The Last Hope

Chapter 9~ Aria

I slide the door closed behind me, very slowly and quietly. Part of me wants to find out which would cause grater damage; punching or kicking the glass as hard as possible. But the other part of me is surprised I am even able to stand and walk under the weight of Echo's words. I lift my eyes to her still across the yard where I left her. I saw just a glimpse of her looking at me before she shifted her gaze subtly. Her eyes hold longing. Longing I once thought was for me, but the doubt is unbearable. I lift my arm to the side and in one swift motion, I slide the colorful curtain, fully cutting myself from her, hoping to find a breath or at least a clear thought.
"Didn't go well?" I heard from the other room.
"She has been gone a long time, brother... it's not her fault. She was brainwashed." I muttered as I walked around the corner.
I slumped onto the couch near where Axle was reading. "She has a boyfriend. She was able to fall in love with someone else. I thought that was impossible...." I pondered.
"Aria, you know her mind was wiped. Her memory of us- of you was torn from her. It's interesting that this is how it affects a paring, though..." There was a long pause as I thought about Echo, who she is to us all, who she is to me...
"I'm not. Even if she loves someone else, she will always be the one for me, even if she doesn't feel the same pull..."
"Oh, no, no. that's not what I meant. She has the pull as strong as any of us, but she was raised not knowing that's what she is. That you were waiting for her someplace. Her love for him must be a more logical love rather than emotional. I've been always wondered how that would affect someone who is a born shifter." Axle gets a far off stare that he gets when he's in deep thought.
"Well, I'm glad your curiosity is being quenched by all of this." I roll my eyes away from him, annoyed.
He adjusts himself in his seat, a taller, more careful posture, placing his book on the lamp table next to him. "I'm sorry; you know that's not what I mean. I don't know much about her other life, but I can promise you this; as sure as her eyes are blue; she truly loves you." I turn and look at Axle; he displays a serious, honest face. My heart continues to feel like it is being crushed into my lungs, so I nod and lift from the sunken old couch. Turning away, Axle still watching me, I waddle down the hall way, stepping into Echo's room with a sigh. With long strides, I reach the window quickly glancing out across the sunny, warm yard to where the old swing set, still holding Rae, was placed. Cool beams of grey shadow streaked the trees behind her- the ones we ventured from not long ago. She pivoted in the bar above her, with her face down, hair falling around her shoulders. I watched as her head bobs when she reached the lowest point on the swing, then lift slightly as she reached the height and descended. I couldn't watch her for long, it made my chest hurt. I turned to her bed, the tall posts holding a tattered, aged green curtain that contrasts the dark wood. I thumb the fabric before turning and falling into the blankets, still messy from her before I pulled her from her sleep. Her scent flooded around me, taking me back to when I was a child: cold snowy days playing games and loosing horribly, laughing at every failure. God- I loved those moments. I grabbed a handful of her blankets and rolled myself into it, relaxing everything finally. Nodding off; I am lost in the new memory of the colors of the sky when I held Echo in my arms, when she was freed from Rae's stubbornness.