Echoes of the Deep

My Best Friend Vincent

Chapter 1

Episode 2

My Best Friend Vincent.

Dmitri smiled as he approached Victor. "Welcome in! I'm glad someone finally fixed up that mansion. It's been sitting there abandoned for twenty years." Victor chuckled, "I heard about that."

"The whole town talks about it." Dmitri started with small talk.

Victor put his hands in his pockets, "I can imagine it." The two men immediately seemed to get along. Elena stood beside her husband with a warm smile. Then she made eye contact with Viviana, "Hey there!" Viviana slowly looked Elena up and down, her gaze lingered. Judging. Measuring. Then she simply scoffed. Elena felt her smile weaken, something about the woman made her uneasy. Viviana wasn't rude exactly... but she certainly wasn't friendly. Thankfully, Victor stepped forward before the awkward silence could continue, "Thank you for welcoming us. We're the Vellano's."

Dmitri shook his hand, "Dmitri Morozov."

"Victor Vellano."

Elena's attention drifted towards the twins. They stood nearby looking bored out of their minds. The blonde pair looked identical except for a few subtle differences. "Such cute children you have," Elena said, "Their twins, right?" Viviana answered this time, "Yes. My children are twins. Born on the same day." She glanced toward Vincent. "Though Vincent was two seconds late compared to his sister." Vincent groaned, "Mom."

"What?" Viviana crossed her arms.

"You tell everyone that..." Vincent sighed.

"Because it's funny."

"It really isn't..."

"It is."

Vivenne snickered, "Imagine losing by two seconds."

"We were literally babies..." Vincent groaned.

"A loss is a loss." Vivenne continued. Vincent looked horrified. Elena laughed. The twins already seemed entertaining. "How cute. I also have one son. His name is Nikolai!" Viviana immediately stopped listening. The moment Elena mentioned Nikolai, Viviana's attention wandered elsewhere. Viviana looked toward the movers. Then the ocean. Then toward a flower bed. Anything but Elena. Elena awkwardly cleared her throat.

Meanwhile, Nikolai stood halfway down the driveway debating whether to leave. His parents were embarrassing enough already. Introducing himself would somehow make it worse... but then he looked at the twins again. The boy was laughing. The girl was rolling her eyes. They looked normal. Despite all the money, despite the mansion, despite everything. Before he could talk himself out of it, Nikolai walked over.

"Oh!" Dmitri smiled, "This is my son Nikolai." He messed up Nikolai's hair. "Dad...!" Nikolai protested before stepping away, "stop doing that." Everyone laughed except for Nikolai. Then something happened. For the first time, Vincent and Nikolai looked directly at each other. Blue eyes met brown eyes. For a second, neither spoke... Then Vincent grinned, he was surprisingly easy going. He stuck out his hand, "I'm Vincent Vellano." Nikolai shook it, "Nikolai Morozov."

Before either could continue, Vivenne stepped forward, "I'm Vivenne Vellano." Nikolai smiled politely, "Nice to meet you."

"You know," Vincent suddenly spoke, "We just arrived here and were planning to go explore the town." He waved a sleek black card in front of Nikolai. "Maybe you'd come along?" Nikolai stared at the card. Even from a glance it looked expensive. Vincent chuckled, "We could use a tour guide?"

"Unless you don't know your own town?" Vivenne added.

"I know my town."

"Then prove it." Vincent said quickly.

"I'll prove it..."

Vincent smirked, "Good." Both of the twins grinned.

That was three years ago... That was how long it had been. Three years since that day, everything changed. Nikolai Morozov sat quietly in the back row of a crowded college lecture hall, barely listening as the professor spoke. Equations and diagrams filled the projector screen, but the words blended into meaningless noise.

His notebook remained empty. His pen rested motionless in his hand. His thoughts were somewhere else. Three years ago... he had been sixteen. Vincent Vellano had been sitting beside him almost every day, laughing too loudly in class, making sarcastic comments under his breath, and getting both of them into trouble.

Now... Vincent was gone. Alongside his twin sister, Vivenne. Nikolai slowly lowered his eyes. There wasn't a single day that passed without him thinking about them. Not one. Sometimes he still caught himself reaching for his phone, wanting to send Vincent a picture of something ridiculous he'd found online. Sometimes he walked past their old high school and instinctively looked toward the front entrance, expecting to see two familiar blond heads arguing over something stupid.

Every single time... Reality reminded him they weren't coming back. He clenched his jaw. The hardest part wasn't simply losing them. It was watching the world continue as though nothing had happened. The Vellano mansion was still occupied. Victor and Viviana still lived there. And not long after the funeral... They had another child, Valor Vellano... Three years old now.

Nikolai had seen him a handful of times playing in the front yard under the watchful eyes of his parents. He knew it wasn't the little boy's fault. Valor hadn't done anything wrong. He was innocent. Yet every time Nikolai saw him,. Something twisted in his chest. It felt... Wrong. Like Vincent and Vivenne had simply been replaced. As if life decided two empty spaces could be filled by someone else.

They couldn't. They never would. Nikolai closed his eyes. The memories still felt painfully clear. Rain. Dark clouds. Police cars. Flashing lights. People shouting across the shoreline. His father, Dmirti, throwing on a raincoat before rushing outside. "I'm going to help in the search!" His mother crying at the front window. Volunteers carrying flashlights along the cliffs. Search boats sweeping the ocean for hours. Then days, nothing. No bodies. No clothing. No evidence beyond the cliff itself. Eventually... The search ended. The town held a funeral. Two beautiful white caskets rested at the front of the church... empty.

No one had ever found Vincent or Vivenne. Nikolai hadn't cried during the service. He couldn't. Everything felt too unreal. He remembered standing in front of the empty casket after everyone had left. Waiting. Almost expecting Vincent to suddenly burst awake laughing.

"Relax, it was all just a joke!" Nikolai would imagine Vincent over and over again. But Vincent never did. "Nikolai?" The professor's voice snapped him back to reality. "Hm?"

"Everything alright?"

"...Yeah." Nikolai shrugged it off.

The professor nodded before continuing the lecture. Nikolai looked toward the front of the room. His eyes settled on a familiar figure. Messy brown hair. Thick black glasses. Quiet. Always taking notes. Naeven Ven... The sight alone made Nikolai's hands slowly curl into fists beneath the desk. His stomach tightened. Three years... And seeing him still brought back the same anger. His thoughts drifted once again.

Three years earlier... The high school cafeteria buzzed with conversation. Students crowded every table. Laughter echoed through the room. Vincent and Nikolai sat together at their usual table near the windows. Vincent lazily poked at his lunch while casually looking across the cafeteria. Like always. He eyes found Vivenne. She sat several tables away surrounded by a growing group of friends. Vincent checked on her constantly. Not because she needed it. Simply because she was his sister. He always wanted to make sure she was alright. That she fit in. That nobody bothered her. His eyes narrowed. "Hey..." Nikolai looked up from his tray. "Hm?"

"Isn't that guy weird?" Vincent subtly nodded towards a corner table.

Nikolai followed his gaze. A boy with messy brown hair sat quietly by himself. Large black-framed glasses rested on his face as he stared across the cafeteria... toward Vivenne. "Oh..." Nikolai recognized him immediately. "That's Naeven Ven. I heard his dad's a scientist or something." Vincent didn't look away, "Yeah... he's staring at my sister." Nikolai shrugged, "Well.. you two are good-looking, it makes sense people would admire what they wish they could be."

Vincent smirked, "Is that so?"