Echoes

Chapter 3

Getting hit by a car and having half my hair ripped out isn't my ideal day. But Josh calling me Ekotian was the cherry on top to possibly the worst day ever.

"It's possible," he said, spreading his hands. "How about your parents, do you think they were?"

I scowled. "Josh, I was nine when they died, how am I supposed to remember if they had super intense healing powers. Besides, they died. How can they be immortal if they died?"

"I said maybe the theory wasn't far off, not one-hundred percent right. Maybe...I don't know, maybe someone found out they were Ekotian and killed them."

"Josh that ridiculous. This is all ridiculous. Can't we just...forgot this ever happened and continue life like we've been doing for the last nine years?" I pleaded.

Josh closed the book. "I'll leave this here if you happen to get curious. And by the way, nice hair," He said, smirking.

"Don't let the door hit your big nose on the way out!" I called as he slammed the door. I sighed loudly. You'd think bad things would stop happening to me after my parents died. I touched the side of my head where the hair was choppily severed. I winced. Apparently hair can't heal itself. I stood up and got off my bed. Josh left the massive book on my desk, right where I could grab it. I gently opened it, and turned to the Ekotian chapter and skimmed through. It was mostly stuff I had heard before in history class, but was suddenly more intriguing to me than ever before. I closed the book, my head swimming. Pulling open a drawer, I took out a pair of scissors. I sat down and stared in the mirror.

My reflection wasn't great. My dark, shoulder length hair was not only frazzled, but almost completely missing on the right side of my head. My narrow eyes look intense yet tired, and were framed by my thick, furrowed eyebrows. Overall, I looked awful. I lifted up the scissors and gave myself one last look at my reflection. Then gingerly, I began snipping at the frayed edges of my hair. I tried to cut as close to my scalp as possible, in order to keep the length even all over. Stopping almost halfway across my head, I put the scissors down and double checked to make sure it was even.

Josh came up the steps and knocked on my door.

"Yeah?" I called.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"Go for it," I answered.

Josh peeked his head through the doorway and slid inside, shutting the door quietly behind him. He sat down on the bed and frowned at my hair.

I rolled my eyes. "What else was I supposed to do? Leave it looking like I got attacked by a small animal?" I sassed him.

"I don't know. What are you gonna tell my dad?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I'll probably just say I had an accident while helping set up for Migration Day. I forgot to tie my hair back and it accidentally got sliced off by a sword from someone's reenactment or something like that."

"Nisa, he's a detective," Josh said "You're gonna have to figure out something better than that."

I frowned and didn't answer. Instead, I hand him his book back and walked over to my closet.

"You know that haircut doesn't meet regulation, right?" Josh asked.

"Good. All the more reason for me to leave," I told him, picking through the hangers.

"I'm sorry, what?" He replied.

I tossed a brown vest onto my bed, followed by a grey-pink shirt with quarter length sleeves. "You heard me, I'm leaving. I can't stay here if I'm Ekotian," I explained.

"You're kidding," He said. "Nisa, that's crazy. Nobody knows except me. Who says anything has to be different?"

I dug out my black pants and boots, and tossed them out with the rest of the collection.

"I say. I can't stay here knowing it's not legal. I'm alone, Josh. I need to find others like me, and I can't do that here. My parents died just for existing, for smuggling themselves in for a better life. If they can get in, then I can get out."

"You don't even know what's out there. The wall is there to protect us because the rest of the world is in ruins! How do you know there's even other Ekotians left?" Josh tried to rationalize.

"My parents came from somewhere," I said. "And maybe I have other family members or something." I found my backpack and shut the closet door behind me.

"Close your eyes," I told Josh.

He covered his eyes with his hands. "Well, if you're so serious about doing this, then I'm coming with you."

I threw my uniform on the floor and hopped into my pants. "Not happening. You belong here. I don't," I said.

"Says who?"

"Say me."

"Nisa," Josh pleaded. "I'm your brother. You belong here, with us. We're your family."

I pulled the shirt over and put the vest on.

"Open," I said, tying my boots.

"If you run away, what do I tell my dad?" he asked. "You'll be caught in seconds if he finds out, he'll send the whole police force after you."

I picked my backpack up and started shoving clothes in. "You'll figure something out. You're smart like that, you don't read all those books for nothing." I went to take the picture of my parents off the nightstand, but Josh grabbed it first. He stared at the picture of the blonde woman with the rosy cheeks and the tall man with the small, narrow eyes next to her, smiling.

"Your parents wouldn't have smuggled themselves in if the world was better out there than it is in here," Josh uttered. He handed me the picture, and I placed it gently in my bag.

"Josh, it's not safe for me here anymore," I whispered. "And I know the world out there wouldn't be any safer for you than me. I can handle myself."

His face was full of hurt. "There's no changing your mind, is there?" He asked, solemnly.

I sighed. "I'm afraid not," I answered, sitting down on the bed. "I leave at sundown, before Ravi gets home, but in time for it to be dark enough to keep me on the down low."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Actually, yes. Can you help me get captured as a slave?"