Wilford.

Underneath a few messy blonde locks falling over her big brown eyes, she narrows them at us. I can see her visibly get nervous and put her guard up while she scans Lexi and myself.

''I think you guys have the wrong address.'' She finally speaks and she puts her hand back on the doorknob, nodding at us while pushing the door to close it.

''Lizzie, right?'' I interrupt with a smile.

''Y-yes?'' She asks as she stops herself from closing the door. Her glance changes between Lexi and me as she tries to figure out why these strangers know her name.

''I'm Brooklyn, and this is my best friend Lexi. We're here because we're friends of Ethan. We came to visit you and your mom, we mean no harm, really.'' I reassure her.

By the mention of her brother's name her lips curl upwards into a grin, eyes still curious.

''Who's there Liz?'' A voice sounds from inside the house.

''Some friends of Ethan mom!'' She turns her head around as she replies, turning back to us.

''Well come on then, why are you letting them wait?'' is the reply Lizzie needs to finally open the door wide open for us to enter the house.

''I must admit, I didn't think Eth still had friends left after everything.'' She mumbles as we walk through the corridor towards the living room, Lizzie leading the short way for us.

''Actually, I met him after he ended up in prison but it's a long story, really.'' I say, making me earn a curious yet cheeky grin from Lizzie. Her and Lexi exchange glances, almost as if telling each other they will talk about that long story later on.

I gaze at the walls plastered with photo frames and I can't help myself but stop in front of one that catches my eye. It's a picture of a boy with blonde hair and sparkling green eyes, grinning with his front tooth missing while proudly showing off a painting in his small hands. Which, I must say, shows that he has been a talented drawer from a young age. A warm feeling creeps up from inside of me.

As soon as Lizzie walks in what is the living room, I enter short after and glance back to see Lexi following us as well. She seems a bit distracted by someone texting her a few times and turns her sound of.

''Can you believe it? Ethan still has friends.'' Lizzie mockingly chirps as she walks to the bed in the right corner of the room.

I grin at her enthusiasm caused by our visit and follow her to the bed. I'm greeted with the sight of a woman in her early fifties with the familiar blonde locks and the warm green eyes. Clearly Ethan has his mother's eyes.

She looks pale and very sick but she's beautiful, just how Ethan described her.

''Hi,'' I smile politely as I stick out my hand for a proper introduction. ''I'm Brooklyn.''

''Oh dear, please call me Sara.'' She chuckles kindly as she opens her arms. ''I don't do handshakes, I do hugs.''

I bent down to her level as she embraces me in a warm motherly hug, one I've been missing out on ever since my mom was taken away from me. I hug her back, my chest filling with the motherly warmth radiating of her. I let go after a long few seconds and sit in the chair next to the bed as Lexi greets and hugs her after me.

Lizzie helps her sit a little straighter by adding another pillow behind her back. Meanwhile, I try to find a way to start this conversation. Before I manage to do so, Sara begins, obviously eager and excited about our visit.

''Silly of me, but I've always thought your name was actually Daisy,'' she takes my hand in hers. ''The Daisy. He's been writing about you all the time."

Daisy.

''Has he now?'' I chew on my bottom lip, trying not to blush vigorously.

Lexi and Lizzie sit next to each other, both grinning from ear to ear. "Are you sure that he, Ethan, wrote about Brooklyn?" they sarcastically joke, causing Sara to glance at them, furrowing her eyebrows at Lizzie.

Meanwhile, she puts her hand under the pillow and pulls out and envelope. She opens it and takes out a letter and another paper which looks like it has a sketch on it.

She holds up the paper next to my face and narrows her eyes as if she's trying her hardest to find any differences.

''Oh I'm sure of it.'' She hands it over to me grinning and the second I see it's a sketch of me, my heart skips a beat.

Her eyes fall upon the dried daisy around my neck and my hand automatically goes to touch it. I can no longer suppress the smile and chuckle, letting my face fall to conceal the scarlet shade covering my cheeks. ''Well, I guess I go by Daisy now."

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I wipe my mouth with a neatly folded napkin as I continue talking about my work at the prison. Sara has asked me about my reasoning, my motivation behind all of it. Her genuine interest and curiosity have caused me to ramble on for a while now, but she seems to enjoy listening.

"It was hard in the beginning but by now I've gotten used to it. It's obvious you know, the fact that they all have built walls around their hearts. Everybody realizes and knows that prisoners do anything not to seem weak. What most people don't know—," I add, pausing to take a sip of my tea, which has turned lukewarm by now. "That they do want to open up. They so desperately want somebody to break them down, to make them feel again like normal human beings. They want to be loved, but most importantly, they want to love again."

I get interrupted by Lizzie coughing "Ethan" and continue after letting out a slight chuckle at the mention of his name.

"Of course, there are some lost cases as well. Getting threats is really something I daily experience but you just got to learn to not take that too personal." I look down at my hands, fighting the urge to rub the scar on my neck. "Sometimes bad things happen, but as cliché as it sounds, what doesn't kill you, really does make you stronger. It even forces you to become stronger."

Sara listens and nods empathetically, a sad smile plastered on her face as her gaze falls upon my neck. "You're admirable, sweetheart." She rubs the back of my free hand, before turning away her gaze and staring down at her cup again. "Unfortunately, there are wrongly accused inmates as well." She stares me in the eyes, making me shiver at the pain that's hiding behind them. "Like my baby boy."

"I wholeheartedly believe you're right about that, I really do... which," I inhale a deep breath before I continue, "which is why I would like to hear the story of that night and the day after from your side. I want to prove Ethan's innocence, I want to get him out of that place because I see, know and feel he really does not belong in there. He belongs here, with you and Lizzie. But in order to be able to gather all the evidence I can to reopen this case, I need to hear it from your perspective. Ethan wants me to as well."

I can see determination in her sad eyes as she slowly nods, showing me that she's ready to share this with me. For a second, doubt blurs my mind. I silently convince myself I'm ready to hear this as well. I want to hear this. I need to. For my mother's sake. For Ethan's sake. For justice's sake.

"It was three years ago, November 19th. He was only seventeen at the time. His father left us after he couldn't handle these financial issues anymore. We were all suffering because of my hospital bills. And it just kept piling up. Ethan went to a car shop after school, 7 days a week, to earn a little money. It was just enough for us to survive, if you could even call it that. One day, Ethan told me he needed to talk about something, ask my permission."

She stares at the wall behind me, her mind taking her back to that day.

"Mom, you know I love you and Lizzie more than anything right? I'd do anything for you to be safe." He said, holding his mother's hands, kneeling in front of her.

Sara smiled at him weakly, wanting to hear what her loving son had to say. He hesitated at first but then he spoke again.

"I've got some... friends out of town. They told me I could get some quick but good money if—"

"Absolutely not." Sara responded without letting him finish his sentence.

"Mom, please, just hear me out." Tears of desperation had formed in his green eyes. "I just have to drive some drugs out of town a few times and I'll get more than I deserve in two months working at the car shop. I have to do this, you know that. We need this money."

"Over my dead body Ethan Dean." She whispered and let go of his hand.

She breaks her stare away from the wall and meets my eyes again.

"I knew he wouldn't listen to me even though I told him to not accept the job. I know my stubborn son. I asked our neighbor to follow him one day, to find out what Ethan was up to. Only to come back a few hours later looking horrified. According to Jimmy, our neighbor, Ethan had met up with a man in his late forties and they," she gulps painfully, "t-they weren't discussing drugs."

Tears fill her red-rimmed eyes once again, rolling down her pale cheeks.

"He had accepted a murder job."

I stop breathing at hearing those words, not even able to imagine how helpless his mom felt back then.

"I knew it was too late and no matter what I did, it's not like I could step out of bed and stop him from going. So, the night of November 21st, he kissed me and Lizzie goodbye, saying his boss needed him in the car shop but he and I both knew he was lying. I prayed that something would make him change his mind about the life changing crime he was about to commit. And somehow, and till this day I still don't know what changed his mind, he did actually come back only half an hour later. That's when I knew there was no way he could have done what he was ordered to do."

She wipes her cheeks with a napkin I handed to her during her story and continues revealing.

"The next day I woke up to someone pounding on the door and yelling "Police!". Ethan woke up confused and looked at me, whispering "Mom I swear I didn't do anything" before he opened the door. They arrested him for a brutal murder on a middle-aged woman the night before. Ethan started yelling he wasn't guilty, not wanting to come back to the police station. But there was evidence against him. They had found blood traces that belonged to the woman on our front door and on some of Ethan's belongings, immediately making him the main suspect. They were able to hold him while building the case and I did not have the money to bail him out. I don't think they would even allow me to, even if I did have the money." She sighs deeply. I take her hands into mine, trying to desperately sooth her while still eagerly listening.

"Autopsy proved the murder had occurred around 9p.m. Ethan came home around 6:30p.m... he must have been set up somehow anyways. Someone made it look like he did it anyways. And now my son, that wouldn't do anyone harm, will die alone in prison after serving his whole life in there."

"Do you remember the name of the man that offered him the job?" I ask while blinking away the stinging in my eyes, trying to put all the pieces together in a desperate manner.

"I remember Jimmy telling me a few similar names, but he wasn't entirely sure. We tried everything to find him, but he hasn't left any traces. We didn't have any clear evidence to prove Ethan's innocence. It was my word as an alibi against DNA evidence." She shakes her head and takes the glass of water I hand to her. "That's pretty much how it all went down, I don't even know if any of this will be of any use to you dear." She gives me an apologetic look.

"It will, it really will." I try to somewhat sooth her worries. As I glance down at the table, I get distracted by my phone lighting up for the tenth time, only to see that a few hours have passed already. I have a few missed calls from Ethan's lawyer, Cole and even my father.

"I'm so sorry, but we should really get going now." I get to my feet and turn towards Sara. "It was really an honor to meet you, Sara. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this. I'll see if I can find any other evidence that'll make his alibi stronger. I promise I'll try to find a way to put this story, the truth, to use." I bent down as she embraces me in a hug, rubbing my back. After letting go, I take out and give her the most recent letter Ethan wrote for them.

Turning to Lizzie, I give her a hug. "And you can make some nice cookies, I've never liked and eaten so many cookies in one sitting, I'm sure of it."

"And I like you. But not as much as Ethan." She whispers with a wink, "You guys will be back, right?"

With yet another blush, I nod, "Of course, but—" I grin sheepishly, "if you make these cookies again."

"I will, I will!" She squeals and joins Lexi and I to walk towards the door. I turn to Sara, wanting to give her another departing smile when I notice she's muttering a bunch of names. My breath hitches as they all sound terribly alike, getting closer to a name I wish I wouldn't hear once more in my life.

"I- I think his name was Ryan." She whispers more to herself than anyone else but all I could hear was one name.

Ryan.

It wasn't a surprise, but a dreadful confirmation of how much more terrible my reality was and is going to get.

And at that moment I could feel my entire world crushing down on me.

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A/N; slightly longer chapter than usual, not sure if i like it though :/ my writing is becoming worse, it feels like. i'm glad you guys somehow still read and enjoy it lol <3 i'm really trying, i've just not been myself for a while now so yeah.

thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed.

please don't forget to vote & comment, i really enjoy reading every single one of them.

— lyra b.