Three Heart Echo

Chapter Eleven - Iona

"You met him on Friday, didn't you?" Sully asks, giving me this look.

"I did," I blush. "But only because Viola pestered me so much I thought I was going to kill her."

"She did sound awfully interested in Jack at the funeral," he says as he dumps the last load of branches and heads back toward the church. I follow beside him, pulling off the muddy and soaking wet gloves.

"She was. She almost didn't believe me when I told her that I'd run in to him and he'd asked me out." A smile crosses my lips, entertained by the memory.

Sully grunts, but doesn't say anything more. I can't imagine this is his favorite kind of story. He doesn't strike me as the type to enjoy silly love stories.

He heads for the shed off to the side of the church and parks the wheelbarrow in the corner, tipped up on end. Inside I also see a lawnmower, a variety of rakes, shovels, and trash bins that look like they haven't been used in a few decades.

I cup my hands together and blow, attempting to get some feeling back into them, but they're so far gone all I feel is air movement.

"You need some more meat on your bones," Sully insults as he motions for me to follow him back in through the back door of the church.

I only glare at him as he grabs more firewood from another shed.

We both kick off our muddy boots when we step inside and he immediately sets to stocking the fire once again. I instantly feel my frozen skin cells defrosting, the sensation of warming back up almost painful. When he's done putting the logs into the fireplace, he motions me over so I can thaw out.

"Don't you get lonely living here?" I blurt as I hover over the stove, holding my hands up to the heat. "I haven't seen anyone else around. It's just you, isn't it?"

Sully sinks into a wooden rocking chair close to the flames. He stacks his socked feet, one on the other, to warm them up.

"Yes, it's just me," he admits, and that's just what it feels like coming from him: an admission. "And it used to get lonely, when I returned after being gone. I thought it would drive me mad. But I'm not as alone as it seems. Being a Speaker has its benefits as well as curses."

I swallow once, studying Sully's face while he stares into the flames. This is so out of my element, so far into the strange. Yet it's his reality, and it sounds like it has been for a long time.

"They keep you company, don't they?" I ask, my voice quiet, so they don't hear me. "The dead. You talk to them when the silence gets to be too much."

Two seconds of hesitation. Five. Ten. But finally, his lips pressed tightly together, Sully nods.

It makes sense now, what he said about those people getting angry with him if he doesn't take care of their property. They might have been dead and gone long ago, but Sully still speaks to them on a regular basis.

"Do you have an item of Jack's here, or do you need to return home and get it?" he suddenly asks, still staring into the flames.

His whiplash changes keep throwing me off. It takes me a second to recover. "I need to go home and get it."

"You should go soon, then," he says as he rises to his feet. He peels his jacket off and hangs it on the back of the rocking chair. "You said you only have a few days off. We should get started soon."

"Now?" I ask, looking around, suddenly off balance. Am I really ready for this? To open the gate to the other side? To hear from Jack again? To speak to him?

"Yes," Sully says, heading down the hall, back to the door he disappeared behind last night. "I will be ready when you return tomorrow morning, but not before then."

He walks into the room, and shuts the door with a finality that makes me jump.

I look around me, suddenly hyper-aware of how empty and devoid of life this church is. This town.

Soundlessly, I gather my few things. My clothes from yesterday, balled up on the end of the couch. I slip my boots on. Awkwardly, I head for the back door, looking back toward Sully's room as I walk out.

Tomorrow morning. But not before then.

The message is clear: don'tcome back tonight.    

THAT'S IT.  THIS IS THE FINAL CHAPTER I WILL BE POSTING HERE ON WATTPAD.  I HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW OF THREE HEART ECHO.  IT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON AMAZON SEPTEMBER 12, 2017!