Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Fourteen: August 22, 2014

Emma Walsh

When Emma woke up, it was fucking freezing - like the kind of cold where she felt like she'd never get warm again no matter what she did, and her head was pounding. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to move her legs, but one of them was stuck... She couldn't see on what. She couldn't see anything right now because her eyes weren't open, and at this point she wasn't sure if she wanted to open them at all because she was fucking terrified of what she was going to see when she did... Do I still have a leg? What if that man-eating squirrel came by and chewed it off after making me fall to my untimely death? What if-?

She brought her hand down shakily and patted around, sighing in relief when she felt that she still had a leg. She forced her eyes open and sat up on her elbows, furrowing her brows at the pounding in her head as she grimaced, her entire body aching. She looked down and frowned... Is my foot stuck in a fucking hole right now? That's what's stopping me from getting up? A goddamn hole? She was pretty sure that was the stupidest thing she'd seen in a while, and she had been at the red carpet premiere of the second Percy Jackson movie the year prior... Terrible execution. Stupidest fucking adaptation in the world... This was still dumber.

She'd burnt down a school but she was stopped in her tracks by a hole in the ground. Emma sighed, leaning her head back against the ground as she shivered, coming fully back into herself. Fuck, Penny's gonna be so mad at me... She knew that Penny probably hadn't wanted her to fall down the side of a muddy hill in her hoodie...

Emma sighed and shook her head, coming to terms with the fact that she had probably blown any chance she could ever have with Penny Elmwood... And also that she could die here because the counselors talked about never going near the edge and here she was... Hell, she didn't even know if anyone was looking for her, for all she knew everyone could've moved on and just accepted that she was gone...

Morbid. You can't die here, that would suck. She sighed as she settled into the dirt, trying to will herself to warm up a bit as she glanced at her body... The hoodie had saved her arms from getting scratched, but her legs were fucked, she already knew that... and it'd come up in the back, and she was sure that if she could feel it, there would be cuts there too... Wonderful... Tegan had stolen some extra medical shit from the infirmary the last time she'd been in there for a headache, so if she could get back to the cabin, she could clean herself up.

"Emma?" She blinked, trying to sit up... was that Esme? She paused for a moment and listened, and when she heard nothing else, she chalked it up to her brain just convincing her that she didn't have to die here, that maybe someone was looking for her, and she settled back against the ground. Her brain was playing tricks on her... Esme wouldn't look for her, she wasn't pretty like Penny or sweet like Tegan... She was a spoiled rich kid who'd been a total asshole at first... Maybe she deserved this.

"Emma?" Nope... That one was real. She sat up again and cleared her throat, swallowing heavily with a grimace. God, why is my throat sore?

"I'm down here!" Emma shouted, hoping that her voice carried enough for Esme to hear... As much as she accepted the fact that this could be the end of her very short life, she was still hoping that it was maybe dramatic... She wanted to see her parents one last time, and her dog.

She wanted to see her friends outside of camp... She wanted to apologize to Penny for getting her hoodie all dirty... Penny... Tegan... She wanted to spend more time around both of them so she could sort her feelings out.

She didn't actually want to die with things that were unrequited... Acceptance was different than being at peace with it.

"Em?" Emma looked up to see Esme looking down at her, a hand clapped over her mouth as she seemed frozen in time... and she wasn't sure what made her do it, but she lifted her hand and waved. Yes hello, I am down here. Please help me. "Emma, oh my god..." Esme said, her voice quiet, so quiet that Emma could hardly hear it.