The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 8

     The next day Emma woke up to the sound of a guitar playing in the other room. She always loved the look on Luke's face when he played. He was always so focused and something about it just made her want to listen to it forever. She walked toward the open door and peaked in. He was sitting in the chair his grandpa gave to him before he pasted away last winter. "Hey Em." He said turning around. "Don't stop playing; just pretend I'm not here." Emma said sitting down next to him;she couldn't help but smile. He smiled back and started to play again, but this time he stopped right in the middle and handed her it to her. "Now it's your turn." He watched her look down at it.

     She hadn't even thought about playing it after she got home."Remind me how to play that song." "Fine, but we both know you now how to play that song perfectly." He came up behind her and sat down. With her hands in his they played together and for the first time in a while she actually felt like she could be happy again. She stopped playing and looked up into Luke's eyes; the world seemed to stop for a moment as he bent down and kissed her. Emma got up and as she was leaving she spoke again "You're right I do know how to play the song perfectly." Emma thought that maybe for once in a long while she might actually do something productive. She might go outside without being told she had to or even write songs like she used to. Emma walked down the stairs to see her mother and brother sitting at the table discussing some news article, for that quick moment she felt as if she was younger again and it was kind of refreshing. Until her dad stormed into the house with no explanation once so ever. His face was red and he slammed down a pile of papers face down. "Dad, are you okay?" Emma asked completely confused by the sudden anger that entered the house. "Emma, I don't have time right now." he continued to race around the house. 

    Everyone knew that when he got worked up like this something was wrong and to be honest there had been a lot of things wrong lately. She walked over to the table to pick up the papers and instantly knew why he was so upset. All the papers were full of court dates and police records. Why did everything have to be like this now? It seemed like yesterday that she was walking to the woods to write in her diary. When Luke's dad wasn't drunk all the time and Luke didn't have to live with them. It was just her mom, dad, brother, and her. Most of all she missed everyone treating her like a normal human being. Many times she thought back to when she would run around town with Luke, as just friends, and just talk about everything.  Now well all they ever talk about is how everything will go back to normal. Was Emma the only one who didn't see the old her ever coming back? "Em, can we talk?" , Luke asked breaking her thoughts completely. She noticed a look in his eye that only happened when something bad was coming. "What's wrong?" She choked on her words a bit. 

    "My dad... he might be getting out of prison sooner than we expected." Flashbacks came flooding in again; the night Luke's dad was arrested was also the night Luke became a total different person. He used to be a baseball player and a really good one. Then his mom started doing drugs and left him there with his dad. It would've been fine if Luke's dad didn't start to drink very heavily and couldn't think straight. He blamed the divorce on Luke, and started to be abusive. Then one late summer night he came home drunker than he had ever been before; he started to hit Luke and couldn't stop. Someone called the police about a noise complaint and when they got there found Luke laying on the floor unconscious. After that, Luke stopped playing baseball and he lost all faith in world for a long time. He was just starting to get better until Emma got kidnapped. Now, he stays strong for her, and she does the same for him. 

    "What do you mean?" Emma snapped back to reality. " I mean, that he is coming home sometime next month. What am I going to do?" He seemed as if he was asking her and himself at the same time. Silence took over for the next couple of minutes and all Emma knew to do was stand there and wait until he started again. Luke seemed to snap out of his own thoughts and grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her in closer to him. Soon after that Emma's phone started to ring and everyone froze in their steps. It was a text from an unknown number saying "I told you I would find a way to escape, so you better watch you back." Emma screamed and dropped her phone. Luke picked it up and read the text message trying to calm Emma down. "What's wrong?" Her mom called running into the living room. All Emma could do was hand the phone to her mom and wait. They got in the car and drove to the police station instantly. It was just her mom, Luke, and her walking toward the station all trying not to freak out. Something bad was happening Emma could feel it. "Hi, I need to talk to Officer Jackson please." She kept her cool as she said it.

     Officer Jackson came out of the back with coffee in one hand and papers in another. "What's going on?" He seemed a little confused to see Emma standing there. "I just got this text from an unknown number, and I need you to look at it. He stood there looking at it and then motioned for Emma to sit down. "As far as we know Adam is still in the hospital, but we can check if you want." He said shaking his head and looking at the ground. "Yes, please check." Emma barely got the words out. "We are going to send officers to the hospital and all around it. I'll follow you guys back to your house." He called to Emma as he ran to get his keys. "Is he gone?" Emma ran after him. " Just get inside your car and I'll be out in a minute." They all got in the car again as Emma explained that she was pretty sure the police just figured out he wasn't in the hospital anymore and how they were sending police out.

     They kept driving down the road and got to the house to find they were too late. The door was wide opened when they arrived and Officer Jackson loaded his gun. They backup was also just arriving. Emma's mom pulled to the side of the road to wait until it was safe; Emma always knew that things couldn't go back to normal and this proved it. Suddenly everyone saw a figure run toward the woods and without thinking Luke ran out to chase it.

     Luke slammed whoever it was to the ground coming to find it was Adam again. Police came from the other side and got Adam up from the ground while some went to make sure Luke was okay. He came back to the car with grass and dirt stains all over his white shirt. "Luke, are you insane? You could've got killed." Emma screamed at him as he got in the car. She hugged him tighter than she ever had before and gently kissed his cheek. "All that matters is that your safe and he's going to jail." He didn't want to let go of Emma, but after a while he did taking her hand instead. Emma's mom started to drive back to the house where the door was still wide open. Emma walked in to find a broken vase with a note in the middle. Not knowing what to expect was an big understatement at this point. She picked up the note and it read- If you think you have seen the last of me you're wrong.-