Shifting uncomfortably, he cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, Eden, please go on,” then leaned back against the windshield and began searching the night sky again.
I didn’t think we’d be able to see what we were looking for. How could we? According to Drew, not only was the space station about two hundred and fifty miles above the earth’s surface, but it also traveled as fast as seventeen thousand miles per hour in its orbit around Earth. Reaching over, he tugged on my arm with an affectionate smile.
“You’re too far away,” he said, pulling at the sleeve of my baseball tee a little harder.
Heat rose in my cheeks, and a ball of fuzzy flutter overtook my stomach. I wiggled across the windshield and ended up exactly where I wanted to be—comfortably settled in his arms. Dad was determined to make sure I kept my virginity intact until I was married, by all means necessary. The temptation that was Drew might very well make him fail. With all my physical reactions to his nearness and the presence of my overbearing morals, it made me question my affections and urges. Were they the real deal? What if they were simply Wonderlust, yet another doubt good ol’ Dad had drilled in my head when I was barely starting to look like a woman instead of a young girl. He’d said, “Any feelings you think are love before you turn twenty-one aren’t really love. They’re just lust.” I reined in the lustful, curiosity, and the feeling of shame that quickly followed.
If Dad could hear my thoughts, I’d definitely be a goner. The thought trotted through my mind, and I mentally shivered over the possibility.
But he can’t, and I won’t say anything if you decide to bend his little rule. What’s life without a little rebellion?
I inwardly rolled my eyes and directed my thoughts toward the same place.
Echo, even if you wanted him to, he wouldn’t hear you, because only I can, remember? You exist only in my head. Besides, the reason Dad is so strict is because of what happened to you. He is terrified your history will repeat itself with me. Talk about living in someone else’s shadow. You and I are nothing alike.
You know what they say, Eden, “Great minds...”
At that, I laughed mockingly within the confines of my head. Unlike you, Echo, I’m responsible and think things through. You didn’t then and still don’t.
I am too responsible, Echo whined, and I do think things through. You wouldn’t be here with this boy right now if I hadn’t.
Oh, you did, the resentment I felt toward her rolled through me, sweeping any tact I may have used with her swiftly away, then why are you dead, Echo?
My challenge was met with silence—I sensed her withdraw into the deeper recesses of my mind and instantly felt guilty, something I knew she felt too because of how our emotions were tethered and intertwined.
Placing a kiss atop my head, Drew distracted me from the conflict within. He held me close, and I let the comfort his embrace brought wrap around me. Sighing, I joined him in the hunt and continued with my memory.
“Anyway, the next thing I heard, but just barely above my terrified shrieking, was a man’s deep rolling chuckle. I opened my eyes because I knew that laugh. Staring up at me with a big grin, was my dad. He was holding me above his head at an arm’s length. I didn’t know it at the time the memory was in the making, but he’d been tossing me up and catching me. While that seems harmless enough, it scared the crap out of me. To this day, I still have a horrible fear of heights and am scared to death of falling.”
Drew’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he tried to resist laughing and failed. “That’s a good first memory,” he mused. “Hey, look, there’s the International Space Station. Do you see it?” As I leaned in to rest my head on his shoulder, he pointed to a moving speck of light.
Following the line he was drawing with his finger, I saw it cutting a path through the night sky, not at breakneck speed like a shooting star, but fast enough to stand out. Glancing over, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the goofy look of elation plastered to his face. His enthusiasm for anything beyond the earth’s atmosphere was contagious. Everything inside me went soft as the passion he clearly felt for astronomy shone in his reaction. His obsession burned bright, and it was hard to not love that.
I can see why you're so enamored with him. Echo’s girlish giggle bounced around in my head. He’s not hard to look at either.
Echo, please don’t start—not right now. It was at times like this that I was thankful for the fact that no one else could hear her.
Echo had been in my head for as long as I could remember. It wasn’t until I was three that I told my dad about her. Needless to say, it worried him, and shortly after my fourth birthday, I started seeing Janet, my children’s counselor, twice a week. It was then that my life began its complicated arc. It took Janet four years to finally settle on a diagnosis for me, and even then, she was uncomfortable with it, Dissociative Identity Disorder, otherwise known as Multiple Personality. I suppose it made sense, well kinda. No one condition had ever been able to sum me up,
