4. ONE STEP AT A TIME

You took everything from me. Now, I'm going to destroy you…

Gently stepping back from our hug, Dr Sanchez held me by my shoulders arms-length away in front of him and said "Well you've met our housekeeper Priscilla already, now it's time you go to bed …you need to rest” 

I shook my head disagreeing and said “I've rested enough” he sighed, having kinda expected my response and said “then I guess I should introduce you to your new life??” I nodded and he let out a soft chuckle taking my hand in his. He led me up the long staircase to the first floor, stopping in front of two black doors. 

He pushed them open revealing an office and stepped inside the dark room. Flicking the light switch on, he turned to me and said "Come" beckoning me to come inside and walked to a locker by the corner. Prying it open, he took out a box covered in dust and placed a few photo albums on top of it before carrying it to his desk and gave the albums to me, two of them belonging solely to his daughter.

"No one knows what happened to Evangeline that night" he started, unpacking the box just as I took one of the albums in my hands and blew the dust on its cover away "...I was so ashamed of what happened to my daughter because of my ignorance and adamant nature that whenever someone asked me about her, I'd tell them she was studying abroad so you'll finish your studies here in America before you even think about returning to Italy" 

I nodded, flipping through the photos " ...we'll use the photos in those albums and videos I found in both her computer and phone after she passed to help you learn everything about her and her life" he said, walking to the TV screen mounted on the wall and turned it on. Connecting the USB stick to the TV, he grabbed the TV remote and walked back to me.

"Sit," he pointed to the two chairs facing each other in front of his desk. I did as told and settled down in one of them and he took the other one before pressing play on the first video.

"Now try to remember their names..." a picture of a red, curly haired, freckled face boy appeared on the screen just as he uttered those words with spectacles pushed high up the bridge of his nose and a book in his hand.

"That's Joshua McCain, he's what you kids call a nerd. He likes Evangeline and will always do everything she asks him to do in hopes that one day she'll notice him" I shook my head at how pathetic that was, why not just tell her he liked her. Actually no, he shouldn't. Now that I'm Evangeline, he should continue keeping his feeling all to himself.

We spent the next hour focused on the TV screen, with me trying to memorise everything doctor Sanchez was telling me until the end of the last video. From watching everything, I realised that Evangeline captured each and every moment of her life inside her phone ...an important note to take in consideration for later. I turned to Dr Sanchez when the screen turned black. He put the remote down on his desk and grabbed the album still in my hands, flipped the pages back to the first photo before getting up.

"Now, let's see how many names you remember," he said, walking to the black leathered couch a few feet from the desk and sitting down.

Putting the album on the coffee table, he looked up and raised a questioning eyebrow at me "oh right" I mumbled getting up and walked to him, only then realising he wanted me to follow him. Sitting next to him, I watched him take the photos out of the album and scatter them on the table before picking one of them up.

"Who's he??" He asked me, showing it to me.

Squinting, I took a closer look at the photo of the boy and recognized him to be Adam Scotts from the video ...one of Evangeline's close friends. He was British with blond hair, blue eyes and a cocky smile. Impressed, Dr Sanchez picked up another photo and like a guessing game, he would show it to me and I would name the person in the photo. We played for some time, only stopping when Priscilla called us downstairs for dinner.

Packing everything back in the box, I stopped to say "Thank you ...father" , still getting used to referring to him as my father. I appreciated his help and patience, he hadn't given up on me no matter how many times I got the names wrong but instead encouraged me to try again. 

Shaking his head, he said "Don't thank me ...by being in my life, you're giving me a second chance to be a better father..." and let out a deep sad sigh. I frowned at him as his eyes moved from my face to the portrait of Evangeline on the wall behind me " ...on the night Evangeline died, she and I fought. She wanted to be free like kids her age but I was a strict father..." he looked down at his hands ashamed before adding in a low voice " ...it's every Father's responsibility to support their children and I failed"

Taking his hands in mine, I shook my head and said "No father, it's also every Father's responsibility to worry about his daughter" disagreeing with him. The man who saved my life and who was currently helping me with my pending revenge plan could never be a failure or a bad father. He nodded using his thumb to get rid of the tears threatening to roll down his cheeks and gave me a sad appreciative smile.

"Thank you dear, now let's go downstairs to eat ...Priscilla is a marvellous cook" he said, getting up. I did the same and followed him out the office and down the stairs to the dining room. Walking in, we're greeted by the delicious smell of home cooked food already set on the dining table and made ourselves comfortable. Dr Sanchez occupied the seat at the head of the table whereas I took the one on his right hand side. Priscilla walked in to serve the food before leaving the hall and we began eating. Dr Sanchez told me more about his daughter, mostly about her studies but suggested I study something that I liked rather than what she liked and I agreed.

At the end of our dinner, Priscilla came back to clear the table and Dr Sanchez led me back upstairs to show me where my bedroom would be.

"I'll give you a full tour of the mansion tomorrow, for now you need to rest" he said standing by the door.

"Goodnight father" I said before walking to my bed and heard him mumble a small "goodnight" back before closing the door behind himself. Taking off my shoes, I gave myself a tour of my bedroom and checked the other two doors in the room. One led me to a walk-in closet while the other led me into the bathroom. I stopped in front of the mirror and closed my eyes, took a deep breath in before opening them again and stared at my reflection.

"Don't be afraid" I told the girl in the mirror, her face might be different but she was still the same fearful orphaned girl on the inside.