Page 14 of This Love
I released some of the tension I was holding in my chest. She could understand. She could read. She could talk.
The recording went on. “Ava, if you can’t read it, you need big help. Look at the faces of the people around you and trust yourself to know who is there to help you and who isn’t. Always trust this feeling. It will steer you right.”
Ava glanced at us briefly, then returned to watching the video.
“If you could read it, let’s move on. You should have gotten this recording from Vinnie. He has black hair, and he’s kind of short. He is a good one. See, here he is.”
Vinnie’s voice says, “Hola, Mija.”
Uh, oh. We broke protocol on this.
Ava’s eyes flew to me. “You’re not Vinnie,” she said. Then to her father. “You’re not Vinnie.”
“Look at us, Ava,” I said quickly. “You told yourself to trust your feelings.”
She crawled to the top of the bed again, this time snatching up the camera. “Where is Vinnie?”
“I’ll send him in,” Marcus said and exited the curtain.
“Look at me,” I said to Ava. “I love you.”
She curled her arm around the camera, which was still talking. “Go away. I want Vinnie.”
I heard my name on the recording, but Ava wasn’t listening.
“Hey, you talked about me. Listen.” I moved forward to see if I could figure out how to rewind that part, but Ava recoiled.
“You scare me,” she said. Her eyes flitted to the tattoo. “Where is my book?”
“I can get it for you. It’s at our house.”
She turned on the bed to face the back curtain, curling over the camera. Her dark hair streamed down her back, falling from the sparkly combs. The recording continued. “Vinnie and I work together with this very camera. You take photographs. Vinnie helps.”
“You help,” Ava repeated. She stayed hunched over the screen, ignoring me. The two of them in the video talked about photography and kidded each other, establishing their friendship.
So, that’s how this one would go. Vinnie would be the star of this version of Ava.
I had my work cut out for me.
Chapter 6
Ava
The screen in front of me talked, and I was on it! When it ended, I wanted to hear it again, but the other person was still behind me. He’d said his name, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
I pushed on different parts of the camera, but I couldn’t figure out which one made the screen work.
“Do you need some help?” he asked, but I ignored him.
He was bigger than me, and so was the other man who said he was my father. I didn’t know either of them. They could be lying.
The only thing I knew was that Vinnie was good. And that I should trust only the handwriting on my arm. I needed the book to remember my life.
“Ava! My girl! How are you?”
I turned around. This was the voice from my video.
The man was dressed all in shiny black, but his face and hair were the same as the recording.
