Chapter 5 The Echoes of Silence

She stepped on a twig and her rust was heard within the depth of forest where lila went further. The moonlight shown through the trees creating hauntingly beautiful light on their path from her left And while it was a serene reminder of God's grace, she wouldn't let that disguise mask the agony in her chest. She was strong but a victim. And then there was the noise of someone running up from behind her.

"Lila!" Stillness echoed with Lucas calling out.

She halted, but no she did not look back.pen. "What do you want, Lucas?"

He flew through her, his breaths pouring out mimicking a steam train. "Baby, I... wait -- i don't want to leave it this way."

"No? You were going to abandon me with that,"she snapped and turned around, every bit as guarded in stance.

""That is bullshit," he said, his voice sharp. I panicked, and my response was shitty. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Except you did," she said quietly. "You can't take that back."

"Can we just talk about it? Like, really talk?" He turned to her and begged, desperation in his voice.

'It is useless to talk', Lila contradicted We have conversation before, but it always comes back.

"Then what should I say?" Then, more heatedly so from his usual affect and style of speaking: "That's not true," Lucas said. "That I'm sorry? Because I am! I'm willing to change, Lila!"

She let out a huge sigh as the confession finally came to rest.leadingAnchor part of life with English It does not happen over night my son, You have said that before.

"Then let me prove it to you! You go to therapy, I will do what ever...! His eyes were wide, pleading.

LILA You just say that because you're afraid to be alone. And then you start to feel well... Do you strengthen the old habit?

'I will do my best to not fail again. But I swear, ill try harder. You have to trust on me that I can change myself.

"And what about me?" she challenged, moving closer. " I HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME ASWELL. It feels like because and of you, I am less truly me..."I feel as if For us to keep going somehow- Sisters or strangers –(Dorothy Ahlgren survivor from trauma @ 90)"I have lost so much.

Lucas sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "So, what? Wait, so you will just leave him?

"Yes," she said firmly. I have to make my own path, that is not ours This relationship will no longer define me.

Taking a step in front of her, blocking the way. "Or what if you can never let it go? Don`t you realize how much I love?

Lila blinked before the stinging of tears became a sensation in her eyes. This is not about how I much I matter to you That I have to be worth so much more than your love.

He sighed, his shoulders sagging. "So, that's it? You are just going to throw us in the trash?

'Nevertheless, my friends, it is not so easily done,' she answered forcefully. Its always the part that gets me So You find comedy here because it is an Absurdly cliched solution to a problem or way of dealing with something.randrange(99,10) print "You make ompetition from"then 33 lines later I have another elif statement like this..."Oh thats how your doing things? But, Lucas... shades of gray! I only need some time... to heal and to grow.

"Time?" he echoed, his pain holding back unspoken anger. I can't just give you time. What if I can't wait?"

Then perhaps you should consider what that means to YOU she replied gently. You should never love on a timer. Can't you see that?"

"Lila, please." He said in a voice that cracked, and she realized tears glistened there. "I'm begging you. Don't leave me."

She looked into my eyes I wanted to hug her and shed tears on her behalf but she was not going to break"Im only leaving you because it would prove how much i dont care enough " I am going BECAUSE I care As difficult as that is.

And what if you meet someone else he growled, a hint of resentment seeping through his voice. What if they treat you better than I..

"Then I hope that if it finds me, I will be able to recognize and value it," she answered as her heart bled. But this is about me getting my mojo back.

After a long pause, an uncomfortable silence fell between them. When Lila looked around, she found herself stepping back from the group until that familiar history of theirs snapped her right back into its orbit.

"Will you at least call me?" Breaking the silence, Lucas asked.

I the doubt whirling in her mind. "Maybe...when I'm ready."

"What does that even mean?" sigh of frustration as he urged on.

"Then I have to find myself without you..." she confirmed. No more hiding behind you

So, why not take it slow and see what happens? he suggested. "Let us start with simply checkingin, no long-term ideas. Just...us."

"Lucas," she said softly, "Even that I don't know if Ican make seem normal...it's difficult to pretend things are okay when everything is so broken.

He took a step back and the space between them widened, his face weaving from eagerness to confusion mingled with compassion. Or you leaving is the answer?

This person, Lila answered in her own voice cracking with emotion but resolute as ever. "Activity is about driving clarity out of this chaos." She waved her hand around the stakes, as if they had been bound in some invisible blanket of unresolved emotion. "I just need space to breathe."

"Breathe ..." he repeated, the word so oddly misplaced in that hot space. "but how will I survive without breathing you?" Lila watched those usually vibrant eyes grow hollow and had a moment of guilt at the hearing it cause him.

"Give it a shot," she whispered quietly, and swallowed at the knot in her throat. own strength, Lucas. You have to believe in it."

I just... I am afraid so." he confessed, all of his vulnerability showing. You've been my anchor for so many years. I honestly do not know how to serve you surrender. "

"Then maybe you should {start|begin} to learn," she said, wanting in some way to protect him from pain. It was two people standing alone in the midst of their gathered memories, wondering what happened next.

Once again cursed, the loud noise of a door banging down the hall shattered it. They both jumped, looking to the sound. The door swung open, revealing a pale and disheveled figure Maya Lucas's little sister

"Lucas! Lila!" she shouted, breathless. "You need to come quick! It's Dad he collapsed!"

In one sharp, cold second of time the blood-boding weight of it vanished and was replaced by a numbing flood-tide of fear. Panic flashed on Lucas' face, his eyes wide open. "What? What happened?"

"I don't know! Mom called me. She can't get him to wake up! Maya took Lucas by the arm as she led him to her front door.

Lila inserted, her heart pounding. "Is he...is he okay?"

"I don't know! Just hurry!" Listened to Maya who sounded panicked, begging my case with no room for debate.

I was so torn, because family needed me more than ever before and I had just opened up the conversation with Lila. "I... I have to go," he replied, voice cracking again. "I have to help him."

"Get out of here," Lila said, finally giving way to the reality. "We'll talk later. Just... go."

He nodded sharply, pain flickering in his eyes once more before he turned and walked out of the room; Maya fell into step beside him. The door swung shut and Lila heard it echo, one goodbye.

She felt a cold chill running down her spine as she stood motionless in the entrenched silence. It was silent in the room for several seconds, not even a recognizable sound from in cell rang out before it buzzed on the table. She picked it up, and her heart pounded when she looked at the caller ID: a number unfamiliar but that froze her with terror if only for answering it.

Sucking her lips in with a deep breath, she paused and thought about Lucas' words-and the weight of their conversation. What if I meet someone else? repeated over and over in her head, morphing into something scarier what if this call made enough of a difference?

She answered with trembling fingers, the anxiety clawing at her chest. "Hello?"

"Lila," the voice said over on the other line, it was controlled but a little desperate. And so he was saying, You need to hear me very clearly.

Suddenly, her heart began to race even faster when she realized the person speaking. It was a name she had tried to burn from her memory, an echo from the unreachable depths of history. "What do you want?" her voice, barely a whisper. she mustered asking

The voice came again, smooth and insidious. "I can make you better," it promised. But you have to come see me tonight. You dont even know there are secrets that could hurt you.

"Change everything?" the gravity words sending a chill up her spine, she echoed.

A voice answered in a hideously suggestive tone, "Yes." But without you, that ready for what is going to happen next, doesn´t arrive.

The line went silent once more before she could answer, leaving the other voice in a static filled void again. Her room was too quiet, the peace broken by questions unasked and weights left unreleased, impending danger.

She held onto the phone tight and she was breathing quicker. Standing there, weighing the life realignment she had just undergone one thing was absolute: and that whatever')}}">_s