The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 12

     "What do you mean?" Emma asked remember that night. The being roughed around... The apologie. "If you hadn't always kept Luke away from me I wouldn't have helped Adam, okay. All Luke would ever talk about was you and I was sick of it. I just wanted to get rid of you. Then when I tried to discipline my own son you came in and got me arrested. I thought Adam would've killed you by now, but here you are." Everything was silent for a long moment. "You... You are sick. You can't stand for Luke to be happy. You would go as far as to kill me so he can't be. He didn't make your wife leave you; that was all you. If you wanted me dead so bad then why didn't you kill me yourself? You want to know why because you are a coward." Then the next thing she knew his hand were squeezing her neck. She could feel herself fading away as she gasp for air. She collapsed to the ground only seeing blurs of everything and then everything was black.
Hours later...

     Her eyes flickered open and even though she was fine she still gasp for air. "Hey, she's awake." Emma looked at her surroundings to realize that she was laying on those awfully uncomfortable hospital couches. "Emma, do you remember hitting your head and passing out?" "I didn't hit my head. Mr. Daniels tried to kill me." Everyone turned to Luke who was fast asleep and heard nothing; he didn't hear the fight earlier either. "Not Luke. His dad. His dad also helped Adam kidnap me. You guys don't believe me, do you?" Everyone looked at one another trying to figure out what really happened. "Its not a crazy thought." Some said when others were sure she had went insane. Brandon looked around the room, "Surveillance cameras, they have one in every room." They showed the fight following the everything afterwards. Emma wanted out, out of all of this.

    She couldn't stand anything else; she could barely remember how to work the shower let alone how to figure out this mess. "I should just get you home.", Brandon said helping her up. The drive home was quite; Emma used to adore the quietness of the woods and the gentle waves of the lake, but now quiet made her nervous. Almost everything made her nervous. Loud noises made her jump, and most nights she would wake up crying or screaming. Her time was split up trying to remember the important things and forget the bad. Her mom would be home tomorrow and Luke would be there in a couple days. Emma thought it was strange how Adam said he loved her so much, yet wanted to kill her. The same with Luke's dad wanting her dead even though she is what makes his only son happy. You are supposed to do anything to make your loved ones feel loved and happy, but it seemed the opposite in so many cases.

     It was weird to think that just over a year ago her biggest worry was how she was doing in school. School, it was something she had put to the back of her mind. She would have to go back eventually, but it wouldn't be easy. Not that anything was easy at the moment. The only thing that seemed right was her relationship with her family and Luke, but even that felt wrong a time or two.

Two Day later...
   Emma woke up and went down stairs to find that the table was nicely set. They only set the table like that when it is special occasion, but Emma couldn't think of one that was happening. "Happy Birthday, Emma!" Brandon screamed from the other side of the room. "It's my birthday?",Emma didn't remember.  Brandon gave her a long, weird look, "You didn't know it was your birthday? When you were little, you would wake everyone up at midnight screaming that it was time to celebrate you turning another year older." Emma and Brandon both sat down on the couch and he turned on the news. "What about Luke? He isn't out of the hospital yet. We have never celebrated a birthday without him. Mom and dad aren't here either." Brandon sighed and turned to her,"Mom and dad went to pick up your boyfriend and your cake. Now, can you be quiet so I can watch this?" Emma never wanted to watch the news even before she was taken.

     It was always so depressing and she was glad she was not on it. Just as she thought that the next headline appeared at the bottom of the screen. "Caden Daniels assisted in the Emma Carter kidnapping adding more evidence against Adam Ross." Emma hoped that Luke wasn't seeing this. Anytime anyone brought up his dad he would freeze up and wouldn't talk to anybody. Brandon was now staring at her trying to figure out what he should do. "Keep it on. I want to see what it says." The news reporter went on and on about how awful this whole thing must be for her and her family; she felt like she was going to be sick just looking at the screen. The door swung open and Luke walked in as casually as he could manage. Emma jumped up from the couch and hugged him tighter than she had ever done before. "Happy Birthday, Em." He whispered in her ear as they walked back into the living room.

     "Emma, lots of family are going to be here tonight. Don't forget to try to look happy please!" ,Her mom was reminding her as she ran around picking stuff up as she went. Emma hadn't really been around much of her family recently because they were so uptight and still believed that Emma must have done something to deserve what she had gotten. "So should I just go with it when they ask me stupid questions like 'what was it like being kidnapped?' or what?" Emma's mom turned around with her hands on her hips, "Emma, I get the resentment towards everyone. It's hard to know that they didn't visit when you came back, but you have to accept that they are going to be here now."

     Soon, Emma's  grandparents came in the door and everyone could feel the tension. "Emma, how have you been? You know you don't look anything like you used to I mean you used to be beautiful and now you look, well pretty." "Thanks, Grandma. I have been okay." Brandon was always the favorite grandchild, but Emma tried everything to make them like her. Around three o'clock everyone was there and it began to get overwhelming. Every question ever imagined was asked, and Emma wished everybody would go home. Luke was of course being harassed by her family too. One of her aunts came over to Emma and put her hand on her bad shoulder, "Hey, I was wondering if you still have those nightmares of yours about the whole kidnapping? You know, if you did I kinda want you to tell me about them, so I can write them in my blog."

     Then it hit Emma that they didn't care that she disappeared at all. All that they wanted was to get fame or money out of it. "Yeah I do, but why would I want people to be able to read them?" Emma got up and locked herself in her room;she couldn't take it anymore. She felt like she was going to cry and scream at the same time. A soft knock came from the door. "Please just go away." Emma call out trying to hold back tears. "Em, unlock the door." She knew it was  Luke now but she was still hesitant to open the door. She turned the lock and in walked Luke with the key in his hand. "If you had the key then why didn't you unlock the door?" "Well, I was going to and then I thought just maybe that you were upset and didn't want anyone in here."  He hugged her tight and it seemed to make up for everything that had happened so far. 

    " Look, I know you are mad at your family right now, but at least you have one." Luke said as he sat down. "I'm not trying to be mean, but I just miss having a family." "Luke, I can't breathe around them. If I have to spend one more minute here I will scream." Emma opened the window and climbed out. "Em, what are you doing?"