Echoes by Marissa Lete (best books for students to read txt) 📕

“It’s all over the news already. There’s not much I can do now, you know that,” he replies.

“Then I want you to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“And what makes you think I’m going to do what you say? Because you’re holding some stranger hostage? You think I’m some hero who’ll do anything you ask just to save an innocent life?”

“Nice try, but you’re not fooling anyone. Except, maybe—”

“I’ll do what you want,” he cuts her off, his voice growing somehow louder and darker at the same time. I’m not sure who I should be more scared of, the woman or Maverick. “But you’d better start thinking about the consequences of your actions. I can only cover your crimes up for so long, and as soon as I can’t anymore, it’s going to be over for you.”

The woman seems to be getting more and more uncomfortable with each word he says, but finally, she crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. “She stays here until you’ve finished the job.”

Maverick glances at me for a brief second and I think I almost see a hint of emotion there, but as soon as he looks away it’s gone. He glares at the woman from across the table but doesn’t reply.

“Dave, why don’t you take Laura to the third floor. I think there’s some space for her up there,” the woman says without breaking her stare at Maverick.

Dave moves towards me. “Wait!” I cry, unsure of what else I can say. I feel like I’ve just been dropped into the middle of some crazy story, and I have no idea what’s going on. I want answers.

Dave doesn’t stop, and no one acknowledges my cry of desperation. He comes over and grabs my arm, jerking me out of the chair.

“Who are you?” I shout as Dave tugs me along. I try to resist, but I’m too weak, my head too fuzzy. “What is going on?!” I try again, but neither Maverick nor the silver-haired lady makes eye contact with me. Dave opens the door, pushing me through it. “What do you want from me?” I demand, but it’s hopeless. Dave shoves me into the hallway, and the door swings shut behind him. And once again I’m left standing there, even more confused than I was before.

Chapter 19

I’m swimming in thoughts as Dave leads me down the hallway. The building is L-shaped with a hallway that runs along the center, adjoining rooms on both sides. The woman had mentioned something about a third floor, but Dave is taking me down, not up. We reach the first floor where I’d woken up, then stop in front of a door at the bottom of the stairwell. Dave pulls out a card, holds it up to a little gray square on the wall, and a green light flashes, followed by a beep. A lock clicks open and he tugs open the door, pushing me through.

Inside is another staircase that leads us down into a basement. This part, like the rest of the building, is strangely quiet. It’s colder down here, and the hospital-like scent is stronger, too. I shiver as we walk down a long, pristine hallway. Everything is white—the walls, the metal doors, the shiny linoleum floors.

Eventually, we come to a stop in front of a door marked with a blocky “3” and Dave has to use his card to open it as well. Inside is a small room that looks like a strange cross between a prison cell and a doctor’s office. There’s a security camera hanging in the upper corner, a medical examination chair, a cot with a stack of folded blankets sitting on the edge, and a toilet in the back corner. I really hope I’m not trapped in here long enough to have to use it.

I pause in the doorway, trying to think quickly and figure out some way to get out of this. Dave is quicker, though, and he puts a hand on my back and gives me a hard shove into the room. I try to keep my balance as I stumble inside.

“Please don’t do this,” I cry out, turning to face him. He gives me a long, pitiful look, then slams the door shut. I rush toward it, but my hands are still cuffed behind my back, and there is no door handle on the inside anyway.

I’m stuck here.

I pace back and forth for a few minutes, bang on the door with my foot for a little bit, and scream for help, but nothing happens. I think, trying to process everything.

I saw him. The real-life, in the present Maverick. I’d finally heard his voice, not just the echo of his voice. So that means he exists. He’s not just some crazy hallucination of my brain. He’s a real person. So does that mean the echoes really happened and I’d somehow forgotten?

I replay the conversation again in my head.

“And so I’ve brought someone along as a sort of… insurance,” the woman said.

Insurance? Am I the insurance? Is she using me to get Maverick to do what she wants? Me, because we had once known each other? Because we were in love? So why don’t I remember any of it? I struggle, trying to remember the rest of the conversation. I hear Maverick’s voice replying to the woman in my mind.

“And what makes you think I’m going to do what you say? Because you’re holding some stranger hostage?”

Stranger?

Does Maverick not remember me, either? Am I just as much of a stranger to him as he is to me? But why would he have been there in the alley, attempting to rescue me hours ago? And if he was the person in the sport’s car the night of the dance, why would