No one is as first seen. Everybody has that never released personality that even the person carrying it doesn't know.
That's because we don't want ourselves and others to penetrate that real self that's locked in the cages of our minds. Why?
We just wanna create the illusion of being secure.
It's engraved into the core of our brain, buried in the thick layers of blood, skin, and tissue.
The invisible shell of the human soul.
But the mind is fragile and so is every man and woman and child. And sometimes in the deepest, angriest, and happiest of moments that fragility becomes stronger and breaks the cocoon....
Ethan broke the eerie silence that had captivated the night and said.
"Do we exist"
"Yes we do, wtf is up with you Ethan"
"I don't know, I feel like I'm not real" Ethan placed both his hand on his head, touched the temples with his fingers, and started rubbing them.
"Then let me ask you, do you get hungry"
"Yes"
"Do you get thirsty?"
"Yes" doubt
"Do you get tired?"
"Yes"
"Do you get lonely"
"I guess so" Ethan thought about all the games he used to play as a kid with his friends. He remembered that time where he fell down a bruised his knee. His mother was there to help him and bandage it down. He wanted to say yes.
He felt as if was falling into the abyss of darkness and despair, and he was never getting back out.
"Then you are real." Nathan said.
That answer replicated the brightness of freedom and the endless darkness finally had a crack of light for Ethan to chase upon. The feeling of suffocation that he was feeling dissipated, and a breeze of fresh air entered his lungs.
Nathan resumed speaking.
"Never forget that i know every thought and every feeling you've ever experienced. And that's because I'm that thought and feeling"
"I know, thank you..." Ethan said smiling widely showing his teeth.
"And don't forget everytime you're gonna beat yourself up because of the fucked up life and circumstances we live in , I'm gonna be there to make you think about something else."
...
The circumstances were horrible indeed.
Ethan lived on the second floor of a five-story building, in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country.
His apartment was very small and almost resembled a square. The living room connected with a small kitchen where he would cook.
Next to the left wall was the tv that was standing up on a dresser where he would place all his clothes.
In front of the TV was a sofa bed that he could adjust during the day and night according to his mood.
His Sister had given him that as a present many years ago, and he never let anything happen to it. Always opened it slowly and never left the chips crusts pollute it.
On the right side of the apartment there was a small cubicle bathroom.
It had a WC and a shower head, both of which were on the left side.
Directly ahead of the entrance of the bathroom, there was a mirror and a sink. On top of the sink, there was a generic white soap and toothbrush that stood next to a cheap brand of toothpaste that did the job.
Stepping right back into the living room you could see that the apartment door and a small window standing right in front with each other, just between the left and the right wall.
Ethan would look out of that window, and see a man in the next building right before him.
He kept the blinds shut, but the faded silhouette of him behind the then was always visible, at any time of the day or night.
It was as if he never rested.