Page 17 of Echoes

Eliza slammed the carton down on the counter, and pieces of Kung Pao chicken flew around it.

“Hey, whatiswrong with you?” Lydia asked.

“You really want to know?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Fine. Come on,” Eliza replied and pulled on Lydia’s hand, dragging the woman up the stairs. “Stand there.” She pointed to a random spot in front of her bed, went into the closet, removed the pile of clothes on top of the metal box, and carried the damn thing out into the bedroom. “It was this. This is what did it.”

“A metal box?” Lydia asked, confused. “Was it special to you or your dad?”

“No, I’d never seen it before that day in the storage unit.” Eliza sat on the bed and opened the box. “There’s a note in here too, but this is what did it.” She held up the device.

“What the hell is that?”

“I have no idea. The note calls itthe device, but I don’t know what that means.” She held it up but didn’t let Lydia touch it and made sureshedidn’t press that button again.

“Okay. Then, why did this make you remember?”

“It didn’t. It made mereliveit.”

Her best friend looked at her, even more confused now, and said, “I don’t get it, El.”

“I accidentally pressed this button, Lydia. And you’re not going to believe this next part, but when I did, I wasn’t in the storage room anymore; I was backthere. It was that night outside the cabin. I was how I am now, an adult, and wearing the clothes I was wearing the day we went to my mom’s place to get this stuff. I saw my teenage self. I saw my mom how she was that night. And I also saw my dad and the man who killed him. I tried to stop it, and when I couldn’t, I heard their conversation.”

“What conversation?”

“My dad and the guy. They were talking about something. My dad told him that my mom and I knew nothing. The man asked him where something was, and I think it’s this. I think he wantedthis.”

“But you were transported somewhere? Are you sure you didn’t have a nightmare or something?”

“I was wide awake, Lydia.”

“It happens. It can happen, right?”

“I don’t know how this thing works. I just know what it did. I saw that man’s face, and I remembered him from the wake. That’s how I know, okay? I know I sound like I belong in a straitjacket, but it’s the truth. And I ran out of that room and threw up because thatman ate our food. He stood there, in a room of people who knew and loved my father, and he just pretended like he wasn’t the reason we were all there in the first place.”

“Maybe we should just take a minute here,” Lydia suggested as she sat down next to Eliza.

“See? This is why I didn’t tell you. I’m not making this up, Lydia.”

“I didn’t say you were. But it does sound kind of crazy, Eliza.”

“You really think I don’t know that? I put this thing in my closet under a pile ofcleanclothes because I don’t want anyone to find it, but I don’t want to get rid of it, either, because I don’t know whether I’ll need it again or not.”

“Why would you need it again?”

“Because maybe I can go back and see something else that’ll help them convict him when they find him. Maybe they missed something, but I’ll see him run off, and he left a glove behind that we can go there and find today.”

“It’s been sixteen years, El.”

“I’m just giving an example.”

“Have you pressed the button again?”

“No, I’m too afraid. I thought I’d do it if I had to, but I don’t know that I should just use it again. The note warns against it.”

“The note. Can I read it?”

---