The Eyes Tell No Lies (3 page)

Now that she had her eyesight back, Arie felt as though it was time to put her degree
to use, besides just being an intern with the FBI. She had no clue what she wanted
to do with her degree, but she knew she wanted to do something with putting criminals
away. Maybe it was time to finish the things she started at the FBI or find something
else. In her heart she knew it was time to take control of her life and stop letting
her mother and her blindness be a crutch to lean on. Other than encouraging others
who were blind just like her to keep pursing their dreams during her motivation speeches,
she felt like a failure. Because in her speeches, she told them to follow their dreams
no matter what others said
while
she was no longer following her dreams herself. It was time to stop hiding behind
everything that went wrong around her and stop being scared of going into the world
alone. She was going to get over her fear by just jumping right in and finding a
job as soon as she got home.

With her eyes closed, Arie sat up, reached out, and felt around for her food until
she realized she could just look for it with her eyes.
Damn, it’s going to take a long time to readapt to using my eyes again
, Arie thought as she began to eat. Her eyes started to burn and grew heavy just
as she finished her sandwich and soup. The toll of the surgery and the medicine
s
still in her system was finally catching up to her rather quickly. She pushed the
table with her food on it to the side and laid back. As soon as her head hit the
soft
, cool pillow, she fell sleep.

****

Two weeks later Arie was pulling up to her house in a cab from the hospital and not
a moment too soon. She felt like she was either going crazy or the medicine was making
her insane. A woman’s voice that felt and sounded so real whispered to her every
night for the past two weeks. Whispering, ‘
my brother needs your help, help him and you will find what you have searched for
your whole life
.’ At first she thought maybe her eyesight was messed up and the woman was actually
there. Until the voice whispered to her while a nurse was there and the nurse hadn’t
seen anything either. Arie knew as soon as the medicine had worn off she would be
fine—or so she thought.

She was in awe of seeing everything for what seemed like the first time again. The
way the sun blended into the light blue sky and how when she looked at the clouds
they took on shapes of animals and many other things. The tall intricate and small
charming buildings she had seen on her way home as she looked out the window seemed
so familiar yet so different from the changes made over time. A tingling sensation
took over Arie’s body whenever she got the sense she saw something before but couldn’t
quiet put her finger on it. She couldn’t remember how many times she got that feeling
of déjà vu on the cab drive home.

“That will be ten dollars and fifty five cents, miss,” the cab driver’s voice drifted
into her thoughts.

Arie reached into her purse and felt around until her hand brushed across the pouch
in her purse. She quickly reached in and felt the different shapes of her money until
she felt the awkward shape of a twenty.
Damn, I have to stop doing that
, Arie thought, when she realized she was feeling around for her money as if she couldn’t
see instead of just looking into her purse.

“Sorry about that,” Arie said to the cab driver as she slipped her money into the
slot.

“No, problem, miss, here is your change,” the cab driver said as he turned around
and placed the change back into the slot.

“No, sir, you keep the change,” Arie declined as she hurried out of the cab.

She couldn’t believe the sight of her home when she turned around. It looked as though
it had a fresh coat of paint in sky blue and her shutters were ivory. If she didn’t
know any better, she would think her fence, which matched the color of her home perfectly,
was repaired and newly painted. Her garden on either side of the walkway was filled
with red roses on one side and white tulips on the other.

A small, fragile voice called out to her just as she unlatched her gate.

“Mrs. Craig, how are you? Do you know who painted my home while I was gone?” Arie
asked her next-door neighbor when she smelled the fresh scent of paint the closer
she walked to her house.

Mrs. Craig was a seventy-five year old lady who still had a
lot of
life left in her. Sometimes Arie thought the woman had more energy and spunk than
she did. She was a small woman with gray hair flowing down her back and a brown cane
at her side that she rarely used.

“Mr. Craig and my son-in-law did after Mr. Craig and I told him and my daughter about
your surgery,” Mrs. Craig said as she leaned over the rail of her porch.

“Mr. Craig helped? I thought I told him not to do any
more housework over here after he fixed my shutters and rail. Would you thank them
for me?” Arie said.

Mr. Craig was just a little bit taller than his wife, and just as spunky or maybe
even more spunkier, than his wife. He never took no for an answer when it came to
Arie and her safety. Mr. and Mrs. Craig’s daughter, Kylee, was the only one of her
friends who came to visit her after her accident, and still
did
to this day, even though she’s ten years older than Arie. They were the family Arie
always wished her family had been like. A loving father who came home after work,
a doting, supportive mother, and a daughter who got all the love and support she needed.

Watching Kylee with her parents made Arie realize the beatings she received from her
mother wasn’t normal. If Arie asked for something, came out of her room, walked in
the house a minute late from school even when it was snowing, dropped something or
spilled something, she got a beating. The beatings became harsher the older she became,
but she thought they were normal. Until she visited Kylee’s home for the first time
and watched her mother clean up the spill without beating or yelling at Kylee. Arie
had flinched and tears came to her eyes when she saw Kylee’s juice spill onto the
kitchen floor and Mrs. Craig walking into the room at the same time. When Mrs. Craig
grabbed a washrag and cleaned up the mess without any complaint, Arie knew something
was terribly wrong with her life. She always knew there was something wrong with
her home life but didn’t know what it was exactly until that moment.

“Aww, hush, you know you are like a second daughter to us. I don’t know why you insisted
on hiring a CNA when your parents died instead of moving in with us. Besides, this
is our welcoming home gift to you,” Mrs. Craig said to Arie as she leaned forward.

Mr. and Mrs. Craig had insisted on Arie moving in with them when her parents died.
They had even helped her plan the funeral, but she had declined their offer and stayed
at home. Arie had been taking care of herself for so long she didn’t know how to
let others help her.

“How can I make this up to you all?” Arie asked as she made her way to the Craig’s
home through a gate Mr. Craig built into the fence
s
o they could get to each other’s homes more easily and without having to leave their
yards. She wasn’t used to letting others help her without giving anything back to
them in return.

“You can thank us by not letting your fears stop you from going out into the world
and following your dreams. Oh, you can also invite us to dinner once you are settled,”
Mrs. Craig answered.

“Done,” Arie said as she wrapped Mrs. Craig in a tight hug and kissed her cheek before
heading back to her home.

Arie waited at her door until she knew Mrs. Craig was all the way in her home before
opening up her own door. Good and bad—mostly bad—memories flooded her mind as she
looked around the living room. She closed her eyes and tried to will away the bad
memories. She plugged her ears with her fingers when her childhood screams of agony
penetrated her ears along with the memories. She slid down the door and quickly started
the breathing exercises her therapist taught her to do when the memories became too
much.

She sat there in silence long after the memories subsided and the screams from her
childhood disappeared, admiring the changes in her home. Reliving those memories
never became any easier, even after she first experienced them over ten years ago.
After her parents died, Kylee encouraged her to see a therapist after witnessing one
of her episodes. The last nine months of the therapy sessions helped a tremendous
amount, but she still had a long way to go.

Arie took a huge deep breath and finally stood after she sat in front of the door
for what felt like a lifetime but was only an hour. She collected herself and made
her way to the windows in her home, she needed fresh air, since the air in her home
was hot and extremely stuffy.

After taking a few moments to collect herself, she looked around her home and noticed
it looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned since her mother and father were alive.
Dirty dishes were piled in the kitchen sink. Dirt was piled on every surface of the
room. Despite all of the dirt and clutter in the room she smiled as she looked on
at the furniture in each room. Her father had told her
since
she couldn’t sail anymore with him
because
her mother thought it was too dangerous since she was blind
, he
would bring the boat to her
. That's
when he bought new furniture for the downstairs
,
and by the looks of
it,
he
had
done
just that.

The inside of Arie home looked the same as it did when she was a child the only difference
was the furniture. Directly in front of the door was an ivory spiral staircase.
Behind the stairs was an open family/dining room with a long, white sectional couch
in the shape of a boat. While on the right side of the room was a two-toned white-and-black
table with round curves in the shape of a sailing boat on the left side of the room.

The kitchen was behind the stairs to the right and closed off from the family/dining
room. In the kitchen was a
wooden
island with a stainless steel on top. The Island
was shaped like a ship and
looked as though it
floated
in the air
.
The oven was concealed in the Island, along with the sink,
and
some gaunt angular wooden stools. Directly to the left of the front door was the
living room. In the living room was a black sectional in the shape of a boat with
a rectangle glass table and fireplace in front of it.

I think my dad may have gone extremely overboard with the whole bringing the sailboat
to me theme, but I like it in some weird way
, Arie thought as she looked around admiring the room before she started cleaning
the whole house.

Two hours later just as she was dusting the last room, her doorbell rang. Before
she
could
get to the door, the person on the other side began to pound on it in urgency.

“I’m coming
!
” Arie yelled as she rolled her eyes. She hated when someone kept knocking on the
door instead of giving her time to answer it.

Christoph was outside playing with his new baseball glove when his twin sister, Grace,
came running outside with his favorite truck.

“Cris, look what I got,” Grace said in a singsong teasing voice as she stuck her tongue
out. Right before she dropped it on purpose, picked it back up, and quickly took
off running into the woods in their backyard.

“Stupid, idiot girl, I hate you, Grace, I wish you would disappear,” Christoph yelled
out after his sister when he noticed a piece of his truck was on the ground right
before taking off after her.

Christoph
woke up with a cold sweat while screaming
,
“No!
Grace,
I didn’t mean it
,
I was just a stupid little boy
,
come back.”

It was the same nightmare
e
ach night since his sister
’
s funeral. Before the funeral
,
he was having a different nightmare
,
and
like
this one,
the other felt too real as
well
. In the
dream prior to the funeral, Christoph
is
called out to the scene of a homicide while on duty. When he
arrives,
the murder vi
ctim is his twin sister, Grace
. His heart starts b
eating wildly and his palms begi
n to sweat profoundly as he
walks
closer to the body. When he kneels down next to the body
,
a single tear slides down his face,
Grace
’s corpse turns to him and says.

“
I hate you, I hate you, Christoph
. What kind of cop are you that you couldn’t even sa
v
e your own sister.”

Th
e
nightmare seemed to follow the other one whenever he
attempted to go back to sleep
.

The past two and a half weeks have put a strain on his mind, body, and mostly his
heart. The dreams were making it hard for him to get any sleep; he could barely eat,
and he just couldn’t quite focus on anything. Th
at was a
deadly combination in his line of work
. Therefore,
his captain made him go on a mandatory vacation
a
fter seeing how his sister's de
ath
affected him after
the
first
two days
back to work after the funeral
. The month and a half vacation coincidently started when his partner
,
Derrick
,
finally left for his two
-week honeymoon cruise and
six
-
week medical leave.

His partner
,
Derrick
,
was injured a week before his sister was murdered. They were chasing down a criminal
when the
criminal
’s partner ran over Derrick with his car
right
after shooting him in the leg from behind.
Cris
didn’t stop until he found the two men who hurt his partner. Derrick didn’t let
getting shot and not being able to walk mess up his wedding five days later though.
He suffered through the pain until the wedding was over
and then
Cris
had to carry him to the limo after everyone had left the reception. Derrick always
had to make a joke or find the light of every situation. As
Cris
helped him into the limo
,
he removed
Cris
's arm from around him
,
looked at
Cris,
and said, “
I couldn’t have planned this any better
,
tell those assholes thanks for the two-month honeymoon.
I appreciate it.”
Derrick chuckled
as he closed the door to the limo
.

Christoph
thought
keeping his mind occupied
would take away some of the pain
,
or at least clear his head
,
but
w
as he wrong. He never thought his heart would ever ache this bad
,
but it was hard losing a sibling
—
and even harder losing your twin. Someone who he shared all his secrets with and
had a special language only they could understand.
The person who understood
all aspects of your
personalit
y
and never questioned who you truly
we
re. Yes, sometimes she got on his nerves and they argued but who didn’t with their
sibling
,
but they shared everything together including their mother’s womb. She even had
her own room in his apartment for when she needed to escape their mother’s home.
He tried to throw himself into work unsuccessfully
,
hoping it
would
close him off to the pain.

Christoph
felt like a failure for not bein
g able to save her life. He ra
ked his hands rather harshly through his short
,
soft
,
black curly hair as he thought
,
w
hat kind of man
,
let alone detective
,
are you? Letting your sister get killed like that and not solving the case.

‘Cristo,
it was my fault
,
not yours. I should have told you.
’
A chill ran down his spine as the voice whispered softly into his ear and
the
temperature
in the room
dropped a significant amount.

“What the hell
?
I have to get some strong coffee into me. I am so sleep deprived it
’
s making me delusional and cau
sing me to hear things,” Christoph
said
a
loud as he swung his legs over the bed and onto the floor.

‘
You are not delusional
,
it is just your Cherokee powers from your ancestors helping you talk to the dead.
’
Christoph
could hear his twin
’s
voice drifting into his head saying exactly that
,
w
hile her right hand was on her hip with a look that gave off so much attitude.
Without even realizing it
,
he smiled at the thought.

He didn’t believe in his Cherokee powers like his sister, mother, and the rest of
their family members. They all tried
repeatedly
to prove to him that his ancestors were protecting and helping him. No m
atter what they had tried, Christoph
just couldn’t see it and when his mind was set on something
,
it was hard to change it. His sister
,
who was a journalist
,
even went as far as to tell him her ancestors had helped her solve cases the police
department he worked for couldn’t. When
Grace
said that
,
he just laughed and told her it was because some of his detective skills had rubbed
off on her
—
after all
,
they were twins.

The sun w
as trying to peek through Christoph’s
black curtains. He rose off his bed
,
walked toward his window
,
and opened his curtains to let some light into the room before making his way down
the stairs and into the kitchen in his apartment.

The kitchen was a very standard kitchen with stainless steel appliances, white marble
counter tops, and white cabinetry. A short stainless steel island was in the middle
of the kitchen with bar stools
that didn’t match
.

Christoph
grabbed the tea
kettle
Grace had gotten him just this last Christmas
an
d
filled it with water. While the water boiled
,
he sleepily took out some Peet’s instant coffee since it was the strongest he had.

Christoph
had a true bachelor pad. In his living room was a long black sectional couch
, a
pool table, and a fifty
-
inch television mounted on the wall
in front of the couch
.
T
he things he did on the pool table in the living room
,
w
ell
,
the old one since he broke it and had to purchase this one only a month ago. In
the bedroom was a black king
-
sized bed with black silk sheets on it and a matching black dresser. He thought the
different aspects of his apartment showed his personalities and lifestyle.

He
was
very strong
-
minded
—
some would say stubborn
—
and protective of his family. He was a great friend and listener who knew when to
be pushy in order to help a friend and when to step back. A dedicated twenty
-
seven year old police officer
,
he had started volunteering at the police station at sixteen. At eighteen
,
he went to the local community college for a degree in criminology as he waited until
he could finally join the police academy at
age
twenty
-
one. Without being pushed
,
he always signed up for the extra classes to help improve his skills. He quickly
made a name for himself and caught the attention of his
c
aptain
.
After watching him solve
many difficult
cases
, his captain
signed him up for the classes to become a criminal profiler as well.

He wasn’t al
ways
serious
,
he could joke with the best of them
,
and loved to hit up a round of beers and game
s
of pool with some of
the other
officers
w
hen he needed to relax after a hard case or just needed to get out of the house.

There was one thing that he thought didn’t show what he wanted in life or his lifestyle.
The fact that his apartment screamed out bachelor pad, yeah
,
a few months ago it would have been true.
However, a
fter standing next to his partner and best friend during his wedding
,
and
he
watch
ed
their love gr
o
w
,
h
e knew he wanted something more out of life now than just hopping from bed to bed
with women he didn’t have feelings for. He wanted to feel his body
come
alive and
get
hot all over
a
woman
just looking at him or
by
the
sound of
her voice.

Derrick’s wedding wasn’t the only reason he was feeling the itch to settle down.
Arie. Arie was the reason he wanted to settle down. When he first saw her it was
like her sweet angelic voice enveloped his mind and body with the first word she spoke
and held him captive ever since. She was the first woman to ever make him nervous
just by the sheer thought of her rejecting him in anyway, which was the only thing
stopping him from asking her out during his mandatory vacation.
H
e knew her rejection would crush more than his pride and ego, it would crush his heart
and the future he was now looking forward to with her. He couldn’t believe a woman
had him fantasizing about the future with her just from a few simple conversations.
His mother always told him he would know when he met the right one. He thought she
was just full of it, but now Arie had him believing in the words his mother said to
him and Grace all those years ago.

He made up excuse after excuse to see her after he informed her of her parents’ death
,
until he had exhausted all plausible justifications of seeing her.
Since one of the reasons why he was making up the excuses to come over on his off
days was to build up the courage to ask for her number.
He usually was a straightforward kind of guy, but with her he wasn’t.
When Derrick asked Cris why he didn’t ask her out, Cris said
he felt as though he would be taking advantage of someone who was blind since she
wouldn’t be able to see his face. Derrick laughed and shook his head since he knew
this was the only woman who both scared and intrigued his friend.
He was pissed when just as they were getting comfortable with each other he was
called out on important case. Just as they were wrapping up that case
,
something with his partner had come up. Then not to
o
long after h
is
sister was killed. He felt as though there was some sort of conspiracy trying to
keep them apart
,
but he wasn’t going to have that.