Back in Tuscaloosa
Ava hurriedly hung up as soon as she heard her mother's voice at the door. But for her soft bed, she almost literally broke her phone's screen. His voice still lingered in her head as she got up to answer Emma. He had told her he was fine but his voice had betrayed him.
"Mam" Ava forced a smile, welcoming her mom into her room. The middle-aged woman trudged in, with her arms akimbo.
"I have something crucial to talk to you about, cherry" she sat, biting her lips every now and then. She looked out the window and turned to her daughter, stared intently at her round face. Ava could almost swear she knew what was running through her mind. It's the same old story.
"Do you still talk to that guy? Edith or what's he called?"
Ava sighed and shook her head from side to side.
"Good. I don't want you making friends with any of the boys of Tuscaloosa. Even the girls are a potential predator. Be careful, cherry. Please" Emma's eyebrows twitched and met in between. One of their neighbors must have told her something. Such nosy oldies.
"Your father and I just discussed about you. He wants you close to home after graduation"
"I don't understand. If I'm not to mingle with the boys here, how does dad want me to go to a University here then?" Her voice was shriller than usual.
"Well, he cares about you. I do too. You're two children in one now, cherry. Please understand our worries"
"Then let's move"
"How do you mean?"
"Let's all leave this place. We can start all over somewhere else where I don't have to be caged and controlled based on the circumstances of my brother's death! I know Tyler is dead, and I know it hurts but it doesn't mean I'm gonna die too! I need to breathe" Ava stood up, making for the door. Her phone was vibrating in her pockets and she badly wanted to take it; she was not done ranting to the love of her life.
"You're so mean, Ava. I hate that you're so mean. You don't care about your brother's death that much. You don't care if you leave us childless too" Emma sobbed and shrieked, wiping her eyes with the hem of her skirt.
Ava's face fell.
"Mam, I don't get it. You all want to keep me safe but I feel caged instead. I literally feel like I've got fetters in my hands. Don't you think if I'm actually destined to die like Tyler, death will find me no matter where I am?"
Emma walked past her daughter towards the door and opened it. She looked like she had too much tears in her eyes which needed a little shedding.
"Gosh!" Ava tightened the bolt behind the door and took the call. She wished she could just disappear. Her lunch still laid untouched in the kitchen and now, her supper was going to join it there.
"You don't sound fine" Ethan whispered over the phone. She sighed, flopping on her bed and bouncing hard. Some residue of tears gathered in her left eye and she wiped them off with the back of her palm.
"Neither do you" she muttered shakily. She needed him at the moment, especially his caressing and how he touched the small of her back affectionately.
"I'm worried about my sister" he confessed. She knew it. "Yesterday I asked dad if Fiona was fine and attending school, he juggled past my question intentionally. I think something is wrong"
"Why not go home and check?"
"That's my problem, I am not prepared to go home. I don't want to meet Scarlett yet" he sighed and Ava heard him brush his teeth. They needed to talk face to face. Ava serious needed to wet his shirt with her tears.
"So, what's wrong with you too?" He mumbled, with a full mouth. Ava heard him spit into the wash basin.
"Mam and Papa are choking me. I want to cry. Badly. I feel so alone. I really wish Tyler were here, everything would have been better. Maybe we all wouldn't..." She lost her voice halfway. Whenever it happened like that, he used to hug her to quieten her
"Can we meet tonight?" He asked, and she imagined his warm breath over her neck. His presence was very heartwarming. "I mean, let's meet tonight, babe, please"
"Is it possible? What will I tell ...
"Lock your door and jump down your window. I'll fetch you in ten minutes"
"It's too late at night, Ethan. It's scary out there- I don't want them to catch you"
"I'll catch the fucking bus this time" he said simply and she couldn't help but giggle.
And soon enough, he was outside in twelve minutes, rubbing her palm and walking her away from home. And she wished she could just run away with him like that, and never come back, she wished she wouldn't have to return to her shell.
He planned to take her to his place in his mind, and as they manuevered his street towards his own apartment, he saw Ava jitter once or twice. He thought she knew his plan, and didn't want it.
And so, he never asked why she seemed tense. It couldn't have been just the weather. Even her grip on his arm was tighter and her eyes kept darting around her surroundings. She seemed to be sucking in her breath, as she buried half her head in his hoodie.
As soon as they arrived his street, even a pindrop could be heard. Birds and squirrels already retired in the nests on the tree above his roof. The agile old woman on his adjacent was no longer sitting at her door with knitted items on her thighs, like she had them every evening. Even the men of the night seemed to avoid the night.
Ethan made sure he secured the lock behind his door before posing the question, and he did in the strangest way possible.
"Ava? Did you see a ghost?"
"I'd be running back home immediately if I saw one" she sneered and Ethan's body shook with effortless giggles. No one knew what else to do, so they sat, no, cuddled on the couch and talked.