19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

I placed my phone on the counter in the bathroom. I saw the yellow rose, there, from Shad. I stared at it, making sure I was really seeing it. I reached out and touched its yellow petals, and one fell off. Nothing odd had happened with any roses moving about or with my dad's watch reappearing, and I was grateful for that; however, I still made mental notes about where I left things within my room, especially the roses. I got into the shower. The heat on my cold body caused me to screech, and I quickly adjusted the temperature.

Once I was out of the shower and dressed, I sat on the edge of my bed, holding my phone in my hands, ready to text Ryker.

Emma: Hey, are you doing okay? Will you be back for Homecoming? Sam finally asked Ash. Miss you.

Ryker: I'm out of town, might be longer than I thought.

His response was almost immediate.

Emma: Your dad said a relative is sick?

Ryker: Yeah, you talked to my dad?

Emma: No, Mary told me, she talked to your dad, I guess.

Ryker: Well, I am doing some research. Promise you won't be mad?

Emma: I think we need to call the police. You're driving me crazy over this. I do want to find my parents' murderer, but not at the expense of your happiness, Ry.

Ryker: I know, but he killed your family, Em, and I can't just stand by and let him get away. No one is even looking into it.

I put my phone down, not answering his last text. I tried to breathe and calm down my anger, but I couldn't, and my head spun. I'd thought about a question for a while. Why would anyone want my family dead? My dad was a doctor; my mother was a stay-at-home mom. They didn't exactly make any hit list that I could think of. I was, finally, doing better, but every time I talked to Ryker, I had to relive all my nightmares all over again. My phone buzzed, and I answered it. Ryker's voice was calm, but serious. Memories were trying to break through the surface as I blinked away tears.

"Are you okay?" Ryker asked seriously.

"I'm waiting for all this to just be some horrible dream that I can wake up from."

"I just have to figure out the last piece of this puzzle. I am so close." The picture Ryker had shown to me popped into my head. That man with black eyes haunted me.

"Ryker, this is too much for me right now," I tried to push the picture of the man from my thoughts. I tried to stop the flashbacks, but they started again. After the crash, we landed upside down. My mother was thrown away from the car, so I never saw her, but I did see a large hole in the windshield, and like always, the memory of my father dying beside me made me want to scream.

I wiped a tear from my cheek.

"Ryker—Ryker, I can't"

"Emma, I am sorry."

"Why on earth would someone kill them? Tell me, Ryker. Why? Why would someone want my parents, and possibly me , dead?"

"Everyone has enemies, Emma."

"My parents didn't have enemies. I don't have any enemies. I don't understand," I cried into the phone.

"Neither do I, Emma; still, I am going to keep you safe."

"I am scared, Ryker. I don't want to know the truth, but then, sometimes, I do. Mary says I need to move on, move past all this, and it is so hard when you keep searching and searching, and I can't get away from the memories. I want to know, and I want you to tell me, but–" I was hopeful, hopeful that he would tell me everything was alright, that no one murdered my parents, that the man from my memories was just part of a bad dream, a fragment of my twisted imagination. But instead, I heard anger.

"How am I supposed to just move on!? Oh, I get it—how you are moving on to Shad , huh!?"

"Excuse me?" I asked in complete and total shock. I just wanted to cry.

"Never mind, I'm sorry. I did not mean that. I'm just—frustrated is all. I should have been there that night with you guys–the night of the crash."

Was I just supposed to take that? Let him yell at me one second and then apologize and tell me how guilty he felt the next?

"Part of me wishes you had been there so I wasn't alone with the horror of it all, but that's selfish. If you had been there, you probably would be dead right now, too," I breathed.

"Your dad asked me to go, and I didn't."

"So?"

"So—I feel like I could have prevented it. I got too laxed," he growled.

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Seriously, Ryker? Do you have super strength?"

"Okay, maybe I couldn't have prevented it. I'm sorry, Emma, that I wasn't there for you. I miss them. I'm so sorry. I should have been the one who died; it should have only been me," he choked.

"Ryker, no. No, I couldn't live without you. No one wants you dead."

"I have to go, Emma," he whispered.

"Just say goodbye to your sick relative and come home. You are missing the Homecoming dance, and I am so annoyed that I have to go without you being there."

"Are you still going with him ?"

"Yes."

Silence—

"Ryker?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"He likes you," he whispered.

"There is something different about him, Ryker; I don't know what it is."

"He's always thought he could get whatever he wanted," he huffed into the phone.

"He's not like that at all. You don't know him the way I do," I said.

"So, does it even matter what I say? Emma, I have known him for a long time."

"I mean, I love you, Ry, but I need to grow up sometime, right?"

"This is hard for me," he said.

"Ry, I—"

"I know. I'm sorry. I am going to fight for you."

"Fight for me? Ryker, we will always be friends," I assured him.

"I don't like change."

"Well, things change. That's part of being human and living life. I am allowed to have more than one friend, Ry."

"Look at you—all wise," he chuckled, but it sounded sad.

"I am so wise, and you should listen to me."

"I really need to go, Emma—"

"Call me soon."

"I will."

"Thanks."

"Love you, Emma. Have fun at the dance, but not too much fun."

I rolled my eyes: "Sure, Ryker."