Eden's Echo

the garage shut. The automatic garage door squealed on its tracks, and Dad’s car started up, but I still stayed right where I was. I saw the headlights shine through my window and run across the wall. Only then did I sit up listening. The garage door started closing, and I heard the V8 of Dad’s car fade until it was gone. Only then did I get out of bed. I didn’t switch on the light though, because there was about a fifty percent chance that Dad’s car would be back within ten minutes. Sure enough, seven minutes later, I heard the V8’s rumbling purr pull into the drive and Dad cursing as he came through the front door. I giggled because chances were he’d forgotten his phone—again. I heard the front door shut, and the roar of the engine as Dad screeched tires pulling out of the drive and gunned it down the street. NOW, it was safe to turn the lights on because he was well and truly running late. Dad would be dead set on beating the odds and getting to work on time. Nothing on earth would make him come back home again, short of me calling him. Another twenty minutes passed, and Drew hadn’t shown up, so I grabbed my phone to text him.

Why does he have to be here when you invade my privacy and pillage through my most intimate thoughts and deepest secrets, Eden?

I rolled my eyes. Why did she always have to be so overdramatic? “Because Echo, he's my moral support. I need him in case I find something in that box that makes a difference.” I examined my reflection in the vanity mirror with a critical look, knowing that she could see me doing it. “Why are you so secretive about everything anyway? Why can’t you just tell me what I want to know—deserve to know? It’s wrong that I have to go about things this way because my mother refuses to tell me who my father is!”

Because Eden, this is my life you’re meddling in, it’s none of your damn business what I did or how I felt before you were even born!

I felt the tears sting the back of my eyes. Her words had hurt for reasons I couldn’t even fathom. “Exactly, before I was born, like right before! The things you felt and did, all of which probably had to do with my father. I have a right to know Echo! You’re wrong for selfishly holding memories and knowledge of him from me! In case you haven’t noticed your life ended seventeen years ago so technically I can’t be ‘Meddling’ in it.” It was out of my mouth before I thought it through and I instantly felt remorse.

How dare you! You heartless little bitch!  Echo screamed in my head, and every ounce of regret I felt over my words vanished. I couldn’t believe she called me a bitch.

“Whatever Echo, I’m not the heartless one!” I ignored her hurt emotions as my fingers raced across the screen of my phone.

Me: Where are you?

Drew: Walking.

Me: What? Why are you walking?

Drew: Oh, I don’t know because starting up my loud ass car and leaving at five-thirty in the morning would set off alarms with my mom! She doesn’t leave until five forty-five, so I snuck out.

Me: Oh!

Drew: I can’t believe I climbed out my window! I haven’t done that since I was twelve.

Me: Why are we texting, can’t you just call me?

Less than a minute later, my phone was buzzing in my hand. “So how long do you think it will take you to get here,” I asked.

“Well, good morning to you too sweetheart,” He said sarcastically.

I sighed and glared at the phone. I set it down on the dresser with the speaker on and opened the top drawer. “Excuse the hell out of me,” I giggled, “good morning sunshine!”

“To answer your question, according to my phone, it is 3.4 miles from my house in Kriggs to your house in Calester. The average human walks 3.1 miles per hour. I’d say it’ll take me just over an hour.”

I stopped midway through pulling a blue T-shirt over my head and stared at the phone in disbelief. “You’re walking from Kriggs? You have to walk on the highway to get here. Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m not crazy, and no, I don’t. I’m taking Electric Avenue to Calester,” He said as I heard the wind from a passing car flood his phone mic.

“Are you on Electric now,” I asked.

“Yeah, why,” he asked, confused.

“I’m on my way.”

Before he could say anything, I hung up. I hopped into my shorts and wiggled them up then ran downstairs to the garage, not even bothering to put on a pair of shoes. I waited for the garage door and pulled out. Driving through town, I eventually turned down the street that would take me past our high school and put me on the access road leading to Electric Avenue. When I reached the intersection, I saw him walking on the overpass, the highway below him buzzing with activity. When he spotted me waiting at the stop sign, he ran the rest of the way. I had to admit he looked damn good when he ran. Drew wasn’t the most popular boy in school. He wasn’t the star quarterback on the football team or the point guard on the basketball team. Not every girl in the school swooned over our baseball team’s pitcher, but he had his fair share of hopeful admirers. His shoulder-length hair flowed behind him as he ran and then swung around to whip him in the face when he came sliding to a stop at the passenger side door.

“Hey, thanks for the ride. You didn’t have to come and get me, though,” he said with a smirk as he slid into the seat. “You wouldn’t