Rise

- Chapter 11: Remembering -

– Chapter 11 –

Evira

Remembering

            “Man, today is a good day!” Lex yelled over the roar of his motorcycle.

            Evira didn’t—couldn’t—respond. Her ears were filled with the sound of air rushing past her, and it was taking all her energy to hold onto Lex as tightly as she could.

            “Hold on tight!” he yelled.

            “Trying,” she mumbled. She tightened her arms around Lex’s middle, feeling her face heat up.

            The good thing about the ride was that she could forget about almost everything. Of course, at the same time, she was left to her thoughts. She didn’t know why she had told Aline about her past, even if she had left the truth about Evan out.

            She smiled a little. Maybe she was finally branching out a little. Evira had avoided almost all human contact for the longest time, refusing to leave her loft for anything other than food and bare necessities. Almost like a hermit.

            The whole thing with Evan was still perplexing. She had never thought it was possible—it was beyond what she had thought could happen. It was a scientific anomaly—if it could even be called that. Then again, it wasn’t that strange. The most she could relate it to was dissociative identity disorder, she supposed. Evan was just someone she had created in the aftermath of the actual Evan. Her mind couldn’t cope with it so it created an entirely different identity, whose name was also Evan, so it could deal with it instead.

            It somehow felt much more than that.

            After all, she hadn’t been musical in the slightest. Somehow, Evan had been able to play piano startingly well—how was that possible if she had never taken lessons in the first place?

            Maybe the scariest thing about it all was how fast everything had happened. When Evira finally returned to school, Evan was gone, having graduated, and everything had returned to its normal pace. Every day after she had come home, she would lock herself up in the loft so she and Evan could write music in peace.

            She had never been able to see Evan face to face, but he always left her a note—in a messy, spidery scrawl that was nothing like hers—and it would cheer her up instantly. When she leafed through her notebooks, she would see traces of him here and there—little notes that would help her out.

            Maybe it was the fact that had never spoken to him that made her feel even more indebted. She had uploaded that video on Youtube secretly and had left him the URL on a tiny slip of paper. When she had seen the feedback from viewers, she knew she couldn’t just leave it at that. Evan deserved more than just Youtube.

            When she had written to him about coming to L.A. and that it was a journey that she wanted to take alone, his reply had been short—just a single smiley face to show he approved. When she had fallen asleep on the plane, she had awoken to a letter from Evan.

            At the end, he had added a postscript.

            I don’t know anyone like you, Evira. You’re extraordinary, you’re talented. You have a kind heart. Pursue this, and you will rise.

            More than anything else, that had been what really sparked her adventure.

            “You know what, Evira?” Lex yelled into the wind.