The Story of Emmaline Seigas

Are You Still There?

You left before. I could tell. You weren't there to hear my tale, but you are now. I suppose you're wondering where all this is going, why it's so important to me that you know all of this. After all, I'm pretty sure you don't know me, and if you did, would we like each other? But that doesn't matter now. My time is trickling away, like sand in an hour glass. So listen to me and you will understand it all eventually. Because you have to. It is the only way.

I know what you are thinking. That this is some heartwarming tale of a group of friends who go on some adventures and learn some important lessons about life. But I have to ask you, how many of those stories end up in a hospital room?

I can't pinpoint when it started. The feeling of something or someone watching me. It started out slow, just a slight tickle on the back of my neck. A tendency to glance over my shoulder more often. Small things, barely noticeable. I put it down to too much caffeine and switched to tea like Bailey. But it didn't help. The sense grew stronger, little by little, until I was so jumpy I couldn't sit still for a second. My friends were worried, but I brushed them off. Told them it was due to lack of sleep and they didn't argue, though I'm sure they were talking about me more then usual. Still, the feeling grew until I was sure there was someone watching me. Absolutely positive.

It was when I was walking home from the cafe, alone. That night I was telling you about before. It's dangerous for a girl to go wandering the streets of New York alone at night, but I was only two blocks away. Anyway, that's how I first met him. Absolom. The street wasn't completely empty. It was New York, the streets are never vacant of people. I don't know why he caught my attention and kept it. But he did. He was standing off to the side, waiting. Somehow I knew, deep in my soul, that he was waiting for me. But the more reasonable part of my brain rejected this thought. Just another sketchy character, waiting for a target. I had pepper spray. I would be fine.

I can't describe to you what he looked like. Absolom always wore a trench coat with the collar turned up and a bowler hat pulled down low. When I first saw him I wasn't scared. For some reason I knew Absolom wouldn't hurt me. He was there to help. Even when he approached me, the sketchy character in the trench coat, I wasn't scared. It was more like I couldn't be afraid. Even if I had wanted to, Absolom's very presence soothed me. Taking away even the vaguest feelings of fear. Instead I felt calm. Neutral. Like I didn't have to be in control of my emotions, because he was. He was taking control and I was free from any responsibility. You cannot even begin to comprehend what that feels like.

"Emmaline," Absolom said with certainty in his voice. He had been waiting for me. Any normal teenager would have run screaming, but I felt an odd connection to the man with the hidden face.

"Absolom," I replied quietly. I knew him, as much as I knew Bailey or myself. It was like he had always been there, but now I was acknowledging him. I got the feeling he was smiling, although I couldn't see for sure.

"I'm here to help, Emmaline. You're being watched. You can sense it, can't you?" Absolom asked, his voice deep and slow and soothing. I nodded, watching him as closely as I could. Although his face was hidden I could sense his reactions. He was pleased that I knew what he meant.

"It's not your imagination, Emmaline. There are people out there who want to hurt you. You're important, Emmaline, and they know it. The ones you call friends," Absolom hissed, sounding angry. I thought I heard jealousy, but that was ridiculous. I hesitated slightly at the mention of my friends. After all, they couldn't want to hurt me. What reason would they have? Absolom could see my doubt, and it angered him.

"Don't you trust me, Emmaline? Don't you trust the one that would save you?" Absolom seemed almost hurt, and his words were starting to make sense to me now. Only a little bit of me, but it was starting. Way down deep the kernel of mistrust was being planted and fed by honey sweet words.

"Why here? Why now?" I asked quietly. He was drawing me in, enchanting me in a way. He was my protector and always had been. How could I forget him? The way he was there, had always been there. I had been too blinded in my innocence to see him. He was happy at my response, content that I would listen to him. Though I had yet to be fully under his spell he had no doubts I would be eventually. For now he was happy that I finally acknowledged him. That I finally knew he was their, had always been there, looking after me and keeping me safe.

"All will be explained in time. For now, go home. Rest. I will come again," Absolom assured me and for the first time I felt a thrill of fear. His presence seemed to be fading and the feeling of calm he had brought with him faded with it. All the fear he had been holding back as we talked crashed in, paralyzingly me. I stood, staring after him as he disappeared. I was completely terrified, immobile and unable to comprehend what had just happened.

After the fear had faded slightly in, uneasiness crept in. He had told me he would be back to see me again. I do not know why, but it was that reassurance that I completely hated. Already, after only a minute, he had confused me and horrified me. I was determined to keep him away.

I suppose it was because Absolom had left me that I was having those thoughts of clarity. I should've told my parents, my friends, anyone. But it honestly did not occur to me. Whenever he was there he calmed me, soothed me. When he was gone the fear clung to me. In time it grew so that I clung to the thought that he would return to assuage the fear. But we will get to that. For at that time, I was still sensible enough to be scared. Not nearly sensible enough to do anything about it, but I was still able to make my way home and eventually discard those thoughts of him. Just a crazy guy, was what I thought. Just someone who had guessed my name and went along with it when I said Absolom. The feeling that I had known him all my life had faded along with the calmness.

I dreamed troubled dreams that night, and woke up with only a foggy memory of them and that fateful meeting.