Chapter Sixty

“Mum. Mummm!!!” , Ethan called as soon as he stepped foot in the house. The whole house was silent. An unusual, uncanny silence.

“Mum?”, He called again, heading up the stairs.

He knocked on his mother's room door.

“Dad?”

Ethan placed a hand on the door. The door swung slowly as it opened. His father was in the room, doing what seemed like packing.

“Good day Father”, he greeted immediately.

“Ethan”, Starling responded, in a slow way.

“How are you doing, son?”

“I’m great, Dad. Umm… I was looking for Mum”

Starling took more than a moment to reply.

“Come in”

Ethan walked in and the swing hinge door swung closed. There was something that didn't seem quite right about his father's demeanour.

He'd seen right. His father was parking. And his mother's stuff were the ones in the box. At least if there was one thing he recognized in that box, it was the uniquely shaped perfume she'd gotten from her trip in Saudi Arabia - the Aladdin lamp. He knew it so well because he'd often stolen a few spra