A/N:Here's chapter five. Sorry it took so long. It actually turned out a lot longer than I thought it would. I like how it turned out though and I hope you like it too. Be sure to drop some feedback for me! ~Kawaii Stella

Picking Up the Broken Glass

Kawaii Stella

Chapter Five

An Offer Refused

"How can you not be excited?" Abel complained. "It's a whole two weeks away from work and stress and we get to bring our ladies with us." Abel added in a suggestive tone.

At this, Marbles rolled his eyes.

"As much as I'd like to see all of you and get out of this guise, I just don't feel that this is a good time for me to go on holiday."
"Having relationship problems with Ada?"
"No! Our relationship is just fine."
"Aw come on. Don't be so touchy, little brother. I'm you big brother and I'm here for you."
"Like you were there when I was in the first grade when you found me hanging from a hook in the janitor's closet by my underwear because a group of fifth graders found me reading Shakespeare?"

"Exactly!" Abel said. "Oh wait…. You're being sarcastic! I got hung by my underwear in that closet with you!"

"That's right. Instead of helping me down you stood there and laughed like an idiot for so long that that same group of fifth graders returned, found you, and hung you up right next to me." Marbles reminded Abel.

"Aside from that time, I've been here for you and I have plenty of romantic advice in the reservoir."

"Says he who keeps chickening out of proposing to his girlfriend."

"Hey! I'll propose to Caterina when the time is right."

"Sure you will…" Marbles said.

"Are you going to tell me why you're not excited for the trip?"

"I just don't feel comfortable leaving certain things unattended."

"I'm sure whatever it is will be fine! Come on now! You can't say a couple weeks on the island don't sound amazing! Dad's been getting his fishing gear ready and you know what that means!"

"Fresh grilled mahi-mahi?"

"Yeah lil bro!"

Abel and Marbles' conversation didn't last much longer, both needed to finish packing for their family's annual vacation.

Marbles knew he should feel at least a little excited for his vacation. It had been a long time since he'd seen his whole family. Plus Ada was tagging along. But now, everything was different. Marbles hated leaving Echo there by herself. Over the past month they had become fairly close friends. Echo, despite being kept away from the other orphans, was still very anxious.

Whether it was fear over another attack from the other orphans or something else, Marbles just didn't know. Echo was normally forthcoming on most things; she would answer almost any inquiry Marbles had for her and talk about any subject. Despite her best efforts she would get a void look in her eyes, and when she did, Marbles would of course ask her what was the matter. That was when Echo would assure him that everything was fine and wouldn't say another word on the matter. Echo always found a way to change the subject. Marbles wouldn't push her to talk, but he worried that something was happening to her. . . Something that should be stopped before it went much too far.

"Well, she's still working at the courthouse six days a week and stays in her room otherwise, so she should be alright for two weeks. . . I hope." Marbles said aloud.

Echo had her days, but she seemed to be healing from the physical and, more prominently, the emotional scarring from the abuse she had been victim to during her first weeks at the orphanage. The beatings were a tough subject for Echo. She would never talk about them in detail and Marbles couldn't blame her. She seemed mostly happy when Marbles visited, though but that didn't account for the other days of the week. On that first day Marbles met Echo, he saw a scared, hurt, young woman. Now, she was beginning to trust again. Well, she trusted Marbles at least and for that he was grateful. Befriending Echo had been one of his smartest decisions.

That was why Marbles was reluctant to leave Echo. He didn't want her to relapse into being that scared little creature. But what could he do? If he completely skipped out on his vacation, his family, and girlfriend for that matter, would not be too happy with him. No one else knew Marbles was friends with Echo. Ada knew that he paid weekly visits to Sensible Flats, but didn't know Echo was the reason he did so. Maybe it was time Marbles introduced Ada to Echo. Marbles thought Ada and Echo would get along well, and perhaps knowing she had another friend would be enough to help Echo get through the next two weeks.

That wasn't a bad idea. And so, Marbles made a quick call to Ada to tell her about Echo and his plan to introduce the two. Ada agreed to meet Echo and thought it was very sweet of her beau to befriend the girl. Ada would meet Marbles at the orphanage tomorrow afternoon to meet Echo. Then the couple would leave for their vacation.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Like most mornings, Echo got up bright and early. It wasn't like she slept much anyway. Most nights she got the bare minimum amount of six hours of sleep, other nights less than that. It wasn't that Echo didn't want the sleep, she did. She wanted her work hours back even more. It was three weeks ago when she began to lose sleep. It was the first time Solomon Quinn paid her a visit.

Why Mr. Quinn chose her to see was beyond Echo's reach. Mr. Quinn was an executive officer of a big business. He liked, rather, he loved to brag about his perfect trophy wife. He constantly pushed pictures of his wife into Echo's face.

In Echo's opinion, trophy wife was a good description. In over half of the pictures the woman was spray tanned an odd shade which did not contrast well with the bleach blonde hair, making her look like a trophy. Echo would bet half of her full time wage that those "perfect, au natural" shapes were indeed fake. A woman her size just did not have breasts that big; not in nature. The guy had a really messed up vocabulary full of completely mangled made up words. Solomon Quinn claimed that every part of his life was perfect. That was why Echo thought it was weird that he visited her. If he wanted someone like him, uppity and "perfect", why didn't he visit with Samantha and her clique? Echo didn't like Quinn anyway. He was far too touchy. He had tried to make a pass at her every time he visited, which was every Tuesday and Thursday, and he had only visited on two Saturdays of the three weeks he had been coming to the orphanage.

Echo missed working every day at the courthouse. She had been putting back most of her pay for when she turned eighteen and could start anew. Her pay hadn't been bad, but was now it was dwindling because every time Mr. Quinn came to visit, Echo had to miss work. Echo wished she could just tell Quinn to back off and stop coming. She worried his passes would start advancing to an even more uncomfortable level. It made Truehart's golden rule of no talking about her visitors to other visitors torturous. Solomon Quinn's actions upset Echo. They haunted her, which deprived her of sleep. She only had one person to talk to and she couldn't even tell him what was going on.

Nevertheless, Echo was happy it was Sunday because that meant Dr. Marbles would be coming to visit her today.

It was still too early for breakfast so Echo decided to go ahead and dress for the day. Dark blue jeans, a green long sleeved shirt, and her black converse shoes made up her outfit for today. Most of her bruises were gone now, but Echo still couldn't bring herself to wear shorter sleeved shirts. She brushed out her red hair slowly, just to bide time. Echo watched the bristles glide through the waves of her hair, realizing how long her hair had gotten. Her hair fell to the bottom of her shoulder blades and would be even longer if straightened. Four months ago Echo had had bangs that were nonexistent now they were so long. The sound of the Plexiglas window sliding open alerted Echo that her breakfast was here.

Echo swallowed down the tasteless mush then brushed her teeth to get the taste of something. Mint flavored toothpaste tasted way better than some sort of mush that tasted like paper. Once finished with brushing her teeth, Echo proceeded to sit on her bed, only to be herded out into the visitor's yard.

The visitor's yard was nice. It was big. It even had a good sized stream with a wooden bridge over it. The visitor's yard was one thousand times better than the back yard the kids got to mull around in on every other day. The visitor's yard had soft grass and massive trees. Echo wasn't sure why she had been put out here today. Usually she was left in her room until Marbles came. It was still early for visitor's to come, so Echo walked around the perimeter of the yard. When she walked by the alley caused by a small gap between a gardener's shed and the main building, Echo was harshly yanked into that alley. A hand clamped over her mouth.

"Mmnph!" was what Echo's muffled yelp sounded like.

She was pushed against the wooded wall of the shed and held there. As she was held against that wall, Echo saw it was Ledge who held her there.

"You'll do well not to scream." Ledge threatened.

When Echo didn't scream Ledge removed his hand from her mouth. He used that hand to create a firm grasp around Echo's throat.

"Listen up, Echo. I can make your life here less miserable. I'm going to control Cyberspace one day and when I do I'll need a queen. If you agree to be my queen now, I can save you from any future torture. How about it, sugar?" As Ledge said this he slid his hands down Echo's sides.

Echo did not take that well. One quote flashed in her mind.

"If you get challenged again, fight back."

That's exactly what Echo did. She punched Ledge in the gut then smacked him across the face. While he was down Echo ran away, clear to the other side of the yard. There she climbed up into one of the trees and stayed there.

~Meanwhile~

"What is her deal, Marbles?" Ada asked as they headed out the back double doors into the visitor's yard.

"Abigail has always been like that. Every time I come around she attempts to flirt to get my attention. It's been like that since we first met when she moved to Sensible Flats. I was doing some work and I caught her fancy. But be assured I have no interest in her. I have the best girlfriend in the universe."

Ada giggled at Marbles' compliment but soon fell silent.

"Why are all of these kids staring at us?" Ada whispered.

"They know who we're here to see . . . but I don't see her."

"Who's that up in that tree?" asked Ada, seeing a small, curled up being hidden by leaves and a curtain of red hair.

Marbles smiled and walked to the tree, looking up into the branches.

"Do you plan to stay in that tree all day, Echo?" Marbles called.

Echo lifted her head up, saw Marbles, and smiled.

"Oh! Hi!" Echo said as she jumped down onto the ground. She noticed Ada and asked, "Who's this?"

"Echo I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, Ada. Ada, this is Echo."

"Hi, it's very nice to meet you, Ada." Echo said.

"Likewise," Ada said. "Marbles says you work at the courthouse?"

"Yeah, I do," Echo said before she muttered. "I wish I still had all my hours."

At this Marbles raised an eyebrow. Ada sensed that Marbles wanted to speak with Echo so she excused herself.

"I need to go pick up a few things before we go. I'll leave you two here to chat. Nice to meet you, Echo." Ada said before walking away.

When Ada had left Echo said,

"You've got a nice girlfriend. So you're going somewhere?"

"Yes, she is. And yes, my two week vacation starts tomorrow. That's not the point though. What is this about you losing hours at the courthouse?"

"I've not had as many hours lately. It's not a big deal."

"How many days are you working now?"

"About three… but its fine; like I said, it's not a big deal."

"How long has this been going on, Echo?"

"Just a few weeks."

"This is what's been bothering you, isn't it?" Marbles asked.

"Sort of…." Echo admitted.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I can't." Echo said tersely.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"It's okay… I just don't want to talk about it. So where are you going for your vacation?"

"The tropics. It's kind of like a vacation and family reunion rolled into one."

"That sounds really fun."

"Yeah, it will be interesting to say the least." Marbles laughed.

Like every other Sunday, Marbles and Echo passed the time with conversation. Echo asked about Ada. About how long they'd been together, what they liked to do together, etc.. Before they knew it, it was time for them to part ways.

"I guess I should go find Ada… I'll see you in two weeks, alright?"

"Okay, see you then. Have fun on your vacation!"
Marbles was about to leave when Echo stopped him by saying,

"Oh yeah, I about forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I fought back today."

"Good for you Echo. Good for you." Marbles said and smiled.

Dr. Marbles then did leave for his vacation. As he and Ada were en route to his family's private island, Marbles couldn't help but think that Echo would do fine while he was away.

He couldn't have been more wrong.