Echo in Her Mind

Fifteen.

Bethany could hear Ruben's voice calling her name as he trailed behind her. She couldn't stop the images from flowing through her brain now, and she was the most anger filled she had ever been in his life. She wanted blood, to kill, but only one specific person: The Watcher.

Her father.

Was he, though? Could it be the stress that was getting to her and made her memories mess with her head? What was the actual truth?

Suddenly, Bethany was thrown to the ground. A large weight was placed on her back as her face was shoved into the grass below her.

"I said, stop." Ruben gritted his teeth, his hands wrapped around her wrists in an attempt to keep her still.

Still on her high from the anger flowing through her veins, Bethany overpowered Ruben and flipped him over, so that she was the one in control. Questions and vile words were about to flow out of her mouth before Ruben's hand was thrown over her mouth.

"Whatever it is that you think you saw, even if you're not sure if it's real, keep it to yourself. He might know everything, but only if it is said out loud. Use that to your advantage." Ruben took his hand away from her mouth, and she remained silent. 

He was right. She couldn't make The Watcher aware that she knew more than she led on. This was her leverage, and she was going to kill him with it.

"I think it's time we settle down for the night. I think we could both use the rest. We will reach Maine by tomorrow afternoon," Ruben said. Bethany stood up and allowed Ruben to do the same.

She trudged behind him as he led her to where she assumed they would be spending the night. Any energy that she had accumulated was now gone, as she came down from her high of power. She was exhausted, and very much grateful when a motel sign appeared in their vision a little down the road they were walking.

The inside was no better looking than the outside of it, and it was obvious that they didn't get a lot of guests, seeing as there was no one sitting at the front desk. Bethany looked around the place, taking note of the old-time wallpaper plastered on the walls, a layer of dust clearly evident on the surface of it. She did not like the vibe that she was getting from this place.

"May I help you?" A tall, blonde haired male with golden eyes appeared behind the counter as they turned. Bethany couldn't help but stare, as he was definitely what one would call attractive, even if she couldn't sense it.

Ruben coughed awkwardly beside her, "We would like a room, please."

A room. As in a single room?

"One room coming up for the happy couple." The male marched around behind the desk, and Bethany cringed at the word couple.

"We are not a couple, and we are not sharing a room."

The front desk attendant met her gaze and he seemed to stare a little bit longer than needed. "Good to know," he said, which was followed by a wink. "One key card for you, sir, and one for this gorgeous creature."

Bethany could feel the heat radiating off of Ruben, and she would've smiled at the obviousness of it, if she could.

"My name is Jack if you need anything, especially you, darling." And in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Ruben huffed next to her in frustration, muttering something under his breath that she couldn't hear, but she could've sworn she made out the word pixie in the sentence.

"Please don't pull any funny business tonight, I am too exhausted to chase after you," he said, as they made their way to their rooms.

If this were a few days ago, heck even earlier in the day, Bethany would've use his exhaustion to her advantage and bolted. However, her body was very much drained as well, and yearned for a good night's rest.

Her room was just as the lobby appeared, old and outdated. The bed looked worn out, and if she wasn't so tired she probably would've chose to not even habit it at all.

Laying herself down on the bed, her mind was blank as her eyes began to close. Bethany hoped that tomorrow would be less draining, but she knew that wouldn't be the case.

*****

The sun shone upon Ruben's face the next morning, and he knew instantly that daylight had come too soon. His body was ached and his mind was tired. He did not sleep well last night, as he was constantly listening for any sort of noise to come from Bethany's door; whether her leaving, or someone entering.

His eyes flew open as that pixies face came to his mind, and he hurried out of the bed to check on Bethany's room.

There was no sound on the other side of her door that Ruben could hear, and when he knocked there was no answer. He began to panic, and then voices could be heard from down the hall; Bethany's voice.

The sight that came before him curled his stomach: Bethany was sitting with Jack, the pixie, drinking coffee and eating breakfast. The smile that loomed on Jake's face was one he had seen on many pixies faces in his lifetime. Ruben knew what he was up to, and it made his blood boil.

"What is going on here?" Ruben couldn't control the anger in his voice. They both looked at him, Bethany in annoyance, and Jack in amusement.

"Breakfast, obviously." Bethany rolled her eyes. "We tried to wake you up." She sipped on her coffee.

"Well, enough of this, it's time to go."

Ruben grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back to her room.

"What's your deal?" She pulled her arm out of his grip.

"I understand that you are very new to the ways of a separate world, but you're playing with fire, Bethany." It was evident that she didn't understand, and clearly thought he was just crazy. "There are many creatures out here that want to take advantage of you, many that don't care about The Watcher and what he can do."

"Clearly, that is your way of telling me that Jack, our host, is not human?" Bethany retaliated. "Well, maybe if you would inform me of something as important as that, or anything at all, I would've been more on my guard."

With that, Bethany entered into her room and Ruben was left standing alone in the hall, finding himself more and more incapable of hiding everything from Bethany any longer.

*****

Bethany chose to ignore Ruben as long as she possible could. If he was going to act in a childish manner, and not provide an explanation to her, then she wasn't going to interact with him unless need be.

She gathered her belongings from her room, and met Ruben at the front door of the motel, brushing by him as if he weren't even standing there.

Even though they were a couple hours outside of their destination, Bethany knew it was going to feel a lot longer with Ruben's gaze tearing through the back of her neck.

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