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

“Your father who you never knew?” I mumble, repeating the words I’d remembered.

Maverick winces when he hears my words, and I can see the lines of a painful memory crossing his face. “I did know him, actually. But he didn’t know me,” he tells me, finally. “When I was growing up, I started to notice weird things that would happen around me. Mom would forget I had a doctor’s appointment simply because I didn’t want to go. Dad would forget that the game was on because I was busy playing cars with him. My teacher would forget that I didn’t turn in my homework. I didn’t know it was me, at first. But as I grew older, I started to figure out how it worked.

“When I was about ten, I tried to talk to my parents about it. I tried to convince them that there was something wrong with me, that somehow I could make people forget about things. But they wouldn’t believe me, they thought I was just being paranoid. So they started taking me to counselors, psychologists. People who told me I simply had a disorder.”

I nod, “I know how that feels.”

“One day, I tried to bring it up again, and my dad got really mad. He could be short-tempered at times. He told me I needed to grow up, to stop it with the stupid little games. I begged and begged him to trust me, to listen to me, but he wouldn’t. So I got mad, too.” Maverick hangs his head down. “I didn’t mean to do it, honestly. But I was angry, so I told my dad I wished he would just forget about me. That I hated him and didn’t want him to be part of the family anymore.

“The second he laid his hand on me, I watched the memories fade from his eyes. Me, my mom, everything. I was angry, and I didn’t know how to control it. So it just happened. And I couldn’t take it back.” I watch the muscles in Maverick’s jaw twitching as he pauses. “I made my own dad forget about our family. And my mom watched it all happen.”

A brief silence falls around us. It totally makes sense to me now why Maverick responded the way he did when my dad’s echo asked him about his dad. This couldn’t be easy for him to talk about. Even if he hadn’t told us why his dad was gone, the guilt of knowing it was his fault was probably unbearable.

“I was just a kid,” his voice falters on the word. “I ruined our family. He left that day, and we never saw him again—why would we? We were just strangers to him after that. But his name was on my birth certificate, so when he died last year, and he had no other family to pass down his possessions to, it went to me. Mom kept it from me since I was still a minor, but once I turned eighteen I got all of it.”

“So your Dad was rich?” I ask him, blinking in surprise.

“Not exactly. He won the lottery a few years ago. Six hundred and seventy-five million dollars.”

I suck in a cold breath.

“Of course, he bought the house, and the cars and everything. And with taxes, and estate taxes, and all that stuff, it’s nowhere near that much money anymore…” Maverick scratches his neck uncomfortably.

“Wow,” the word doesn’t even begin to wrap around the enormity of the information I’ve just learned. The words hang over our heads like dark thunderclouds. “Did I know about any of this? Your Dad leaving?”

“I told you eventually that my Dad left us when I was younger and that we never saw him again. Though I kind of left out the part about it being my fault, obviously. But I told you about the house and everything right after I found out about it all. You even came over to hang out a few times.”

“That makes sense,” I reply, nodding.

A corner of his mouth tilts upwards, the expression catching me off guard. “Though, I was glad that we’d already been dating for several months before I got it all. Because at least I was mostly sure you weren’t just dating me for my money.”

I can’t help but laugh at his comment, but it makes me wonder. How had I felt about him? We’d been together for a while, so I must have been happy. But he also would have been my first relationship, ever. Could I have been too afraid to end things? Afraid that I’d never find love again if I left him?

I don’t want to think it had been like that. All of the echoes I’d heard of Maverick and I had been sweet. Sure, there had been a lot of teasing and flirting, but underneath it all, it sounded like we cared about each other. Maverick had brought me gifts when I was sick—even now the thought of that encounter makes my heart flutter in my chest. But had things changed as the months went by? I guess my only option now is to listen to all the echoes I can and wait and see.

We take several steps through the darkness before I clear my throat, changing the subject yet again. “So what’s the plan? How are we going to stop Alice?”

Maverick looks at me pointedly. “We?”

I blink at him. “Yes. We.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think you want to get involved with this.”

I stop walking, turning on him squarely. “I’m not going to sit around while you try to take down Alice alone. The woman who’s chasing me, too, in case you don’t remember.” The words come out harsher than I’d intended, but they get my point across.

“I don’t want you to get hurt—”

“I’ve already been hurt,” I cut him off.