Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

"I'm different. Ma. You'll see."

"That's true. I'll see." Mrs. Westington concluded.

I waited just a moment or two too long before I turned to Echo to signal we were leaving. Rhona stepped out and saw me in the hallway. She smiled coldly.

"Spying on us, were you?"

"No. We're on our way out for a walk." I said quickly.

"Sure. you were. I know you. I know your kind, and do you want to know why I know you?" she asked, stepping toward me.I'll tell you why. Because once I was just like you, a parasite. Cmon. Skeeter," she said, turning to him before I could respond or react. "Let's get our other stuff out of the van. We're moving in."

They stepped forward and then she saw Echo at the stairway. "Oh. Echo, sweetie," she cried. "Skeeter, ask her if she wants to help us bring in our things?"

"I'm not sure I remember it all that well. Rhona. Let's see," he said, and started to sign. He was able to say, "You want to carry..." He started fumbling for other words, but Echo was smart enough to realize what he meant. She looked at Rhona, who was smiling at her and holding her hand, and she nodded quickly.

"Great," Rhona said, putting her arm around her. "Come with us. You don't want to waste your time on a walk with her."

Rhona looked back at me triumphantly as she took Echo out the door with her, her arm around her shoulders,

"You don't want to mess with her," Skeeter told me as he followed. "She can be a viper."

I watched them leave and then I looked in on Mrs. Westin ton, She was in her soft chair, her head back, her eyes closed. asleep. She looked years older to me. It was all foreboding. frightening. I hurried out the rear door of the house and then around toward the motor home. In more than one way now, it had become my true sanctuary. I knew I'd be comfortable in there beside Destiny.

As soon as I entered. I sat across from the doll and just as Uncle Palaver would do. I started a conversation.

"You can't imagine what a horrid thing has happened. Destiny. Rhona has returned with her socalled boyfriend and she's trying to win Echo away from Mrs. Westington and force Mrs. Westington to give her money, money she'll surely waste. I don't know what I can do about it."

"You can stop whining for one thing." I heard. I looked up. Did I just do that, think it and throw my voice through Destiny? It was more like something Brenda would say. You don't let someone like Rhona push you around, she would surely tell me. She's really a coward at heart. Stand up to her and she'll back away so fast, it will leave a back draft.

"Yes," I told Destiny. "I bet she really is a cowardly person. I'm not sure about Skeeter. He's not much better. but I think he's a sly, conniving sort of person. He's probably egging her on in all this. I saw how big his eyes were when he saw the house and the property. I should talk with Trevor," I continued. "He should know what just happened.'

To me it looked like Destiny was smiling. Those soft lips were pulling in a little.

"We'll make them disappear," she said. One way or another."

She didn't really say it, of course. I had thrown my voice through her again, but it was comforting. I must surely be having a feeling close to what Uncle Palaver felt when he carried on his conversations with the doll. For now, the illusion was enough. I didn't feel as alone. Did that make me terrible, weird, strange, or was it just normal for someone as frightened and alone as I was, as Uncle Palaver had been?

I gazed back at the house through the motor home window and saw Trevor Washington's light on in his apartment at the rear. I hadn't thought of him until now. Why was he so eager to get away when Rhonda and Skeeter showed up? I thought about it for a moment and then I rose, looked down at Destiny, who. As Tyler had said, seemed to follow your every move, and then I left the motor home and walked to Trevor's apartment entrance. I knocked and a moment later, he opened the door. To me he looked more tired and troubled than I had ever seen him.

"I hope you don't mind," I said. "but I wanted to tell you what Rhona said to me and what she's threatening to do."

His eves widened, "What she said to you, huh?" ""Yes."

"Come on in," he said, stepping back.

All he had was what would be known as a studio apartment, a living room with a pull-out bed and a small kitchen. There was a table barely big enough for two. Had he lived in this little place all these years and not been unhappy?

"It ain't much," he said, seeing how I looked around at everything. "Just a place to rest my tired bones every night." He turned off his small television set. "You want something to drink? I got some soda, some juice. whatever."

"No. I'm fine, thank you."

"Well, take a seat," he said, nodding at the small sofa. He sat in his well-worn big cushion chair.

I saw the picture of a pretty African American woman on the dresser.

"That was your wife?"

"Charlie Mae, yes," he said. "Angels decided she was more than I deserved, She's gone, but I know she's still here," he said. I didn't need an explanation. "So, tell me about Miss Rhona. What poison came off that tongue?"