Depressed

Depressed is the twelfth chapter of Season One. It is a prequel to The Soft Voice, and together they make the third two-parter in Mind of Ezra.

Read
As Ezra woke up the next day, he felt more at ease than usual. His new enemy, Muhammad, was now behind bars and hadn't once again appeared in his dream. He wasn't a threat to him at the moment. But although this would've been enough reason why to smile, but Ezra found that he wasn't able to, since the fact that Dane wasn't at his side when he had needed him the most made him quite depressed.

Dane had always been there for him, but lately Ezra felt as if someone else had taken over his friend's body since he wasn't himself any more. Dane had believed him when in middle school he had been accused of stealing although he hadn't done it. Dane had been by his side when Ezra was dumped by his first girlfriend and felt really depressed about it. But now, as the most evil person he had ever met was a part of their lives, Dane didn't believe him! The fact that there was enough reason for him to now believe that he was right, didn't really satisfy Ezra. Dane was his best friend! He should have believed him without proof!

Not at all excited, Ezra got dressed, took his brown leather bag that had the knife and pepperspray in it. Since his enemy had been put away, Ezra had decided to put his dad's gun back in the drawer. He had had enough of the bad turn his life had taken lately, and decided he didn't want to get in any more trouble. But he couldn't depart from his knife. That little instrument of pain had been given to him by Dane. The knife had a wooden hande, and it's edges had been decorated with metal. It also had a few carvings on the blade as well.

As Ezra went to school that day, he was late to his first class, which was mathematics. Since the teacher, Mr. Ignatius, wasn't a strict teacher, Ezra didn't really get in much trouble at all. He simply asked him to take a seat and write down the equation on the board. When he had done that, Ezra looked at his right, and noticed that Dane's usual seat to his right was empty.

That's strange, Ezra thought to himself. But maybe it was better this way: he didn't really want to be criticized by Dane again, especially now that he was having such a depressing day. For the rest of the class, he didn't really pay attention to what his teacher was saying. The next classes, History and English, passed even faster. Ezra felt a bit guilty for not concentrating enough. But he had so many other things to think about and it was very hard to focus on anything else. Dane hadn't appeared in all of the classes, which was a bit strange since he hadn't been absent for the whole day in a long while. Still, Ezra decided he wouldn't worry too much about him: he was probably fine. And it was Dane that needed to make the effort if he still wanted to be friends.

After school, Ezra called his father who picked him up in front of the school and drove him to Butch's gun store. “It's not going to take very long,” Ezra said as he left the car, “I just want to talk to the shopkeeper.” “Still want to be a detective, eh?” his father asked with a weird smirk on his face. It was if he was about to laugh at him, mocking him for the profession he had chosen for his life. “Yes!” Ezra said with an annoyed look on his face, got out of the car and slammed the door. Mr. White opened a window of the car. “Well, don't get yourself in any trouble again!” he yelled at his son who was about to walk into the gunstore. “And stop slamming that door like that, because your mother is going to kill me even if there is a scratch somewhere!”

Withound responding, Ezra went into the store. He found Ashton Butch behind the counter with an annoyed expression on his face. It seemed that the life of a shopkeeper, especially if the store was in the outskirts of the town, wasn't generally that much fun. When Ashton noticed him, he got even more annoyed. “You again!” he shouted. “I already told you: I know nothin'!”

“Well, you must know something.” Ezra said. “That's probably why you were shot!” “Who are you anyway?” Butch asked, getting more annoyed by the minute. “A detective? Or wait, maybe you're a snooper for one of those newspapers! Well, I have had those people on my tail since I was shot and I'm tired of it. Get out!” “I'm not a snooper.” Ezra said. “I don't even want to work as a journalist!”

“Well, what are you doin' here then?” asked Butch, a bit confused. “I ain't gonna sell you a gun if that's what you're here for!” “No.” Ezra said. “I want to know why you were shot. The detective, Pierre D'Amour who inspected your shooting was just killed. Near his dead body was a paper which had the words “Three artifacts” written on it. Do you know anything about that?” “Dad burn it! What do you want from me?” Ashton asked. “The man who shot me wanted a grenade or sump'n! I ain't got airy more information!” Ezra smiled. “I've got all the information I needed. Thanks!” He left the strore without another word, leaving behind Butch with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Well, mister Sherlock Holmes, what did you find out then?” his father asked with an amused expression as Ezra got back into the car.

“Nothing special really.” Ezra responded. “Drive me to the Police Station. I need to see that detective who visited us a few days ago.” His dad chuckled a bit as he turned on the engine and drove away from the gun store. In about half an hour when they were back in the city centre, he stopped in front of the Police Station. After getting out of the car, Ezra went straight to Ben Walden's office. This time, the detective was there, talking on the phone. With his left hand that wasn't holding the phone, he pointed to the empty chair opposite him. Ezra sat down and waited until he finished his conversation. “Well hello, Ezra,” Ben said when he had finished talking on the phone. “How can I help you?” Ezra showed him a piece of paper. “I found this near to detective D'Amours dead body and I might now what one of the artifacts is.” He handed the paper to Walden who examined it for a few seconds. “I'm not exactly sure what that means.” Walden said. “But I'm glad you came to me. This might help us understand why Muhammad Praveen did what he did.” “I heard he got arrested this morning.” Ezra said. “Thank you for believing me! I've felt like a lunatic lately since no one believed me when I said Muhammad was guilty.” “You are welcome.” Walden said, smiling. “I do think of myself as someone who can tell if he's being lied to. However you, my friend, have the most honest eyes I've ever seen.” He once again looked at the paper Ezra had just given him. “It seems that Muhammad Praveen had a bigger plan than we thought. We better find out what those three artifacts are, and find them. If you get any more information, be sure to contact me.” “I will.” Ezra responded. “I think I will head home now. My dad is waiting outside and is probably going to get suspicious if I stay too long. I will call you soon.” He stood up, as did detective Walden, and they shaked hands. “Thank you for giving me that information.” Walden said. “You can always call me if you need to.” “Thanks!” Ezra said, heading out the office and feeling much happier than in the morning. But as he stepped out of the front door of the Police Station, he felt something vibrate in his pocket. It was his phone, once again playing the ringtone of Lord Voldemort. It was a blocked number calling. A bit suspicious at first, Ezra answered the phone after a few seconds. “Hello?” he said. “Who is this?” “Stop investigating.” a voice said. It was the creepiest voice he had ever heard: soft and light and omnious at the same time. “Who are you?” Ezra asked, getting more frightened by the minute. “I have your friend at gunpoint.” the voice respnded and laughed. “He has such lovely red hair and blue eyes. I think I will enjoy killing him very much.”

Trivia

 * This episode introduces a new villain.

Characters

 * Ezra White
 * Damon White
 * Ashton Butch
 * Ben Walden
 * Muhammad Praveen (indirect)
 * Dane Young (indirect)