1|| Behind the Broken Truth

Chapter 7

"Why did you show me this?"

Andrew ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, well. I made a promise to your mom. To take care of you. She said 'Andy, promise me to take care of Jacob and Evie.' And of course I was her best friend. So, clearly, I had to show you this."

Only one piece of the information had processed through me. "Wait wait. Why would you have to take care of me? I thought mom would have said dad should take care of us. She didn't know he was going to run away." Or did she?

Suddenly the room lost all its shadow. I sensed something different within the tall shadow in front of me again. "Uh, you know what nevermind. I'm just gonna go do some homework."

I wandered off to my room again, thinking how real this sounded but as if a huge chunk was broken off. When I flopped back onto my bed, something crunched under me. I winced and turned to face it. Another piece of paper. Yay. Like that was going to help now. I figured I should unfold it, but not at the moment.

Thud.

Oh no.

Backing out, I was about to make a mad dash for it, but I remembered mom's words. just want to say that your sister has the answers. Go to her. Stop being so horrible.

So I changed course and knocked on Evelyn's door. A small voice replied. "It's open, Andrew."

I twisted the knob and answered. "It's me, not Andrew. How did you know he was back?"

Evelyn was sitting facing the other way. "I saw from the window. His car pulled in."

I approached her. "Hey, I- uh, I'm not here to argue. I found something else."

She turned to face me, and I recognized the expression she rarely wore. It was fear. "So did I. You can go first."

So I started. I told her about the vision of mom and Andrew's chilling words and the general suspiciousness of the whole situation. When I got to Andrew, she looked like she wanted to pass out. I lastly added the piece of poem I had found on my bed.

"Jacob... that's not all there is to it. But first open the poem," Evelyn whispered. I gingerly unfolded the paper and looked over the words.

Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your

Ruthless doings.

Opponent? Never.

Miss you? As

If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of

Secrets. It's up to them to

End it.

And it cut off right there. "Now add it to the rest of the poem," Evelyn instructed. I went over to the long piece of connected paper and added it to the bottom.

It looked somewhat like this:

A soul I thought was different but was

newly led astray. An enemy close to my heart, a

dear friend to betray

yearning, shadowed, it didn't matter to me anymore, because

It was too late to fight back.

They had won.

How they knew? That, I hoped I would never know, and that the

other one never found out

Unless. Unless I made a move. Ripped it to shreds. You

heartless soulless shadow of the one you used to be, why? Make or break? I never

Thought you would choose the latter

Yearning, shadowed, it won't matter to me anymore because my

Only hope is gone. Wish me luck. They will

Uncover what you buried.

Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your

Ruthless doings.

Opponent? Never.

Miss you? As

If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of

Secrets. It's up to them to

End it.

I stared, befuddled. "What the hell? It still looks like a jumble of words.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. Oh my goodness you complete idiot. Here, hand me a pen."

I reached over to her desk lamp and tugged out a black pen. Evelyn took it from me and set to work. She seemed to be tracing over something. Now, she shoved me towards whatever she was working on.

It was the exact same poem, but a little bit different. The sky seemed to lower. Whispers coming from the basement closer.

A soul I thought was different but was

newly led astray. An enemy close to my heart, a

dear friend to betray

yearning, shadowed, it didn't matter to me anymore, because

It was too late to fight back.

They had won.

How they knew? That, I hoped I would never know, and that the

other one never found out

Unless. Unless I made a move. Ripped it to shreds. You

heartless soulless shadow of the one you used to be, why? Make or break? I never

Thought you would choose the latter

Yearning, shadowed, it won't matter to me anymore because my

Only hope is gone. Wish me luck. They will

Uncover what you buried.

Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your

Ruthless doings.

Opponent? Never.

Miss you? As

If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of

Secrets. It's up to them to

End it.

It was incomplete. But. It meant something. And when I finally realized, we were almost out of time.