11 Days

THE MORE YOU KNOW

By October 15, things seemed to return to normal and the people of Quiet Gate were no longer gossiping about the crimes that had occurred in the town. Carla was still a bit dismayed, Joey spent a lot of time in the store with her and the diner was run by Tony now, who did an excellent job, always making sure that both Maven and I were comfortable and safe. Apparently both bodies were still in the morgue, we all thought that maybe it was because they were locating the families but Joey told us that none of the victims had relatives so when the police finished with the investigation, they would incinerate the bodies and the ashes they would be placed inside a private mausoleum. And about the blood ... it turned out to be pig. Some psychopath had bought liters and liters of pig's blood to play a tremendous joke in bad taste on Carla; the police ruled out that it could be the same person who committed the murders. Although nothing strange or macabre had happened anymore, the police were still making rounds and there were patrols outside my building. That morning, I called my baby brother and he told me that my things had arrived at the P.O. Box and they were ready to be picked up, I couldn't go get them so I asked Joey to pick them up for me. Later that day, Joey not only came back with my new toys, he went through the trouble of activating my new cell phone and getting everything ready for me in the apartment. When Joey handed me the cell phone, it didn't take long for me to get acquainted with it, and at lunchtime I called my brother.

“What?!” Matt's disconcerted voice echoed against my ear, I had to move the cell phone away a bit and rub my ear. "Tell me that’s a joke, Aviana!"

I barely ate, the best thing I came up with during my lunch break was making stick people out of my fries as we talked. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you.” I groaned popping a fry into my mouth, reluctantly I chewed on it. “I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss.”

“You didn't mean to tell me? How do you expect me to react to knowing that two people have been murdered in your town and not only is that, but they also lived in your building?” I was certainly glad I chose to not tell him about the man Echo supposedly saw in my apartment the other night. “You need to come home, Aviana. You've already been away for a long time.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” I said through clenched teeth. How dare he? “I'm not going to go back there, ever. What if he finds me, huh? What will happen if he finds out that I came back? I'm not going to risk you guys safety that way.”

Matt sighed; he was exasperated. “It’s been two years since we received a letter from him. He knows you’re not here anymore. He probably got tired of waiting and moved on to another poor girl.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Aviana…”

“Think what you will but I am staying here, okay?” I didn't like arguing with Matt about my personal relationships but maybe if he understood, he could understand that this was a good thing for me. “I've started dating again, more kinda. And I like him, okay? I would like to have the opportunity to continue getting to know him before running away from here just because my eighteen-year-old brother doesn't think I can be here on my own.”

“You know what? f**k it.” And then the line went dead. I tried calling Matt back but to no avail.

When I left the diner that night, Echo was waiting for me again dressed completely in black and leaning against his car. I hurried up and threw myself against him, hooking my arms around his neck and pressing my body against his. "Have I ever told you how good you look in black clothes?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "but you also look great without them." Echo surprised me by spanking me, forcing a yelp from me. I looked around to make sure no one had seen anything and to my luck Maven and Tony were still inside the diner. "Why did you do that!" He shrugged and gave me another spanking, this time I moaned softly. “Alright, how about you take me home, dark and dangerous?” When we got to my apartment, Echo came in first and checked my room, kitchen, and bathroom. He insisted on doing that every time I came from somewhere, even though there were two policemen downstairs standing guard. "You don't need to do that, Echo. Everything is fine." I murmured against his lips, letting him push me back against the front door. "There is something I want to show you." I didn't give him time to react and I bit his bottom lip before running off to my room. And there was my new laptop, with an iPad, headphones bigger than my head and the chargers right next to them. Joey had laid everything on my bed, and I was excited to use them. I sighed when I felt Echo push at me from behind, his hands wasting no time snaking under my blouse to play with my breasts. “How was your day, though?” I moaned when he bit down on my lobe. “That good, huh?” He bit me once more and then sat me down on the bed.

I had fun.

“You did? Wait… what have you been doing lately? It never occurred to me to ask, I always thought you just stayed home and slept all day.”

No sleep. Shelter.

My eyes widened in surprise; not once did I expect he would be spending his time at the shelter. “You’re working full time?”

Yes. He signed; his smile so utterly adorable. I like it.

“Echo, that is wonderful! I am happy for you.”

Me too. Sam is great.

“Yeah she is, she can be a little bit intense sometimes, but she always means well.” And she did. Which reminded me of Matt's words, I knew he cared about me and didn't want anything to happen to me, but he was still a kid. It shouldn't be your responsibility to take care of me or watch over me. Echo sat down next to me, sagging the bed a little. When I turned my head towards him, his gaze was that of a worried man, all traces of happiness were gone. "Sorry."

What is it?

“I don’t know if I should tell you.” He scowled. “But I guess maybe is not so bad for you to know these things.”

Tell me, Aviana.

“I have a brother three years younger than me, and he cares about me and just wants me to be happy. I love him very much, more than anyone in this world and I miss him terribly, Echo, because I haven't seen him for five years.” I felt myself breaking from inside.

Such a long time. He licked his lips and went on. Why so long?

"Because I was supposed to be safe here from all evil and when I told him about the murders, he worried about me and asked me to come home." For a while neither of us said anything, we just stared at each other and I feared for him to leave at that moment but thankfully he didn’t. When Echo finally asked me if I would do it and I said no he asked me why. It was at that moment that I felt my face moisten and my vision clouded, my whole body trembled with the force of my crying and everything I had been saving for so long came out of me. Word after word of a story that was only mine to tell and at that moment there was only Echo to hear it.