Crimson Echo (4 page)

“No, you can’t have him! I’m marrying h
im first! We’re going to have three kids, a dog and a pool!” Chelsea ripped up the piece of paper. “Tristan, you be the referee. Who should get David, me or Everett?”

“Why don’t you just cut him down the middle?” I said sarcastically
, only half paying attention to their little feud.

“Chill out Chels, it’s j
ust a game. Hey, I have an idea maybe I could be the other woman.” He laughed.

“If I catch you with my husband, I’ll have to shank you.” She joked back.

“Fair enough, I guess.” He faked a laugh as he scooted the plastic knife off of the table.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Faith asked, noticing my dampened mood. “How’d it go with Ms. King?”

“She’s worried about me. She wants me to see a counselor.” I admitted.

“That might be a good idea. You should think about it.”

“She thinks I’m crazy. The last thing I want to do is spill my guts to some random stranger.
They’ll put me on some sort of pill and I’ll turn into a zombie and I’m not going to do that.”

“We’re all a little crazy, but we can only blame it on the hormones for a few more years.” She laughed.

“Faith, I’m being serious. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I frowned.

“We don’t have to. What do you want to talk about then?”

“Anything, as long as it doesn’t involve fires or my sanity.” I huffed, burying my face in my hands.

“Everett thinks some guy is eyeing him. He is alre
ady madly in love.” She smirked, doing her best to change the subject.

“Does he go to Echo or Emporia?”
I mumbled.

“Emporia, isn’t that great?” She laughed excitedly.

“That is great. Have they talked yet?” I could feel the worry fading.

“Well, no, but it’s going to happen soon.”

“Another vision?” I asked, raising my brow.

“Let’s call it woma
n’s intuition.” She murmured, eyeing every boy that entered the cafeteria. Any face she didn’t recognize was a prime target for her. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you,” she continued. “I found out some interesting things about Kane today.”

“Like what?” I rolled my eyes.

“Well, he’s seventeen, an Aries and he has two brothers and a sister. His mom runs the school and best of all, he’s single!”

“How did you find out about all of this stuff?”

“A good reporter never reveals her source.” She mimed locking her lips.

“Is that so?” I shot her a look.

“Okay fine, I eavesdropped.”

“That’s what I thought.”
I smirked.

“There’s something else on your mind.” Faith announced. “What is it?”

“The weirdest thing happened to me when I was in line.” I took a sip from my soda. “One of the lunch ladies stopped me and started talking to me and then I noticed her eyes turn black. It wasn’t like her pupils dilated or anything, even the whites of her eyes turned black.”

“What?” Faith looked back at the lunch line. “What did she want?”

“She warned me about a storm.”

“Are you sure you weren’t imagining things?” Faith stared at me nervously.

“I don’t think I was.” I bit my lip as I started to question what I had seen. “Maybe I should make an appointment with that counselor.”

Faith nodded.

“You don’t have to agree with me.” I picked at my food with a fork absentmindedly until the bell rang breaking me free from my thoughts.

“See you after sixth period?” I dumped my half eaten tray of food into an overstuffed, yellow garbage can.

“I’ll let you know if I find anything else out about
your
dream boy.” She smirked.

“No, leave it alone. I don’t need to know anymore about him.”

          After Faith had enlightened me with a thorough background check on Kane Evans I made my way to study hall. Faith and I usually skipped out on our free period and chose to listen to music in my car or drive to one of our houses and hang out before returning back to school for seventh hour, but she was busy following around a senior boy from the football team.

           
I wandered around until I found the room that was being used for study hall and sat down at an empty table. Looking around I noticed there was only a handful of people— sadly, I didn’t know any of them. I pulled a large text book from my bag and opened it to a previously bookmarked page. 

          
I knew catching up on my English paper would bore me to tears, but I also knew it would help get me out of trouble with Mrs. Ragsdale.  Pulling out my three ringed binder I flipped to a blank page and began writing. After a page or so, my eyelids became heavy and I fought to keep them open.

        
   I could hear a dripping sound far off in the distance.
Plunk, plunk, plunk
. It got louder. I wrestled with my subconscious, trying to stay asleep until finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I opened my eyes to complete darkness. I felt my way around the black room, searching for any source of light. I felt a light switch with my finger tips and prayed that it would work.

          
A dull yellow light flickered overhead and I scanned the room for the cause of the dripping. It was a small wash basin in the corner of the room, similar to one you would see in a painting studio. I reached for the knob and shut it off. The inside of the sink was covered in clay and paint residue.

“Where am I?” I said aloud, but only my echo answered me.

           Clay pots sat on a long wooden table in the opposite corner. There were names on each card in front of them— names I recognized. And then I realized where I was. The kiln beside the table would have given it away if I hadn’t figured it out any sooner. I closed my eyes wishing this memory away. I didn’t want to relive this, I couldn’t.

           
My heart raced with anticipation of what was to come. When I opened my eyes again the kiln roared with fire and startled me. My left hand pointed at the kiln and a dark figure stood in front of me. It was like I stepped into a memory I had forgotten. Fire surged from my palm and the kiln exploded in a brilliant display of fireworks. The dark figure was sent sailing through the air and then with another blast I followed. The fire alarm rang out in protest as the fire blazed behind me.

“Tristan,” I
heard a voice say and then I was shook violently.

           
I opened my eyes and I was back in study hall. The holes in my memory were slowly filling back in, except for the mysterious fire shooting from my hand. I could finally remember a little more and put another piece of the puzzle in its place. The doctors were worried about my memory not coming back, but my mother seemed more worried.

          
Thankfully I couldn’t remember most of my time in the hospital either. The only thing that stood out was how astonished my nurse had been when all of my charred skin magically healed before I had ever left the hospital. The doctors couldn’t explain it. They were convinced that they saw two angels standing over me bathing me in a brilliant light. I may have come close to believing the nurse if she hadn’t just finished a double shift. Her eyes lit up and she held her rosary to her chest as she retold my parents the story of what she saw that night.

I felt a hand
on my shoulder and looked up to see who it belonged to.

“You
again?” I asked. Of course it was Kane, he appeared to be following me around like the plague, or was that my paranoia again. I couldn’t tell anymore.

“You slept through your last class.” He chuckled to himself.

“I did?” I panicked. “What time is it?”

“It’
s a quarter past three. How long have you been in here?”

“Since lunch, I guess.” I answered looking down at my hands.

“You’re trembling. Is everything okay?” He asked as he handed me my bag.

“I’m not sure,
but I need to get home. My parents will be worried.” I admitted.

“I can’t allow you to leave in this state and I certainly won’t allow you to drive.”

“I don’t recall asking for your permission.” I stuffed my belongings back into my bag.

“I won’t take no for an answer.” He smir
ked, pushing his dark hair back and starring into my eyes.

           
I handed him my keys and huffed in protest, knowing it would do no good. I followed him to the parking lot and paused as he opened the passenger side door for me. I thanked him under my breath and sunk into my seat. He had to adjust the mirrors and his seat to accommodate his height. He started up the engine and fidgeted with the radio, when he couldn’t find anything he liked he shut it off and pulled out onto the main road.

“Are you feeling better yet?”
His lips pulled down into a hard line.

“A little
, thank you.” I blushed.

“Are you going to tell me what had you so upset
in there?” He kept his eyes focused on the road.

           
I shook my head and hid my embarrassment in my shoulder. I stared out of the window as my cheeks burned with fire and I noticed the black asphalt zooming by. I had never trusted anyone to drive my car, not even Faith—I couldn’t believe how quickly I had given up the reigns to someone I barely knew. It was like he had some sort of control over me.

“Then will you tell me what’s on your mind?” He craned his neck toward me.

I shook my head again and giggled nervously. 

“Well, I know you’re not a mute. I’ve heard you speak.”
His lips drew up to show his pearly teeth.

“Now you’re a comedian? You’re real funny Kane Evans.” I laughed.

“It speaks!” He joked and his quiet chuckle filled the car. “Do you have any plans for the weekend?”

“I was thinking about
looking for a job. How about you, what are you doing?”

“No plans as of right now,” he smiled. “But that can always change.
What type of job are you looking for?”

“Anything that will make me money, I guess.
I’m not too picky.” I admitted.

“
Forgive me for being forward, but no one as pretty as you should have to work.”

“Well, we all can’t be born rich like you.”

“That’s not fair. We can’t help what type of life we’re born into.” He looked over at me and the corner of his lip pulled down.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
I apologized.

“Don’t sweat it.

“Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.” My words shot out like a cannon. I ducked my head, ashamed at the harshness in my voice.

“You’re not used to people being nice to you
, are you?”

“I didn’t say that.” I glowered.

“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.” His eyes creased.

“What are you trying to be, my knight in shining… leather?” I eyed his jacket.

He smiled and shook his head. “The one dressed as a catholic school girl, is she your friend?” He changed the subject.

“Oh, yes that’s Faith. She can be a bit much sometimes.” I rolled my eyes.

“She’s quite the reporter. She may have a bright future at the Daily Planet.” His lips parted and revealed a devastating smile.

“Why do you say that?”

“Seems as though she was caught rummaging through the student files this afternoon, there was one file in particular that was most important to her.”

“Don’t tell me. It was yours?”
I hoped it wasn’t, but I knew it was.

“How’d you know that?” His eyebrow creased.

“You don’t want to know.” My face burned, I turned my gaze to the road again hoping he couldn’t see through my hair.

“Did you know she was doing this?”

“No, I promise you I didn’t know anything about it.”

“
Why would she want my file?” He asked earnestly. “Not that it’s a big deal, just curious.”

“It’s stupid. She gets an idea in her head and won’t let it go. She thinks she’s a matchmaker.”

“Who is she trying to match me up with?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged.

He shot me a knowing glance and tapped the steering wheel like a set of drums. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I shook my head. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I scolded myself for asking him that. Would he think I was interested then? Was he interested in me? I told myself I didn’t care either way.

“I have found the one, but alas she doesn’t know how I feel.” He frowned.

“Why don’t you tell her
how you feel? How will you ever know whether or not she feels the same if you don’t tell her?” I felt a sharp sting gnawing at my chest as I processed what he’d said. He already loved someone. I was jealous. I pushed the superfluous emotion away from my mind.