Distractions

Chapter 13: Darkness

I rode the bus to the last place Irina took me. When I arrived I went straight to the spot where I fell two weeks ago. I walked on it. My bare feet sunk into the dirt. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was still in the same place. I closed my eyes again, tightly this time, and when I opened them, the boy who looked just like me faced me. I looked around. 'Odd, I'm still in the same place.' I thought.

"It's okay." My chest tightened. It was the voice from the phone. Oliver, my brother. The boy who was in almost all of my 'Gracie Dreams.' was real. I reached out to touch him. His skin was pillow soft. His hand met mine and he interlaced our fingers. And the boy standing right in front of me was real too.

"Oliver?" He smiled a sad smile.

"Gracie." I desperately took him in my arms and I held onto that feeling, that moment.

"But, what are you doing here?" I said breathly.

"Me? What are you doing here?" We finally let go.

"I'm..." I trailed off. "I guess I'm looking for answers."

"And you found me." He said teasingly.

"I'm glad I did!" He smiled. I nervously gulped. "I need your help."

"What for?" He glimpsed at me.

"I need you to tell me what happened here." He looked back out towards the field.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." He took a step away from me. Almost as if the information he possessed was dangerous.

"Oliver, please?" This time when he took a step back, I stepped with him. He looked at me then back out at the field. It felt like hours until he spoke.

"Mom and Dad worked for the C.I.A. Once when Mom and Dad were on a mission, Dad was approached by two men, they wanted him to work for them too. And he agreed to it."

"Did they force him into working for them?" A beam of light streamed through the clouds. Oliver squinted his eyes at the sun. he looked down. And shook his head.

"No, they didn't." Silence. "He tried to betray them and they found out about it. So they followed him and one of them set a fire to his home. The other guy tried to get everyone out of the house, so nobody got hurt except him. They grabbed Irina and I, but they weren't able to find you and Mom."

"Irina?"

"Irina, our sister. He didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't." I felt confused and sorrowful. I didn't exactly leave on the best of terms with her. As soon as I got home, I knew I had to apologize.

"Yeah, well after they tried looking for you guys, they finally put the fire out." He sniffed. "They found you, alive...And Mom?" He turned his face. "They found her by you with a knife wound in her stomach" He faced me again. "I analyzed the D.N.A myself Emma, the fingerprints were his. And a strand of hair was found on it." He didn't have to elaborate. I already knew. My dad killed my mom.

"No," I covered my mouth with my hand. Oliver took a step closer to me, as if I was bound to collapse.

"Yes." He lowered his head. "Mom's death was Dad's fault." I could only take shallow breaths. My heart clenched up in a ball. Tears slipped from my eyes, streaming down my cheeks.

"And Aaron?" I didn't know if I really wanted to know the answer.

"That was Dad." I shook my head trying to get rid of the truth. As if shaking my head would make it untrue. Oliver's arms were around me as soon as I began weeping. My dad was a murderer. And it wasn't as if he murdered a complete stranger, but he murdered my husband, Aaron. All at once, the memories started flooding my brain.

The long-legged man at the desk, my Dad. The faceless stranger at my wedding, my Dad. The faceless man who tried to shoot Aaron and shot me, my Dad. A painful blare of sound rattled through my body emanating from inside my head. My mouth opened and my throat blazed but I couldn't hear my scream. I dropped to my knees in agony. My brain had unlocked whatever it was trying to suppress. My vision started going black. I blinked my eyes and Oliver was holding me like I was holding Aaron. Tears spilled onto my face. He looked like he was screaming or wailing. I closed my eyes and let the darkness consume me.