Falling Slowly

11. Back To Normal, or Is It?

1.5k words

"Dad?" Emma felt a small tightening in her chest as she looked at her father for the first time in two years. She didn't really understand why she had a heartbroken feeling, but she brushed it off and ran into her father's arms.

"Oh, Emma, I thought I lost you!" Bobby spun Emma around before setting her back on the ground to get a good look at how his daughter had changed since he saw her.

Her once long, strawberry blonde hair had been cut short and dyed a dark brown. She had a scar on her shoulder that came out of the neck of her shirt that hadn't been there before. Her blue eyes held a sadness in them, he couldn't quite place.

"Move, Bobby." Scott pushed Bobby out of the way so he could lift Emma off her feet in a big hug. "We thought you'd never come back, sis."

"I did too." Emma smiled sadly at her godfather. "I just wish we could've had more time."

Emma looked at Bobby after Scott let her go. His whole body turned to ice and shattered all over the place. Emma screamed and told him to form back into his human shape, but he never did. She looked at Scott and he just stared at the pieces of Emma's dad like nothing had happened.

"Charles, help!" Emma jumped awake, shaking and sweating in the dark of her room. She gripped the sheets of her bed to make sure she was still in her room and okay.

She shook as she grabbed her phone to text Peter. The message came out as, "czn yiu please cLl me?" She didn't fix it and sat her phone down. Emma curled up into a ball, still shaking. Hot tears fell faster than she could wipe them away, so she let herself cry.

Emma's phone buzzed, showing the picture she and Peter took with a squirrel she managed to freeze to the ground. Emma grabbed it and answered the call, trying to calm her breath.

"Em, you okay?" Peter paced his room, running his fingers through his hair.

"Sorry for waking you." Emma sniffled as subtly as she could. "I know it's late, but I just need someone to talk to."

"Em, have you been crying?" Peter left his room to grab his coat and put his shoes on. "Are you okay? Did somebody do something to you? I fucking swear if Adam laid one hand on you-"

"Pete!" Emma picked at her fingernails. "I just need you right now."

"I'm coming over." Peter said, hurrying to get in the elevator.

"No, you don't have to come over, I just wanna make sure everyone important is still here." Emma shook her head even though he couldn't see her.

Peter smiled to himself. Emma counts him as important. His stomach did a somersault, despite how cheesy that sounds. He was quick to run outside and down to the subway.

"Pete?" Emma whispered.

"I'm here." Peter looked around nervously at all the sketchy people riding the subway at three in the morning.

"Okay."

Peter made it to Emma's street and hurried to her apartment. He pushed through the door with his super strength and went to her room. He hung up and laid his phone on her desk when he saw her crying into her bed.

"Em." Peter kneeled at the side of her bed and brushed her hair out of her face. Her cheeks were drenched in tears, causing him to tear up a little. He cursed himself for always crying when someone else was.

"Pete." Emma pulled Peter to her, crying into his neck. "I had my dream again."

"I'm so sorry." Peter begged his tears to stay in his eyes as he held Emma close. "It's okay, though. It was just a dream."