Dead Love

Kiss or Miss

It was October 28th. Emmit was feeling extremely jumpy. He had promised Dr. Vermin he would pull his weight and be a part of the unit, but he knew what it would mean. Though he was a ghoul for months, it was the Feeding that would take away his last bit of humanity. The bit he desperately wanted to hold on to.

Emmit was tapping his pencil against his desk when Grace rushed into first period, muttering an excuse to the teacher and handing him a note. Her face seemed chilled by the fall weather. 

She stumbled to the back of the classroom as she clumsily tugged off her jacket. Emmit was nervous as she plopped in the seat beside him and threw her jacket on the back of her chair. He awkwardly fixed his gaze on a random poster in the room, eager not to make eye contact.

It had been a few days since Grace was in school and she had been effectively avoiding Emmit. He didn't know whether she was angry with him or not. Emmit felt somewhat ridiculous for staring so intently at a poster with a panda and a quote about how beneficial reading was.

Grace seemed to also find this ridiculous. She followed his gaze, before turning to look at him. "Emmit," she said.

He was surprised she was talking to him. He turned and cleared his throat. "Oh-uh...hey, Grace." 

Grace nodded slowly, still furrowing her brows at him. "You alright?" 

Emmit sat up. "Yeah, I'm good. Sorry...I-uh must have zoned out." 

"Clearly," Grace said. "I mean the panda is cute."

Emmit laughed. She smiled at him and Emmit felt like she really was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. The sad part was, he knew he'd never be able to tell her that. He wasn't too good at that kind of thing.

"Grace and Emmit," the teacher said loud and slowly, bringing in their attention. Both their heads jerked to look at him. "Would you be so kind as to begin the warm-up?" he asked as he gestured to the dry erase board with a passage written on it. 

Emmit rolled his eyes, whereas Grace quickly yanked out a notebook from her bag and got to work. Emmit pretended to lean over and get something from his bag and as soon as the teacher walked to the other side of the room to talk to students, he sat back up. 

He laid his head on the desk and peered over at Graze as she intently scribbled an answer down. He smiled at how studious she was but his expression was soon replaced with one of anger when he realized why. It was her father who pushed her so hard...only to beat the girl afterward.

"What's going on with your dad?" Emmit asked once the class was noisy enough. "Don't tell me the man is still at home with you." 

Grace continued writing. She shook her head. "No, he's in the hospital. He has a minor concussion. The doctors say it'll last a few days."

"Good," Emmit said seriously, "he deserved it." 

Grace stopped writing and looked over at Emmit. "But what happens when he comes back, Emmit?" She sounded genuinely worried and her eyes told it all, there was a mixture of fear and sadness in them. She dropped her voice an octave lower when saying, "I don't know what he's going to do." 

Emmit felt guilty as she spoke. He didn't want to create more problems for Grace but it did not know how to avoid doing that while protecting her. "Can't your mom press charges?" Emmit offered. "She can go to the police while she still has the chance. They might be able to separate them over a domestic dispute. Might even get some jail time?" 

Grace looked down at her desk. "But he's my dad...we can't just throw him in jail. My mom still loves him."

"But do you?"