A Dark Kind of Hope by Aria Myst (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📖

almost forgotten the crash. Then I remembered that the next day was the day I had to tell the police exactly what had happened on those earth-shattering hours of darkness.

“Hey Simon, guess what?” I said, tickling the youthful little boy as I spoke.

“What?” he asked, seeming excited.

“Everyone is going down to the lake to swim today. Why don’t you go ask one of the older boys to help you get into your swimsuit?”

“Yay! Swimming! I’ll see you in a little bit, Oak.” He hurriedly said as he hopped down from the table to run and find someone.

I glanced at Raul waiting for his reaction to the newest bit of information. His face glided into a playful smile.

“So we’re swimming? I’ll bring our swimsuits down here so we can change in the bathroom” he replied cheerfully.

Half an hour later everyone was in their bathing suits with towels and goggles galore loading into the bus. I was wearing my favorite dark blue bikini, and I had my towel with me. Swimming just let me relax. The longest time I had ever been under water was around two minutes.

The first bus Raul and I were in charge, and on the second bus two boys around our age, Rick and Tom, were in charge. Maria and Father never came swimming; Maria was taking care of the younger children while Father was… Well he never left the house except to walk the streets looking for children and visiting orphanages. No one ever saw him other than when you were first brought to the house.

When we arrived at the beach everyone spilled out and raced towards the cool water. I walked over to a patch of sand far enough away from the shore and there threw down my towel and took off my flip-flops.

Raul knew that whenever there was a large enough gathering of water I would be swimming, no matter what. Once he had tried talking to me while I was about to swim. Let’s just say that things didn’t end well for him.

I began my first lap thinking about Raul’s and my future as a couple, and maybe even as a family. I would live in the same house my whole life. I wasn’t sure if I could live that way. I wanted to travel the world, see new things, learn new things, and most importantly, write.
I wrote stories, and poetry, newspaper articles, you name it, and I would write it. I remember when I was young I had always wanted to move to Paris, France to own a coffee shop and write books under my nom de plume. I wanted people to hear my words, and love them. But the one thing I wouldn’t be able to deal with would be if I had to leave Raul. He was my other half, my soul twin. I could never leave him behind.
By the time I had done around 40 laps it was sunset, so I reluctantly swam to the shore of the lake and walked onto the dry sand. I searched the crowd of Raul and watched him as he handed out bottled water to everyone. The smile on his face warmed the hearts of all. Anyone could see that he was hopelessly devoted to helping everyone that lived with us.
I walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Hello, Raul.” I said.
“Why hello, Oak. How was the lake? I heard from these silly little beings that it was fun.” He said, looking at the soaking wet children that were giggling at our “lovey-dovey ness”. He took my hand in his and led me around the pavilion while handing out the water.
Later after dinner and some picnic games we all went back to the house and all changed into our pajamas. One of the boys our age was going to read everyone a story that he wrote. His name was Ted and he could bring any character alive. The way his expressions changed as he read and how he made up voices made the younger kids absolutely adore him. We gathered in the library and he sat in a large red armchair with everyone at his feet.
“ Alright everyone, quiet down, quiet down. “ He said in his gentle, yet firm, voice. All I heard him say was “Once upon a time” before I fell asleep.
When I woke up I was still in the library lying on the floor with Raul. I struggled to look at his face while in his arms. I managed to turn my head toward his face and looked up. He hadn’t woken up yet. Over the years I had found that watching people sleep was one of the most fascinating things to do. I know it sounds creepy, but it’s calming.
You just see their chest rise and fall with each breath they took. You see their eyes restlessly move. You see them toss and turn. But watching Raul sleep was different. He would mouth words. Not talk, not even whisper. He would mouth words that he was thinking. Luckily I was good at lip-reading. He sometimes mouthed my name, or he mouthed things that had happened that day. It was usually my name, though.
This morning was different though. He was whispering this time. I couldn’t make out the first words, but then very clearly he said; Ivy…Oak… crash …police…” The tears started flowing before I knew it. Today I had to talk to the police. After I dried my eyes from tears I shook Raul awake.
“Unh..." was all he mumbled as he sat up, disoriented. Recognition appeared in his eyes when he saw me looking down at him as I sat up in the makeshift bed. “Good morning, Oak.” Raul said, smiling. I could tell he was going to try and distract me from the meeting with the police.
“Would you go get me a clean pair of my jeans, my favorite blouse, and my flats please? I need to get ready to go to the station.” I said, trying to seem gentle but firm at the same time. He nodded and groggily got up to go get our things. Once he left I slipped away to the kitchen to check the time and get us some breakfast.
I ambled into the kitchen and glanced at the digital clock on one of the ovens. It was 8:07 a.m. Perfect timing for me to wake up; I was to be at the station answering questions at nine thirty. I opened the cupboards and looked through the refrigerator and walked out of the kitchen with two grapefruits, a plate of bacon, and a plate of pancakes.
Proud of my haul, I stumbled back into the library. I set out our feast out on the floor in front of me. There were pillows for each of us to sit on. I couldn’t wait until he came in and saw that breakfast was already taken care of.
Five minutes later he came back with a stack of clothes and a shocked expression on his face. “You got breakfast? You didn’t have to, I was about to get us some after I came to check on you and bring these clothes” He said lovingly, as he handed me a bundle of clothing. Of course, he had chosen what he liked to see me best in. I liked it too.
It was a dark blue, long sleeved dress made with crushed velvet. It had silver ribbons on the bottoms of the sleeves, the collar, and around the bottom. It flattered my curves, and made my waist look tiny.
I went to the restroom and changed, while he did the same in the library. I strolled back into the library. He was sitting in an armchair wearing a light blue button down shirt with dark wash jeans. “I’m sorry to say this, love, but we have to eat now so that we can get to the station on time,” he said. We ate breakfast quickly and then walked out to the garage where the dark blue Mercedes was waiting for us. It was the car that Raul had received for his 16th birthday when he got his driver’s license. Father gave all of us cars when we got out licenses. We got in and he held my hand as we drove down to the police station.
We parked in the parking lot and you could tell that we were a small town because there were only about fifteen spaces total and seven of them were vacant. Raul maneuvered us in-between two police cruisers. I opened my car door and walked over to the one-story grey building trying to stay brave. I didn’t want to talk to any kind of detective, but it could lead to finding out who tried to kill me and/or my twin sister. I wanted to know who would hate us enough to do that, and why they would hate us in the first place. I couldn’t think of any specific reason as to why someone might want one or both of us dead. It just didn’t make any sense to me. I walked into the police station and walked up to the counter.
“Good morning ma’am. What can I do for you today?” asked the officer sitting behind the desk.
“My name is Oak Berrettini and I am supposed to be here for an interrogation,” I replied, as kindly as I could.
“Right this way, Miss Berrettini. Detective Roberts is waiting for you.” He said as he opened the door. “Now your friend here is going to have to stay outside and wait until the interview is over” I noticed how he said interview as nice as he could, but I knew that I was on their suspect list. I would just have to prove them wrong.
I released Raul’s hand and walked into the room. There was a mirror on one wall and I knew there were people behind it watching my every move. I sat down and tried to prepare myself for what was coming. I hadn’t talked about the crash to anyone; I was scared that I would have some kind of mental breakdown.
“Hello, Miss Berrettini. My name is Detective Roberts but you can just call me Jon.” The man across the table said. He had a manila folder in front of him on the table. It was still closed.
He didn’t pronounce my last name right and it was going to bother me so I decided to take the easy route. I said, “Call me Oak, please.”
He looked at me with what to most people would seem like welcoming eyes and an open heart, but I knew it was all fake. He thought it was me who did it. He was wrong.
“So Oak, where were you the day of the crash?” he asked.
“ First I was at home; then Ivy and I went out for lunch around noon. After that we went shopping at the mall and then we went out to dinner. Then we went to see a movie. We were driving home when the crash happened,” I said, suddenly realizing that I was crying. Detective Oak just stared at me.
“Who was driving when the crash occurred?” he asked, no longer nice.
“Oh, Ivy was,” I said, then I started bawling. I knew thinking about the crash wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t think I would cry this much, here, in front of the officers. I hid behind my arms, laying my head on the table. I cried for a few minutes then tried to compose myself to answer the next