Page 90 of Juliet's Echo

I held my hand up. Not wanting to be touched. Mega, who visibly hated himself right now, needed to finish.

“When I got home, I asked my parents about it. We weren't from Havenbrook, so my dad said he'd only ever heard whispers. No confirmations. Just rumors.”

The tears came harder.

And not just mine.

All three of us were crying now.

“And you never thought to tell us? To tell her?” Yahya asked.

“What was I supposed to say?” Mega snapped. “As far as I knew, nasty rumors were being spread about my best friend and her family. Why the fuck would I repeat them?”

Yahya immediately looked guilty and apologized.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

My face was soaked with tears and snot. Humiliation, confusion, fear, and pain crashed into me all at once.

Questions I’d noticed over the years but always waved away suddenly demanded answers. People being oddly gentle with me. At first, I assumed it was because I was the deaf girl, but hundreds of people in Havenbrook were hearing impaired. Then there were the strangers who stared a second too long. The pity hidden behind certain smiles.

And the woman.

The woman I occasionally heard. Occasionally felt. Almost saw.

The one who appeared in dreams and vanished before I could reach her.

Was she...

Could she be...

“Ju...” Mega stepped forward. “Let's call Echo.”

The second his name left Mega’s mouth, pain exploded behind my eyes. My body locked, and a scream ripped from my throat so fierce I was sure it woke the dead.

“Juliet, should we call an ambulance?” Mega asked.

No.

I didn't need an ambulance or a doctor. Why? So, they could ask questions?What's wrong with her?Who was going to explain any of this to them? I damn sure wasn't because I didn't know how. All I knew was that I needed safety. Familiarity. Protection. I was scared, and the people who normally made everything better had, within the last thirty minutes, become strangers..

My mother.

My father.

Mylo.

Zion.

And...

Echo.

Choo-Choo.

OrJuliet's Echo, as my mother liked to call him.

This pain had to be death knocking on my door, and just as I felt to cave and open it, my thoughts traveled to him.