The Grean Household

60: An End To Apathy

Emma was on the hood of her car, tossing the cigarette from her fingers down onto the pavement. It was a small thing she was using to cope, hoping these thoughts of guilt would get away. 

I'm a murderer.

After she found her father, murdered in cold blood in his own house, she testified. The man who helped was calm, hoping that he could be of some kind of service. 

Emma was horrified when they announced who they had as a prime suspect.

The motive was confusing, but Emma testified in court. She stared at her own flesh and blood right in the face. Her aunt, a doctor, murdered her father. Her prints and hair were at the scene, scattered everywhere in the scuffle she had with her own brother. Emma cursed at her, tears spilling from her eyes as she noticed how her aunt showed no sympathy.

She couldn't, Emma realized. She reasoned that she herself wouldn't have any look of sympathy if she were a week out from death herself.

Emma was starting to hope that the Grean empire was beginning to sway and fall. She was hoping that their offices would collapse just like The Queen did back in 2047. 

It was 2051 now.

Alex had just turned 29, but he never got to celebrate his birthday.

After her father's murder, and her aunt's conviction, the house was left to her. Emma was still clinging onto hope that her brother would wake up from his coma, though it seemed less and less likely. She sold the house and everything she could inside, raking up enough money for herself.

She spent it on Alex, hoping to keep him with her a little while longer. Emma would visit him, rubbing his cold forehead. His heart was steady, but she wasn't sure if he could hear her. Or if he had already died and she was just keeping his body there, hoping it was him. When she ran her hand through his hair.

Dad's gone, Alex... She whispered to him one night. Emma wiped her tears.

It's just us now... 

Perhaps it was selfishness that made her keep him there for so long. 

When she finally realized that he was never going to wake up, she cried on her kitchen floor. A puddle of her sorrows began to grow beneath her, a hole in her soul opening up. There was a child inside her, crying out for her mother's guidance in what to do. But there was another version inside her that was hateful and spiteful. It cursed her mother away from her, claiming that all this mess was because of her.

The infighting in her head only made her cry harder. Emma would spend most nights staring out the window of her apartment. She was slowly drifting away, packing up her things in boxes. Maybe it was in her DNA to run away from problems, like how her mom managed to run away from hers, leaving her daughter to deal with them.

When she stared at the pile of boxes she realized that there was something else she needed to do. It was an executive decision, though Emma suddenly felt horrible for not giving Alex a final say. She made her decision known, and spent his last days with him in the hospital. With her car packed up and her apartment ready to be sold, Emma cried next to him. She'd wipe her tears away from his skin as they fell from her cheeks.

I love you, Alex... She muttered to him. It was the final hours. Emma couldn't imagine what he'd feel. Going from hearing and feeling to not feeling at all. To being nothing.

I know I never told you, Emma wiped her eyes, sniffling. 

-as much as you deserved to hear it... and I can't make up for all the times I should've said how much you mean to me... but I just want you to know that... The breath was leaving her throat, but she still wanted to speak to him. Just one last time. 

I really love you... and I'm so sorry.

She pet his head, clenching her jaw. Emma began to wonder where her mother was when her son was dying, but soon realized that she would've never known. She never reached out to Sarah besides that one time, and after a day of no answer, she deleted her cry for help. Now, with nowhere to go, Emma found herself here. 

I love you, Alex... She repeated, wondering if he could he'd say it back. She wondered if he'd apologize for all the things he put himself through. 

When Emma sat in that chair, watching him carefully, the ominous tone of the monitor flatlining, she recalled her ideal future. How she was happy with a mother that promised to never leave and many siblings that would drive her crazy, but she'd secretly enjoy her company- all topped with a father that taught his sons how to be a man and how to do things that would protect their partners. 

But her ideal life never came to rescue her.

Now, as she sit on the hood of her car, her things packed inside, she stared up at the moon. The night seemed endless, the days always seeming dark. Emma rubbed her eyes, slowly slipping down. In those dark years, she managed to succeed in what she wanted to do: her dreams. But now there was no one around to celebrate with her. She had stories she could tell and laugh about, but no one would listen.

All she could do was speak into the air and let her chuckles and sobs echo in the lonely expanse.

Emma got in her car, wiping the last of her tears away. She began to drive. Her plan was to move far away from this place and never look back. As she began to move onto the thruway, she huffed gently. Continuing onto the next state felt like the best thing to do. Emma held her breath as she crossed the state line. Instead of being free, it felt like she was continuing to run, but she didn't know where exactly she was running to.

She drove into the void, alone and broken.

And she never looked back.