Eternal Echoes: A Dance with Darkness

“What, and use him? That wouldn’t make me any better than the rest of these people.” I remarked, rolling my eyes and taking a sip of my soda. “I mean, he is an attractive person, but I’m not interested in him like that. My interest in him is more figuring out a science experiment than anything else.”

She giggled at this. “Are you calling him a freak of nature?” Her eyes moved back to her eye candy. He was smiling as if he was chuckling to himself about something. But what? He wasn’t sitting with anyone.

I laughed at her question. “No, not exactly. That wouldn’t be fair to call him that. I mean, look at me.”

Another few months flew past, and a barrage of faces, voices, colors, and shapes whizzed by, making me feel a little disoriented until it slowed, and I found myself as Sara sitting alone in the lunchroom once again during junior year.

I noticed someone walking towards me and looked up to find Easton smiling back at me. “Hello,” he stated.

A smile spread across my face. I could feel Sara’s giddiness mixed with anxiety. “Hi.”

“So, where’s your friend, Ember?” he asked.

“She isn’t feeling well today.”

“Oh,” Easton replied with a little disappointment in his voice. “May I sit with you?” He asked politely.

“Yes!” She said overly excited. Her face grew hot as she let her true awkward feelings show.

He only smiled at her as he took his seat. “So, how long have you and Ember been friends?”

“Since we were about… six years old, maybe. We met in Kindergarten.”

“That must be nice to have a friend for a decade… I’ve never had that.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “My family moves around a lot.”

“I’m sorry to hear that… Ember and I have just stuck together for so long because we don’t fit in anywhere else. Well, I mean, we are best friends because we have a lot in common, but we also don’t really fit in anywhere else either.”

He smiled at her. “I couldn’t help but come over to you. I know we have been coming to the same school for two years now, but… I always noticed you… Even the very first day I walked in. I immediately saw you.”

I could feel Sara’s face become hot again. Staring deeply into his eyes, she didn’t say a word. Nor did any thoughts cross her mind.

Before I could fully grasp what was happening between them, I was thrown through another multitude of memories. Various dates Sara and Easton had been on flashed before my eyes: kissing and… intimate moments I wish I could unsee passed by.

Finally, it was graduation night. Sara and I were still in our gowns, playfully bantering as we were ready to leave. Suddenly, Easton emerged from behind a nearby tree, catching Sara's attention. She quickly excused herself, mentioning that she needed to speak with her mother. I left as she made her way over to Easton.

She embraced him, but he did not move an inch.

His complexion was pale, and a look of anguish was etched on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sara asked, her heart racing at the sight of his sorrowful expression. This was a side of him she had never witnessed before.

"Let's find a quiet place," he replied hesitantly. "There's something important I need to tell you." Easton's voice carried a sense of urgency, yet there was a hint of harshness in his tone. It was clear that whatever he needed to discuss was not something he was looking forward to.

Sara's heart sank at his words, tears welling up in her eyes. She already had a sinking feeling about what was coming. Despite her reluctance, she followed him away from the crowd of recently graduated seniors and into the empty parking lot, where they sat in his car.

Silent and immobile, Sara sat in the vehicle, feeling as though she had lost all ability to function.

Easton cleared his throat. “I’m having to leave for a while,” he stated slowly, “and with where I need to go, it’s best that we…” He trailed off, struggling to find the right words. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and continued, “I feel that it’s best that we break up.”

As soon as the words left his lips, tears welled up in Sara's eyes, cascading down her cheeks. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. "Where are you going?" she asked, her voice flat and resigned. She knew that no amount of pleading would change his mind. Sara was not one to beg, no matter how much she desired a different outcome.

“I can’t tell you that,” he stated bluntly. "Please, Sara, trust me when I say that this is the last thing I want to do," Easton pleaded, longing to comfort her, but understanding that he couldn't.

"Why are you doing this, then?" Her voice trembled as she questioned him.

Easton gazed at her, but she avoided his eyes. "I can't explain... It's for your safety."

"Then it's over," she replied icily as she opened the car door.

Before she could leave, Easton reached out and grabbed her hand. "Sara... I love you," he confessed, tears welling up in his eyes.

She jerked her arm away from him and walked off by herself.

In an instant, I found myself back in my room. Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision. Releasing Ruth's hand, I gazed at her in shock. “You kept a serious relationship and breakup a secret from me for five years?” Anger seeped into my voice. “I am your best friend! Do you seriously not trust me that much?”

“It wasn’t like that!”

“What possible reason could you have for not divulging something like that? Did you think I wouldn’t approve?”

She gazed down at her feet, a mixture of guilt and shame etched on her face. "I... I don't have a good explanation..."

"You must have some sort of reasoning. Especially since you couldn't tell me you two broke up on graduation day! You told me you were sick!"

Sara let out a heavy sigh, brushing away the tears that had welled up in her eyes. "Easton wanted me to keep it a secret... I didn't understand why. At first, I thought he was ashamed of me, but he convinced me that wasn't the case. He just didn't want you to know. I asked him if there was a specific reason, like maybe he had feelings for you, or perhaps he didn't like you. But he denied all of that, claiming he felt you wouldn't approve of him dating your best friend or some other excuse... I assumed you already knew, even before he requested I keep it a secret..." She rose from the bed and began fiddling with the locket on the dresser.

I was dumbfounded by her explanation. To me, it didn’t seem like a good reason to keep something this big from me.

"You know... you two aren't all that different."

“What do you mean by that?” I asked more offensively than I intended it to come out.

“Easton is telepathic also.”

I was taken aback by her confession. "I had no idea..." Suddenly, fear gripped me. “You didn’t tell him I was, did you?”

Sara offered a weak smile. “That’s not my secret to share. I tried my best to not think about you when he was around. I also tried my best to not make any connections between the two of you while I was around him. He never brought you up, so I believe you're in the clear."”

I didn’t say anything more as I watched her play with that locket. Today had been very exhausting for me. How could so much happen in one day? More importantly, how could I not have known any of this was happening? Am I losing my touch? That should be something that I am excited about, but it made me more concerned.

Why would Easton want to keep all of it a secret? What was he playing at? There was something about all of this that was wrong and deeply unsettling. Maybe I was right to be suspicious of him all along.

“You can have the locket if you want,” I finally broke the silence, getting up from the bed and walking over to Sara.

“No, it’s yours,” she replied with a sigh.

“To be honest, after seeing him through your eyes and knowing how you felt about him, I’d rather not have it.” It was a haunting feeling to have loved and lost in a matter of seconds. Even though it wasn’t actually me, I still experienced it all.

I had never had a boyfriend, but now I know the emptiness that came from the sting of your first love.

“Well, I don’t want it.” She retorted, still looking at the jewelry. “Especially not to be reminded of him.”

“Fair enough,” I replied. “But now I don’t want it to be reminded of him. Now all I will see is a naked Easton..” I gagged.

Sara’s face blushed with embarrassment. “You saw that? Oh no…”

“It’s fine,” I replied. “Kind of, I guess. My poor eyes…”

Sara covered her face with her hands as I continued teasing her.

“I’m kidding Sara, chill.” I giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

We remained quiet for a minute, before a thought occurred to me, “Sara, has this jewel looked strange to you in the whole time you have been holding it?”

“The only thing that strikes me as odd is that I have never seen anything like it before.” She replied.

“No… It’s not that,” I stated, grabbing it out of her hand.

“Then what?” She asked curiously, inspecting it with me.

I stared at it for a minute. “Nothing,” I replied, looking at it harder. This time, it didn’t do anything. “It must have been my imagination.”