Truths Unravel

Chapter #11

            "You can't go back. Stay with me."

Emory and I are at Helda's Café and I just finished telling Emory everything that had happened today; from Isaac to Soraya. I also tell her that I named whatever is controlling me Andale. After I finish, she goes to an all out panic attack. She doesn't want me to go back home since Isaac will beat me black and blue. I, too, don't want to go back, but everything I need is there. If I could somehow get my stuff without Isaac knowing I'm there, I could then stay with Emory.

"Fine. I'll stay with you. However, we need my stuff. I need some of the papers from my parent's investigation. We can't move forward without them."

Emory nods her head and looks up at the ceiling. As she does that, I look around at everyone. These people's lives are so normal; I wish I could have this life, too. I need one, just one, ordinary day.

Emory says, "Isaac's parties," and I stop daydreaming about a normal life. I look at Emory in question, but then I understand what she's getting at. Emory wants us to get my stuff the day Isaac hosts another party.

"That's brilliant!" I exclaim. "He has a party literally every Friday or Saturday and that's our opportunity to sneak in."

"Yeah. Until then we can try finding Galvos or whoever is controlling you, aka, Andale," says Emory.

I suddenly remember that I'd taken pictures of the contents in the purple binder, and I get excited. We still have something to work with until we can get my stuff back. I tell Emory about the pictures and she says, "Why are we here then? We need to end this quickly. Lets go to my house. My parents wouldn't mind you staying."

Emory's parents know how Isaac is. Once they heard and saw Isaac yelling and hitting me. They first offered to file a case against Isaac, but I stopped them at the time. Now, they tell me that I'm welcome to stay over anytime. I'm grateful to them because I've had to stay with them at times when Isaac was too out of control.

"Zalia, you ready to leave?" Emory stands in front of me, holding the money to pay for the food and drinks we had.

"Yeah, I am." I get up and exit the shop, while Emory pays the lady at the front. When she gets to me, we both walk away from the café and make our way to Emory's house.

***

"No. No. No."

It's 3:15pm and Emory and I are going through the pictures of Galvos in my camera. We've looked at them all carefully and we've found nothing to help us. I look at every specific detail over and over again. It feels like the beginning of the investigation all over again.

"I need something to drink. This is too hard. Want anything, Zalia?"

I shake my head and continue staring intently at the camera screen, like I might find something new. I keep staring at my screen for another 2 minutes and I finally notice something. All the pictures of Galvos, after his death, have the same background. I look carefully at all the backgrounds again, and I'm positive that he's in the same place all the time.

"He's hiding somewhere there," I say under my breath.

Now that I know Glavos is in one place, I need to find out where that place is. I look through all the pictures again, searching the background for signs and clues; on the fourth picture I scan, I see a sign that reads, "Sunny." The rest of the sign is cut off. However, that rings a bell. I don't know where, but I've heard a place with sunny in it. I need the research in my room to uncover this place.

The doorknob jiggles and the door opens. Emory comes in with a glass of fruit punch. "Find anything, yet?" She asks.

I hesitate, but say, "No. Nothing. I think these pictures can't help."

I just lied to Emory; I never do that. I feel a hole in the pit of my stomach and I can't look Emory straight in the face. I was about to tell her what I found out, but I want this to be something I do alone. Emory would never let me confront Galvos by myself, so it's better to keep it a secret.

I try changing the topic by saying, "This is totally useless. We can try again when we get my stuff from my room." I start getting up go to Emory's broken down computer. "Let's watch something." I sit on the chair and start up the computer.

Emory is giving me a suspicious look. "Hmm. This is unusual. You not wanting to work on the case; that's something that never happens." She tries to make me look at her, but I avoid eye contact.

"It's such a headache. You know, not having everything, but a few pictures. It's better to just save it for when we have everything in our hands." I think I play it off by saying that.

"Whatever. Who am I to complain about not having work. In fact, I'm happy we can do something else."

I feel relief flood through me when Emory says that. If she questioned me anymore, I wouldn't be able to hide the truth from her.

Throughout the night, we talk, watch movies, and eat. We laugh many times for no reason and I'm thankful that I'm not in that gloomy house of mines today. I feel stress free now, but there are still butterflies in my stomach. I'm nervous and excited to find Galvos. I want to know if he kept my parents alive or not. It's all going to come together soon; I just have to be patient.