Echo

face in her hands, hiccupping as her tears leaked through her fingers to stain her comforter. They waited while she recovered her composure. Looking up at her brother and her new love, she whispered, “They stuck me with a needle. Then I saw Echo kill Kelly. It was awful. Her antlers split open and the little things inside flew to Kelly and just ate her face off. I heard the others screaming and then I blanked out.”
    Jose met Scotty’s eyes. Turning back to Abby, he explained what they saw upon returning home. Abby’s face drained of color. Looking to Scotty for confirmation, he nodded his head.
    “Skeletons? Only two? But there are three of them. One of the guys must have gotten away. Who was it? We need to do something. Jose, he’ll be back.” Her voice rose, verging on hysteria.
    Jose put his arms around her. “Abby, we’re going to be gone within two hours. The arrangements have been made. I’ll pack for you. If you feel up to it, I need you to go through the house and collect any keepsakes you want to take. We’ll never come back here. It won’t be safe; ever. This is a permanent goodbye to Lily Pond Road.” Hearing the doorbell ring, he peeked out the window spotting the armored truck.
    “That was fast. I have to handle this. Let’s get a move on, now. Our car will be here any minute. We should be gone as soon as we get loaded. There’s much more that we need to talk about. We’ll have to do that in the car. Abby, you okay? Scotty?” Nodding their heads, Jose left to answer the door.
    “Abby, is this what you want?” Scotty asked as soon as they were alone. At the questioning look on her face, Scotty said, “You know what I mean. Jose?” Abby took a deep breath and exhaled.
    “Scotty, you know I love you more than life. You’ve always been my baby boy. But I’ve learned that there needs to be more to be a whole person. That day will come for you too. I pray you’ll have an easy time. I’ll help do whatever it takes, under our unusual circumstances, to make that happen for you. But regarding Jose? I need to see what this is about. The three of us care deeply about one another and that will never change. Jose will always be your best buddy. It’s just that my feelings for him are different now.” She smiled gently. “And I’m happy. Or at least I will be if we get the heck out of here. I need some happiness to have the strength to get through this. Do you understand kiddo?”
    Scotty thought he did understand but he wasn’t happy himself. Maybe that would change over time. Right now, he knew he better support Abby and Jose and hold up his end. There would be more time to think this through after they were in Florida.
    ###
    Abby shook out her hair, pulling it back to secure with an old fashioned scrunchy that belonged to her mother. She stiffened her spine and got out of bed to help with the hasty packing. Returning to the living room, she noticed the skeletons were gone. She wondered what the boys did with them. Looking out the window, she saw Jose standing with two uniformed men. They signed something and gave it to Jose. After they drove off she saw that their limo had been parked unnoticed, behind the armored car. She better hurry now. Someone was sure to notice the unusual vehicles and come poking around. Stuffing her ruined jumper under her arms, she dumped it, along with the memories of today’s events, like a curdled carton of milk, into the trash.

Chapter 15
    Armoni paced back and forth, muttering to himself in the dirty, greasy kitchen with the basement door opened to what they used to call the fun house. No time for more of that. That uppity bitch and her fuckin’ little nightmare gremlin put an end to that.
    He couldn’t escape the image of Kelly’s face covered with the funky shit that popped out of the little nightmare’s horns. He should of stomped the little shit when he had the chance. Kelly’s dissolving face and her fuckin’ screams will haunt him for a long time.
    But, he had a scheme. As he busily reworked it in his mind, he decided it could be sensational. He reviewed the events at Tomas’s old house. When all the action got hinky, he decided to check out fast, cutting through the garage. And on his way out, he quickly grabbed one of the big gold lumps stacked all over the garage. Holy shit; no wonder that bitch didn’t want us in there . Where the hell did they get all that gold? Just a pure stroke of good luck, he mustered the good sense to grab a