“Why can’t he Echo, what does he have to lose now? It’s coming up on almost two decades ago!”
Eden, my sweet naive Eden, Don’t you see? Haven’t you been listening? Murder has no statute of limitations, and technically because he didn’t come forth when he had the chance, it makes him a suspect, there’s no way around it? He pretty much dug his metaphorical grave around the same time they were digging my literal one.
I sighed. Now things were starting to make sense. Echo’s overbearing need for secrecy, her absolute fear of Danny’s full identity being discovered. She loved him so much that even in death, she would sacrifice anything for him to keep whatever peace he’d found since she died—even if it meant killing Drew—and hurting me. She was dangerous and I couldn’t trust her. A fleeting thought entered my head and I moved quickly to another train of thought before she caught wind of the one I had just been on. If she knew what I was about to do, I’d probably have another fight of wills on my hands. I needed to distract her if I was going to pull off what I planned on doing.
“Echo, who was the other person in the field?”
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and headed for the bathroom. By the time I got there, Echo still hadn’t answered me. She didn’t need to because her emotions answered for her. I’d hit yet another wall of silence.
“Well, do you at least know who they were? Is it someone you knew personally? Based on what I can tell, I am almost positive that whoever it was, was a member of his family.”
There was more silence as I leaned toward the mirror and surveyed the cut along my jaw, where Drew must have caught me with his class ring. It was dark outside and I prayed that he’d told my dad that I’d fallen asleep. I could feel the sense of confusion swirling around inside of me as Echo mulled over my question. I turned on the cold water and opened the medicine cabinet just as she started answering.
I feel like he knew her. I never even saw her coming. She shot me before she ever walked out of the trees. I’ll never forget the shock and terror that seeped onto Danny’s face. He had no idea of what she’d planned, no clue that I’d come to any harm, let alone die.
I swallowed the pill, and Echo didn’t suspect a thing. I’d been concentrating on the pain in my jaw and head so that she’d assume it was aspirin or some other pain killer I’d taken, but it was my antipsychotic medication, by the same time the next day she would not be able to get past the effects of the medicine enough to control my actions. I couldn’t risk her lashing out at Drew like that again. With the deed done, I shut off the water and ambled downstairs. I could tell by Echo’s undeniable feeling of guilt that she knew I wasn’t happy with her, but then that went without saying. If she’d gotten the upper hand physically with Drew, there was no telling what she might have done—and I didn’t want to think about it.
Eden—I’m so sorry…
“Echo just don’t. There is no forgiving what your intentions had been so, don’t try apologizing because you won’t get the forgiveness you are hoping for.”
I felt the shame first, and it was quickly followed by shock and then anger.
I warned both of you! I told you to keep your noses out of this. You can’t tell me that if Drew was in the kind of trouble that Danny would be in if this got out—that you wouldn’t do anything to keep him safe.
“No Echo, I would do what I could to keep him safe, especially if I knew he was innocent. The keyword there was, ‘I’ as in me. The screwed up thing about this whole thing is you were willing to use me to get what you wanted. You forfeited your ability to protect my coward father when you died in that field.”
It wasn’t like me to be so harsh—so uncensored, even with Echo, but I was mad. She’d betrayed my trust in the worst possible way. Her anger died down, but the guilt and shame remained as she shrunk deeper into the layers of my conscious. I knew I’d be mad for a while and at that moment I wished I had my phone so I could call Drew, but as I walked in the kitchen, I saw something I didn’t expect. Drew and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table with the contents of Echo’s box strewn across its surface. They both glanced up at the same time, a pair of deer caught in headlights not knowing whether to stand their ground or bolt. Dad recovered first and motioned toward one of the two empty chairs.
“Eden, I think you’d better sit down.”
I shifted my gaze to Drew, and he looked like he might throw up.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Drew started to explain. “I know your dad didn’t believe you about Echo, and I promised not to ever tell anyone, but Eden, we are officially in over our damn heads. Your mother just took over your body and tried killing me!”
“It’s okay, Drew,” I said as I sat down in the chair next to him. I just restarted taking my meds, it won’t happen again. By this time next week Echo will barely be a whisper in my mind. Not that dad believes any of this anyway. It’s all in my head—right dad?”
Normally, I wouldn’t be so disrespectful, but I was
