Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Fifteen: August 23, 2014

Emma Walsh

A few weeks ago, Emma never would have guessed that her heart would feel heavy at the idea of leaving camp... She'd done everything in her power to not have her parents send her here because she didn't want to go, she hadn't wanted to deal with her bullshit... But it'd ended up being the best thing in the fucking world and despite it being a punishment, she felt like she could burst into tears at the sight of everyone's bags packed to go home... How was she supposed to handle being away from the people that had somehow become her family so quickly?

Obviously if her parents stayed true to their promise of letting her go to Franstend if she behaved enough to not have them called while she was at camp she wouldn't have to be that far from Penny or Tegan, which she thought was probably the best news in the entire world, but then there was Esme.

Esme, who she knew was going home to the man who'd hurt them so badly... Esme, who she hadn't expected to ever become friends with who'd thrown themself down the side of a steep hill just to hold her because they knew what it felt like to be afraid and she didn't want her to feel the same way... They'd become family, they really had especially the night before. That'd sealed it - Emma was gonna do everything in her power to keep Esme safe, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to do that from another school. Sure, she could check in all the time, but what good was that going to do? She couldn't get Esme out of there easily... It was bound to happen again, and she was terrified that she wouldn't be there fast enough to pick up the pieces.

She slid her fingers across the windowsill, collecting the dust there... It was like the camp was already erasing that they were there, the dirt and dust that had been cleared out was settling back in for the next round of troubled kids. They were rehabilitated... But Emma didn't feel any different. Sure, she felt less angry and less alone and less frustrated, but that was because she had friends, the camp hadn't done that... if she saw something unjust again, she would still gladly repeat her crimes... Rehabilitation wasn't what this camp was here for even though that was what they claimed to do.

It was just there to isolate and punish - they weren't meant to form friendships, that was something that hadn't even been encouraged, they'd been discouraged from sharing phone numbers or emails or social media because it could 'trigger bad behavior' to be around other past campers, but no one in their cabin cared - they had addresses, phone numbers, emails, social medias... Anything that could connect them, they had done. They didn't want to lose touch.

"Are you still in here?" Emma jumped, tripping on her bad foot over the loose board in the floor with a groan as she went careening backwards, only to feel a warm hand grip her by her arm, pulling her up before she could fall. She closed her eyes, grimacing... She knew that smell, the cocoa butter and the vanilla... Of course Penny had been the one to see her fall like an absolute idiot.

"I... Was just packing up." She turned around, seeing an amused yet concerned look on Penny's face... She hadn't let go of her arm, and honestly Emma kind of hoped that she never would - her touch felt nice, she didn't want it to go away quite yet. "Did anyone leave yet?" Her question was met with a shake of Penny's head, her eyes flitting down to where her hand had been on Emma's arm and quickly falling off, instead going to rub the back of her own neck as she cleared her throat, rocking back on her heels... Maybe it was Emma's imagination, but Penny seemed just as nervous as she was.

Why would Penny be just as nervous as she was? Penny was beautiful, timelessly so, and Emma was just... Herself. She wasn't sure why she'd be lucky enough to have Penny look at her that way.

"No, I was sent in here to retrieve you so that you didn't miss saying goodbye to anyone." She said, her words sounding rushed when they came out of her mouth, like she was trying to fill the air with them to dispel any awkwardness... Emma didn't blame her, she was just as worried about making this awkward.