Secrets Within the Resounding Sound

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

A week of school went by, with nothing out of the ordinary, the twins being ruthless towards me, Mom and Dad leaving for work and coming home on time every day. There was a fierce windstorm, as is normal in Chicago, on my sixth day of school. They didn't cancel school because the news casters said it wouldn't hit our area very hard.

They were wrong.

We had to stay at school overnight, we were told the winds were too strong to even try to make it home. All of us stuck in the high school building until the winds died. They told us it could take days, or it could end tomorrow. I found myself in the library, finding comfort in the shelves against the howling winds. I could see the storm raging through the windows, we were surrounded by black skies. The only thing I could see were the explosions of lightning. Eventually it all stopped. The rain, the wind, the lightning, and it was time to go home.

The winds had destroyed trees, houses and anything it could get its hands on. Powerlines were down from the fallen trees, firefighters were already working on the repair. My home was undamaged except for one of the trees in the backyard had lost more than a few branches. I could hear Poppy and Asher talking upstairs but Mom and Dad were not home. I looked in the garage for the car but it was gone. Maybe they were still stuck at work, waiting for the roads to be cleared of all the debris. I thought nothing of it.

My answer came the next morning. It was early morning, the sun had just barely begun to rise in the sky. Asher and Poppy were brushing their teeth in their bathrooms, I was in my room, changing out of my pjs when the doorbell rang from downstairs.

"Gob geb bat!" Poppy yelled over the toothbrush in her mouth. I struggled into my pants and ran down the flight of stairs to the front door. There was a second knock on the door, and when I opened it, I was face to face with a burly cop and a neat looking woman. I stared at them, knowing, deep in my heart that this was the beginning of a nightmare.

"Echo Sorell?" The cop asked, his voice rough with ware. I nodded, he waved into the room behind me. "May we enter?" Again, I nodded stupidly. The two of them entered, looking around the room. The woman beside the cop turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Go get your brother and sister, dear, please." I stared up at her, and felt every emotion drain from me as I looked into the sorrowful eyes. I felt my feet take me upstairs and felt my mouth move to tell Poppy and Asher that they were needed downstairs. I sat numbly in one of the chairs in the living room, Asher and Poppy sat on one loveseat while the officer and the lady sat on the other. Asher and Poppy's faces began to show signs that they knew what was coming.

"I'm deeply regretful to be the bearer of this news," the burly officer began, "but, the vehicle belonging to your parents was found this morning. A tree had fallen on top of it. They were killed instantly." The woman stood straighter, her eyes sad.

"I was your parent's lawyer before they passed. I'm here to read you their will."

It's that feeling where you question everything. You may never find out, you may give up, you may keep going. Before long it wears you down, tares you up on the inside and you just can't go on any longer. It's that feeling that nothing is right. Nothing will ever be right again.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sorrell left this house to Asher and Poppy. Their will states that they wish for you to use it as you please since you grew up here." The lawyer was saying. I focused on her, her hair up in a tight bun, the way her glasses kept falling off of her nose. "Echo," she turned to me, I could see the twins holding on to each other and crying. I was numb.

"They left this letter for you. I do not know what is inside, but they told me to give this to you if anything ever happened to them." She placed the letter in my hand, I stared at it, unsure if I should open it now or later. The lawyer stayed to comfort the three of us for a long while. I sat detached from the twins, unsure of whether or not they needed to be comforted from me. When the lawyer at last, left, the twins clung to each other, crying. I had no place beside them and walked out of the room, their cries tearing up my own heart. The letter felt heavy in my hand, so I stowed it away in my desk drawer.