The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 10

            No words could explain how she felt inside and out. It was bad enough that she was in the hospital, but having to try to figure things out with Luke on top of that made everything impossible. Emma was always the type of person that seemed to have her whole life figured out: she knew who she was and where she wanted to be in life. Now, she was completely lost. Luke was pacing on the other side of the room thinking about Emma and his relationship. Neither of them were absolutely sure of what they wanted at the moment. "Luke, can you stop pacing for a second?" Emma said annoyed that he was even pacing at all. "Yeah." He said as he went to sit closer to Emma, "What's going on in that head of yours? I don't even know what you're thinking anymore; I can't even begin to guess."

     Emma stopped and thought about it a moment, "So many things are going through my head right now that I don't know where to begin." There was an silence that came across the room. "Should we continue this relationship? Emma, no matter what I will always love you, but I don't know if this is a good time for either of us." Luke had asked the question they were both thinking about. "You're my everything, Luke. I can't just let what we have go. I know that this isn't an ideal time to be in a relationship, but where would we both be without it? We need each other."

     "No, you have a family. I have no one; your family will never leave your side and you should be grateful for that.  You don't need me. If you did need me you would let me in." Luke hadn't ever yelled like that before and he didn't realize how awful it had sounded until afterwards. "I didn't mean it like that." "No, that's exactly what you've been meaning to say this whole time. If you don't want to be in this relationship anymore than say so. No one is forcing you to be here." Emma snapped back. Without another word Luke left.

The next day...

    "Emma, do you know where Luke is?" Her mom asked as soon as Emma awoke. "We got in a fight yesterday and he left so I assumed he just went back to our house. Are you sure he isn't there? Maybe he left a note or something." She replied trying not to show she was worried. "Sweetheart, all of his stuff is gone. We looked all over the house. We tried calling, but his phone was turned off." Emma took a second to process everything that happened; She analyzed how he acted before the fight, during the fight, and how he could just disappear. "Did you check his dad's house?" "Emma, why would he go back to that awful place?" Emma thought about that remark for awhile.

     Why would someone go back to the place that hurt them the most... "Well, why do people go back to the person that hurt them so much? That's the only thing he knew for a long time. He never had any place other than his dad's house and ours, so if he didn't come to our house then he went to his." After that, her mother left to see if he was there. Emma fidgeted around not sure of what to do. She knew deep down that she wouldn't be the same without him, but she also had to admit that she didn't really know who she was anymore anyway. Then the phone rang breaking the steady thoughts going through her mind. "Hello." Emma said in a tone that sound quite confused and not in least bit happy. 

    "Em, it's Luke. Your mom found me; I was at my dad's house as you had expected." His voice broke and he took in a huge shaky breath. "I promise that I'll be better. I just look at the way your whole family has your back and yet you pick me and I am so grateful for that, but sometimes it seems as if you just assume they'll always be right there. I am just jealous of that. I wish I had what you do." Emma didn't ever realize how much her family was really there for her until then. "I'm sorry... You should know that I want them to someday be your in-laws and I want us to be a huge happy family. I don't really know who I am or who I want to be, but I want you." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she heard a dead silence on the other end of the phone. "Luke, can you hear me?" She was desperately hoping that the connection had died for a minute. "Luke, this isn't funny please answer me." She hung up the phone and called her mom. "Mom, what happened?" Emma yelled through the phone without waiting for any 'hello'. "I told you I wasn't going down without a fight. You think you're so much better than me because you have the police department right by your side, but that's no use when you don't have your mommy or boyfriend is it? If I go down they go down with me, so before you go running to the police remember that." Then with that the call ended. Emma's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and worries. There was no trying to connect the dots because suddenly she forgot who she was and what exactly she was doing.

     All she knew was that she was in a hospital, but she had no idea why she was or in that matter who Emma Carter was either. "Emma Carter." She said out loud as if that were going to help her remember. I know who that is... Her thoughts stopped as her dad walked through the door. "I don't know who you are, but you need to leave!" She shouted at him from across the room. "Emma, it's just me. Is everything okay?" He asked turning the corner glancing at Emma suspiciously. "I don't know who Emma is or who you are. Can you just get a hold of somebody who does know any of that?" She was frustrated at the fact that he didn't offer to help immediately. "Okay, first of all your name is Emma Carter and your seventeen. Second of all, I'm your dad and I know your probably really confused right now, but believe me I am too. If I were you I'd just try to calm down and wait for the doctor."  Her dad had never been good at spending any time away from work and if he ever did he spent it with Brandon. "I'm going to try and call your mom."