Chapter 4: What Happened to my Life?

As I step through the swirling portal, the courtyard of Kamar-Taj unfolds before me. It's serene, peaceful—exactly the kind of place that makes you feel like you should be meditating or learning ancient wisdom.

The Ancient One stands by a wooden bench, her calm gaze piercing me in a way that's both unsettling and comforting. She gestures for me to sit, and I oblige.

"I've brought you here," she begins, "not to force you into a path, but to offer you understanding of the road ahead. The powers you've inherited are rare, dangerous. Left unchecked, they will attract attention."

I shift uncomfortably on the bench. "I get it, but… I don't want any of this right now. I've already got enough on my plate, and I kinda just want to live like a normal teenager for a while."

She smiles, a knowing glint in her eyes. "Normalcy is a precious thing. But you are not normal, Ethan. The universe will not wait for you to be ready. It will come to you, whether you embrace it or not."

"Yeah, well… Stan is helping me. He's got things under control, at least for now. The Dreaming is safe, and if something goes wrong, he'll let me know." I offer a weak smile, trying to dodge her piercing stare.

The Ancient One tilts her head slightly. "The One Above All, may indeed shield your dimension from prying eyes, but you must not mistake his help for your protection. He has his duties, and so do you. You, alone, must grow into the potential you now possess."

"I just need more time," I say, standing up. "Time to figure this all out."

She pauses for a moment, then nods. "Time is something I can give you, Ethan. But know this—when the time comes to act, hesitation can cost you more than you realize."

With a wave of her hand, the portal swirls back to life, leading to my living room once more. I glance at her one last time, a strange mix of gratitude and apprehension stirring in my chest.

"Thank you," I say quietly, stepping through the portal and into the familiar surroundings of my house.

After Ethan steps through the portal, finding himself back in his living room, he hears a familiar voice. "Hey, Ethan! Can we play your PS3? I've been waiting for you!"

He spins around and sees Luke standing by the couch with an expectant grin.

"Luke? When did you get here?" Ethan asks, a little startled by how quickly things shifted.

"I've been here for like five minutes. Your door was unlocked, so I let myself in. By the way, how did you just... appear? I didn't hear the door or anything."

Ethan quickly fumbles for a response. "Uh, I... I came in through the back door, must've been real quiet."

Luke squints, clearly not buying it but too excited by the prospect of video games to dig deeper. "Anyway, you in? Let's play before Mom makes me go to bed."

Just as Ethan is about to respond, a voice interrupts them from outside. "Luke? Where are you?" Claire's voice echoes, followed by the creak of Luke's window being opened.

Both boys freeze as Claire leans out, peering into Ethan's yard. "Wait, how are you with Ethan already? I knocked on his door earlier, and no one was home."

Ethan chuckles nervously. "I was probably out for a bit. Didn't hear you, Mrs. Dunphy."

Claire eyes him with curiosity but doesn't press further. "Alright, Luke, come back inside soon. It's getting late." She glances once more at Ethan before retreating, her brow furrowed slightly.

'Phew! I'm glad she didn't press the issue any further or I might have spilled the beans'

I'm still catching my breath after Claire's sudden intrusion, trying to calm the strange tension that always builds when someone gets too close to the truth.

Luke's oblivious grin pulls me back into reality. "So... PS3?" he asks, holding up a controller like nothing weird just happened.

I smile, shaking off the nerves. "Yeah, let's do it."

We settle in, starting up an old favourite—LittleBigPlanet. For a while, the game's colorful chaos makes everything feel… normal again. As the characters on screen bounce and swing through fabric-like landscapes, I let myself sink into the ordinary moment, grateful that Luke is too wrapped up in the game to ask any more questions.

Halfway through the second level, the door swings open, and there's Phil, hands on his hips, like he's about to give a dramatic speech. "Luke! Claire said it's bedtime! You gotta—"

He stops mid-sentence when he sees the screen. His expression instantly shifts from stern dad to overgrown child. "Oh man, I love this game. You got room for one more player?"

Luke and I exchange amused glances.

"Dad! Mom said I had to come back!" Luke protests weakly, but it's clear that even he's not totally against staying a bit longer.

Phil shrugs. "Well, it's important to have balance in life, right? And what better way to unwind than a little father-son bonding time? Come on, it's only a few more minutes."

I laugh, grabbing a spare controller and tossing it to him. "Alright, Mr. Dunphy, let's see what you've got."

We're halfway through the next level when Claire's voice shatters the temporary peace. "PHIL? What are you doing?!"

I glance over my shoulder to see Claire standing at the door, arms crossed, her expression somewhere between exasperation and disbelief. Phil freezes, clearly caught red-handed. Luke goes pale like he's about to be grounded for life.

Phil slowly turns to face her, holding up his hands defensively. "I was just... uh, supervising. You know, making sure they don't stay up too late."

Claire steps into the room, giving him the look. "Right. Supervising. While holding a controller?"

Phil tries to play it cool, but even he knows there's no winning here. "Okay, fine! Maybe I got a little carried away, but they were on such a good level!"

Claire sighs, shaking her head in disbelief, but I can see her fighting back a smile. She's obviously annoyed but used to Phil's antics.

"Luke, let's go. It's way past your bedtime," she says, walking over to pull him up from the couch.

Luke groans but complies, giving me a wave as they head toward the door. "See you tomorrow, Ethan!"

Phil lingers for a second, looking longingly at the paused game. "Rain check, Ethan?"

I nod, chuckling. "Sure thing, Mr. Dunphy."

As they leave, Claire shoots me one last curious glance before closing the door behind her. I let out a long breath, slumping back into the couch.

Claire's back on the couch, arms crossed as she talks directly to the camera, still a bit flustered from earlier.

"Okay, so, we've been down this road before with Phil. 'Supervising' almost always means 'getting carried away and turning into a big kid.' But that's not the part that's bugging me."

She frowns, leaning in slightly.

"It's Ethan. I mean, I know teenagers can be all moody and mysterious, but there's something off here. Earlier, no one was home when I knocked. I'm sure of it. And then, all of a sudden, he's just there with Luke, like he appeared out of nowhere!"

Claire pauses, her brow furrowing as she thinks things over.

"And another thing—Ethan just lost his aunt. And from what I remember, they were close. So, why does he seem... fine? I mean, if it were me, I'd be an emotional wreck! But Ethan? It's like he's carrying on like nothing happened. I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't add up."

She looks straight into the camera, determination shining in her eyes.

"And I'm going to figure out what it is."

I breathe out a sigh of relief as the door clicks shut. "Man, that was close," I mutter under my breath. Claire's sharp, too sharp sometimes. One wrong move, and she'll have more questions than I can answer.

But for now? I'm just glad the night's over.

I wake up and blink at the ceiling, groggy but… confused. Something's off. I didn't enter The Dreaming last night. Normally, I get drawn in the moment I close my eyes, but not this time. Did I somehow stop it? Am I learning to control it?

I sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Well, I guess that's one less thing to deal with right now." But still, it leaves a weird feeling in the back of my mind. I'll have to figure that out later.

I'm munching on some cereal when Claire's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Ethan, you're coming with us again today," she says, putting on her jacket and grabbing her car keys.

"Wait, what?" I try to sound surprised, but honestly, I should've seen this coming.

"As long as you don't have a convenient way to get to school," she gives me that stern mom-look, "you'll ride with us."

I open my mouth to argue but think better of it. "Fine," I mutter. Luke's already grinning ear to ear.

"Awesome! This is gonna be fun!" he says, clearly thrilled with the arrangement.

Haley's too absorbed in her phone to care, thumbs flying across the screen as she texts. Alex, meanwhile, rolls her eyes. "Ugh, again?"

She crosses her arms, acting annoyed, but there's something about the way she glances at me that suggests she doesn't really mind.

I grab my bag and follow them to the car, bracing myself for another chaotic morning ride.

When we pull up to school, Alex practically bolts out of the car. "I've got to get to class," she calls over her shoulder.

"There's still like 30 minutes before class," I say, raising an eyebrow.

She just waves, disappearing into the building like she's got somewhere important to be.

Luke lingers by the car, watching me with a hopeful expression. "Maybe we can hang out after school?" he suggests.

I pat him on the shoulder. "We'll see, buddy."

Before I can say more, a familiar voice calls out, "Ethan! Over here!"

I turn to see Zoey Deutch, beaming as she approaches. "Hey, Zoey. What's up?"

"Not much. Just wondering why you're still slumming it here in middle school," she says, smirking. "You know you could skip to high school already."

I shrug. "Not in a rush. Besides, middle school's not so bad. I'll think about skipping next year."

She laughs. "You're too chill for your own good, you know that?"

We walk side by side towards the entrance when she brings up the upcoming talent show. "So, you

doing anything for the talent show this year?" Zoey asks, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm planning to impersonate Michael Jackson. Singing, dancing, the whole routine."

Her eyes widen. "No way! That's awesome. I'm doing a dramatic monologue, following in my mom's footsteps." She smiles a little too proudly, and I remember who her mom is—Lorraine Baines from Back to the Future. Well, technically, Lea Thompson, but it's still wild.

"Your mom's a legend," I say, grinning. "I bet you'll kill it."

Zoey rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah, well, let's hope the middle school crowd appreciates my theatrical brilliance." She strikes an exaggerated dramatic pose, making me laugh.

"I'm sure they will," I say. "It'll be a tough crowd after my moonwalk, though."

We joke a bit more about our talent show plans before parting ways to head to class. But as I walk away, I can't help but feel excited about the show. I've been practicing for weeks, and I know I'll nail the performance.

*Ethan's Commentary*

The scene cuts to a shot of me in my room, watching Billie Jean performances on repeat. The iconic beat echoes through the room as I mimic Michael Jackson's moves with ridiculous precision—each spin, each kick, each shoulder pop.

I glance at the camera and grin. "Didn't think you'd catch me practicing, huh?" I say, walking towards the camera like I own the room.

But just as I'm about to finish my cool exit, my foot slips, and I stumble forward, almost face-planting. I pop back up, trying to play it off with a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, uh… that wasn't part of the routine."

*Commentary End*

A blonde lady can be seen sneaking around. It's Claire Dunphy.

'Hmm, I need to check this place to make sure Ethan's not doing anything sketchy to avoid dealing with the loss of his aunt.' Claire thought, her motherly instincts says that they're something fishy going on with Ethan, and she is right about that, but her assumptions are hundred percent wrong.

'If I was a teenager, where would I hide my weed?' 

She then proceeded to enter Ethan's room and noticed how immaculate Ethan's room is.

"For a teenage boy, he's quite tidy. Good for him." Claire said to herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that one place seems messy and it is Ethan's desk. She saw a suspicious looking folded paper and thinking that it was the weed, she opened it and what she read surprised her. 

"So that's why"

At that moment, something fell out of Ethan's desk and Claire's eye widened. 

A suspicious sachet of white powder.

'Ugh, what happened to my life?' 

That was all I can think of when we were doing PE. Since I missed it last week, our teacher decided that I should make up for it by doing more exercises than anybody. Does he know that overexerting energy would make troubles for a growing child like me? 

*Ethan looked to the skies acting cute praying to the One-Above-All to stop this madness*

"Wilson! Finish your sets already or I'm adding more to it" Shouted my PE teacher which made me do the exercises like my life depends on it. 

At that moment, Zoey came over to gloat since she was allowed to skip PE with the reason that she's having cramps, which is total bahooey.

"Hehe! You have to exercise more and I don't."

"At least I won't have to worry about gaining weight if I eat a lot later. I hear that we'd be having pizza in the cafeteria today and they also added desserts. Mmm! Just thinking about it is making me hungry."

Two of which are Zoey's favourite food, and she just pouted.

"Hmph!"

Zoey then decided that she should just seat on the bleachers and steer clear of me for now to avoid more teasing.

The rest of the day flew by and now it's time to go home. Alex was nowhere to be found so I assumed she's already at the car. When I get to the parking lot, I was surprised to see that it was Phil that's picking us up.

"Hey, Vitamin E! Ready to go?"

"Uh, yes, I am! Where's Claire, by the way?"

"Oh, she's at home. Didn't said why, but she sound shaken up when she called me to pick you guys up."

'Huh? I wonder why that could be.'

The drive back home was quite fun with Phil making some jokes here and there, but I didn't expect what I was going to find when I get back home.

Everything was normal until we get off from the car and I get inside my house. When I opened my door, I find Claire sitting on my sofa with white powder in her hands.

"We need to talk, Ethan."

*to be continued*