He had also never gone to school alone, so this could be why he had never noticed the strangeness of those streets.

They couldn't hear any car noises or people, it was as if they had entered an empty dome.

As they walked, Ethan had the feeling that someone was watching them from a corner of the houses. He tried to ignore it, but with each step they took, the feeling that someone was watching them grew stronger.

Until then, Ethan had the feeling that someone was standing behind them both. Then he looked back and as he did so, Mike did too, without even talking to each other about it.

The two of them stared at the street behind them, and looked at each other, swallowing their saliva dryly, as if to let each other know that they had felt it too.

They looked straight ahead and kept walking, as if nothing had happened. They both tried to look tough, but in reality, they were scared shitless inside.

Ethan was even more scared because he knew that vampires would be coming to town at any moment that week, and would take a victim. He just didn't want to be the victim in this reality. The day had not yet completely cleared up, but it was not dark enough for Ethan to use his abilities. Besides, the day was dubious, so it wouldn't stop any vampires from attacking them.

It was then that on their left side, a garbage can fell over and they could see a figure hiding.

Mike turned white and froze, staring at the garbage can.

Ethan lightly slapped the back of his hand on Mike's chest, causing him to snap back to reality, and just said with wide eyes.

"Mike, we're late for class!". He said loudly, looking deep into Mike's eyes. "Run!" Ethan added.

The two started running, desperately trying to get off that street.

The feeling of someone behind them started to get stronger, it felt like it was running right along with them. The thing was getting closer and closer and making vultures behind their backs. They could clearly feel the sensations of something being on their left side and suddenly teleporting to their right side.

Ethan began to notice that Mike was running out of breath, probably not because of his physique, since Mike played sports constantly, but because he was afraid, and this made his body go limp.

Then Ethan had a plan to get Mike to change his focus.

He started to speed up even more, so that he could pass Mike, who could only focus on the shadows getting close to them.

Ethan turned back as he ran and clearly spotted that figure at their backs. It wasn't something in both of their heads, it was right there.

He pointed at Mike's face and shouted:

"I'm going to beat you, you turd!". And he turned forward, praying that Mike was more proud than afraid.

Hearing this was like a slap in Mike's mind. He changed his expression on the spot, and from frightened, he seemed to be angry.

Mike picked up speed like never before, trying desperately to catch up to Ethan. He was like a hungry wolf running after his prey. Ethan didn't know whether he was running from Mike or from the figure running after them both.

He could have thrown himself to the ground and fainted from exhaustion, but he knew that the shape just hadn't caught up with them yet, because they were serving as some kind of entertainment.

Vampires were bizarrely fast, they could never run away like two normal humans. It just didn't make sense.

Ethan, then, heard the sound of nearby cars honking their horns. He stopped thinking about those things and pushed his body even harder, speeding down the avenue. Mike was behind him, like a lion, with his arm outstretched, trying to pull Ethan's jacket over his head to catch him.

Almost at the end of the street, Ethan could already see the cars. He turned back and saw that the figure had stopped at one of the houses, just watching them from afar.

Ethan started to slow down and when he finally reached the busy street, he felt his jacket being pulled back, knocking his body hard to the ground as something jumped over his head and stopped in front of him, making small jumps in celebration.

"SUCK! WHO'S THE SUCKER NOW? YOU ARE WEAK!" Mike yelled, pointing at Ethan's face. It really seemed like he had forgotten what had just happened.

Ethan got up off the ground, looking back, checking one more time to see if the figure was still there, but he couldn't see him anywhere.

"You stole it, you idiot!". Ethan said, slapping his hands on his clothes to dust them off.

"You didn't stipulate rules! Cry me a river!". Mike said, making bows with his arms, wanting to show that he was stronger and victorious.

Ethan was dying of exhaustion and too confused by what had happened.

If it was a vampire, why didn't it attack them? It was obvious that he was just playing with them both. He wouldn't have to work so hard to catch them both, so Ethan thought for a moment:

- Was that really a vampire? - He thought, crouching down, taking a deep breath. - Reality is different. I have power from the shadows... What if that shit is something different? I think I'm traveling too far," he added, shaking his head from side to side, trying to be more rational.

"But then, what the fuck was that. Did you see it?" Mike asked Ethan, holding out his hand for his friend to lift.

"What?" Ethan played dumb.

"What do you mean 'What'?" Mike asked, looking indignantly at Ethan. "You ran out of nowhere, you saw it too!". Mike added.

"I told us to run because of the schedule!". Ethan said, with a neutral expression on his face.

"Huh? But you looked back at the same time I did!". Mike said, trying to figure out if he was going crazy or not.

"I thought you saw the raccoon coming out of the trash can, too. You didn't?" Ethan said, disguising his real motives.

Mike stood still for a few seconds, staring indignantly at Ethan's face, while Ethan continued with a neutral expression on his face, as if nothing had gone out of the ordinary, when, in fact, Ethan inside was terrified of what had happened.

The two walked to the school, which was already across the street, and pretended that nothing strange had just happened.

Upon arriving, Ethan saw the Cullen family arriving in Emmitt's car. Alice gave him a gentle smile, while Emmitt raised her muscular arm waving frantically at Ethan, with a giant smile on her face.

Ethan giggled, and waved frantically back at Emmitt who was soon nudged by Rosalie, urging him not to be so outrageous.

Mike and Ethan walked over to meet the group they normally walked When they saw Jessica, Ethan approached them and said:

"Hey, good morning! How are you today?" He asked, with a gentle smile.

Jessica looked up at him, her little eyes twinkling.

"I'm fine, how are you? You look tired." She asked him, as she rocked her body from side to side, like a happy little girl.

"I'm fine too." He replied. "Yeah, we rushed here, so we wouldn't be late." Ethan added.

"Here, take it. You can drink it." Jessica said, handing him a small bottle of water she kept in her backpack.

"Oh, so you're going with us to Mike's next week?" Tyler came in, asking Ethan.

"What are you guys doing at Mike's next week?". Angela asked along with Jessica, curious.

"We're going to watch the Seattle Seahawks game. Mike answered, and before they could say anything, he added:

"And there's no point in asking me to go. It's an all-male hangout! No women allowed here!". He said, making fun of their faces.

"Men? So that means you're not going to your own party?" Angela said, making fun of Mike.

"Haha, very funny!". Mike replied with a fake laugh, shrugging.

"Fine, let's have our own girls' party then!". Jessica replied, crossing her arms.

"You guys don't even have any friends, right!". Tyler replied, laughing at the two.

"Well, there's me, Jessica, Olivia from math class, and...". Angela said, thinking.

"And Alice!". Jessica replied, crossing her arms.

Ethan spread his arms and choked on the water he was drinking from Jessica's bottle.

---

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