Chapter 18 - A Memory??

*Bham!*

"Ethan!"

Suddenly the door of Ethan's room opened with a bang, and to his surprise, it was his mother.

"Mom?" Ethan mumbled with a dumbfounded look, wondering why his mother suddenly rushed into his room.

"Ethan! Are you f—" Lena rushed in with a worried expression when she suddenly froze upon noticing something strange.

Ethan saw how his mother's worried expression suddenly changed into one of shock and…fear?

He followed her gaze and saw that his mobile and laptop were floating in the air!

'Shit!' Ethan realized that his powers might have gone a bit out of control upon having a bad dream, and he must have unconsciously activated his powers. He quickly focused as he brought them down while saying, "Mom, I actually can explain—"

But to his horror, when he turned his head around to look at her, his body froze in shock upon seeing his mother pointing a gun at him!

"M-Mom…?" Ethan was unable to process what was going on upon seeing his mother suddenly take out a gun from nowhere and point it at him with a wary and frightened expression. Why would she look at her own son like that?

"Y-You…killed my son…you vile monster…" Lena's eyes began to become watery as tears rolled down her sunken cheeks. However, her hand was tightly gripping onto the silver pistol in her hand, and her finger was already squeezing on the trigger.

Ethan was even more shocked hearing her words, wondering what came over his mother to utter things that didn't even make sense.

"Mom! It's me! Please put down the gun…you are freaking me out…" Ethan raised his hand defensively, gesturing to her to lower her gun. But just to be safe, he already began to focus on the gun to make sure he had a hold over it so that she wouldn't accidentally fire it.

He didn't want to believe his mother would shoot at her own son, but right now, she didn't seem to be stable, and he didn't want to take any chances till he understood what was going on with her.

"Stop lying, you evil thing! Do you think I will get fooled twice?" Lena fumed as she gripped her gun with both her hands, though they never stopped trembling. She just didn't want to believe her son was gone.

Ethan was rapidly breathing as he quickly wondered how to defuse this tense and confusing situation. But finally, he couldn't think of a better solution as he motioned with his hand to pull the gun towards him.

Lena felt the gun squirming within her grip, making her feel as if she was losing her grip on it, and the thought of squeezing the trigger before she lost the gun did flash in her mind.

But memories of her happy times with her son flashed in her mind, and looking at his face before her, she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. And the next moment, she could only helplessly watch the gun fly away from her hand and land in Ethan's hand, making her expression turn into one of despair and hopelessness.

"Ethan…I…am sorry…It's all my fault…" Lena sobbed as she fell on her knees and lowered her head as if preparing herself to die.

Ethan immediately threw away the gun as he rushed towards his mother and tried to pull her up.

"Don't touch me, you monster!" Lena said in a stone-cold tone as she tried to push him away.

"Mom, stop it! Why do you keep calling me a monster when I am still your son? Please pull yourself together and stop worrying me to death!" Ethan clenched his jaw as he overpowered her to grab her hands together and gripped them firmly to make sure she listened to his words.

Lena suddenly stopped fighting back as she looked into his dark brown eyes, and contrary to what she thought, those eyes were only filled with worry, confusion, and sadness. It wasn't filled with hidden malice nor evil as she thought.

"E-Ethan…it's really you…" Lena cupped his face and felt as if a heavy weight was lifted off from her heart.

Ethan's eyes had also turned misty, but he nodded with a tight-lipped smile, feeling relieved upon seeing that his mother finally recognized him as she was supposed to.

He slowly pulled her up as he cleared his throat and asked, "Mom…can you now at least tell me why you called me a monster? Is it because you saw that I had powers? Did that freak you out or something?" Ethan couldn't help but feel immensely worried, as if his worst fears were already a reality. He was already feeling sad, thinking that his powers made his mother react like that.

Lena wiped her eyes and held his hands as she said in a brittle tone, "I am sorry…I…I just lost it when I suddenly saw you having powers…and it was not only because of that I acted like that. I just assumed things wrongly, and if you really were the monster I was talking about, I wouldn't even be alive, talking to you like this."

"Huh…mom, I-I don't know what you are talking about. I am kind of feeling very confused and lost here," Ethan said with a perplexed expression, wondering what his mother was talking about, especially this 'monster'.

He couldn't understand how his powers had something to do with this monster his mother was talking about.

Lena took a deep breath and said, "Before I explain things, tell me when did you start having powers, and why did you never tell me?"

Ethan felt at a loss for words before letting out a sigh as he said, "It's not because I wanted to hide things from you, mom. But I was afraid you would freak out just like how you acted a minute ago. Besides…I only got this power right after I came back from college. Mom…do you know something about what is going on with me? And why did you even come to my room at this time in the first place?" Ethan felt as if his mother knew something about his powers based on her words and expression.

"You were screaming at the top of your voice, and I got very worried. That is why I rushed here. And I know you have some questions but bear with mother first and tell me what made you scream like that?" Lena asked with narrowed eyes.

Ethan didn't want to worry her even more by telling her that he had a bad dream because of what happened today where a thug pulled a gun on him and casually said, "It was just a nightmare, mom. Nothing to worry about."

"A nightmare?? Really?" Lena asked as she shook his hands with visible shock and dread, making Ethan even more confused.

However, before he could ask anything, Lena suddenly asked, "Tell me the truth, Ethan. Did something dangerous happen to you today where things could have taken a very bad turn but didn't? Don't hide anything from me no matter what because this is very important."

Ethan could see how serious his mother was, and after a few moments of hesitation, he quickly explained to her what happened at Nolan's house today.

"You stood in front of a gun? How could you do something so dangerous, Ethan?! Do you have any idea—"

"Mom, relax! I have the power to control metal just like you saw now. That thug wouldn't be able to shoot at me anyway, and I had to make sure nothing happened to Sui and Nolan. Now, mom…tell me, why are you asking me these things? What does it have to do with anything—"

"This nightmare you saw…did you see the same event taking place where the thugs showed up at Nolan's house and tried to take away Sui? But unlike how things took place for you, in your nightmare, things didn't turn out well but instead, either Sui or Nolan ended up dying or maybe both or…something even worse happened. Am I right?" Lena asked with squinted eyes, making Ethan look at her with a blinking expression.

'How the hell does she know? Is she like a psychic?' Ethan felt bewildered and asked in a tone of disbelief, "Mom…how the heck did you know that? Was it some kind of educated guess or…"

Lena closed her eyes briefly as if something very disappointing happened before she said with a sigh, "Because…the nightmare you saw was not just a bad dream…but a memory...."