CEM Book Five: DARK WATERS

Right Here...

Reports said that he attacked a young girl on a train, violently raped and violated her, strangled her and left her for dead in the luggage car.

The girl had left home against her parents' wishes. She wound up far from home on a train where she met a boy, she was too traumatized to describe, who had charmed and seduced her. At first, she was complicit in their collusion, then things went horribly sideways; he raped her.

They had read the articles analyzed and studied them carefully. That same train, the one they found the brutalized girl on, stopped in the same city that the band had played the night of Rayne's attack. The victim said her attacker had a broken arm. That was enough to startle the entire band and scare both Avi and Rayne beyond senseless. The fact that they found the same cast dust on the girl's clothes and Rayne's and the girl's dried blood in Rayne's wound was more than enough scientific evidence to prove that their attacker was one and the same. How close had she come to sharing the same fate? This fact and the fact that there were other crimes he could be tied to, plus the criminal had crossed state lines brought in the FBI, but he eluded them and the local authorities.

They were scared, naturally. He was still out there, somewhere with a fucked-up face, he was a rapist and a murderer for all intents and purposes.

Avi was terrified to let her go alone and made her promise to check in as often as she could, even just a text, a random tweet anything to let him know she was alive and okay.

He did everything he could to stop the tears from falling as they went their separate ways but ultimately he failed miserably.

His mind refused to let her go. He lost focus. He knew that they would be together again and likely very soon. Still, it hurt to watch her go get on that plane.

His phone was ringing before he even lost sight of her back.

"Love you!"

"Love you too," His voice uncharacteristically cracked in the middle of his statement. "Please be careful and come back to me." He tried to smile, his face felt broken, and his heart heavy in his chest. That boy was still out there. He couldn't breathe even though he wanted to, he felt his throat constrict and his eyes widened. He had no control over what would happen next. If he didn't breathe he would pass out and then start breathing because he didn't have to think about it to make it happen when he wasn't conscious. He couldn't move but he needed to sit down. There were people all around him. Each and every one became a blur then came sharply into focus as they all surrounded him and loomed in his personal space. Their eyes were too big, their noses even more disproportionate. He felt like he had his head in a giant fishbowl. It was too much, way too much.

A sweet, soft warm sound emanated from his phone, the phone he miraculously still held to his ear. He was forced to focus on the sound if he wanted to hear it and he desperately did. There were no real words just intonation soft and sweet, a melody to match the rhythm his heart was supposed to beat to. He focused on only the sound until his breathing became something he should pay attention to, so he did. He breathed deep and even. Then he listened and made his heart beat to the rhythm of the melody. He found himself matching and harmonizing the tones as wave after wave of peace love and tranquility washed over him. The people faded out of focus and the fishbowl over his head disappeared. Finally, he heard the whisper.

"It turns out fine. It always does. I love you." he smiled and locked the melody away in his musical heart. She was like magic.

"I love you too my Sweet. Sweet. Love. Until I see you again."

"Until Then. Rest well, don't have too much fun. Without me."

"I won't."

He didn't. Touring became harder than it ever was, he withdrew from his friends, his second family. He just pulled away. He stopped going out with them. On the occasion that he did, he refused to be caught on camera. The music and the sound of her voice on the other end of the line, her constant messaging and the warmth and security of having his bro by his side became his only respite. It was the longest two weeks of his life.