The English Teacher ➳ Emison

Chapter 27 | Aftermath

Emily reached her home after an eerily silent car ride, just as shaken up as when she left Alison's. It was relatively late, but according to the lights that were on in the den, her mother must've still been up.

She couldn't have the woman see her like this, she would ask questions immediately. Not wanting to get sucked into an investigation right now, Emily instead headed straight upstairs, entering her bedroom and closing the door silently behind her. From the dried-up tears on her face and the numb look in her eyes, she figured she probably seemed utterly miserable.

As she glanced around the room, she felt the despair attacking her from within. Everything suddenly reminded her of Alison, and the fact that the blonde had been in there before didn't help much either. Emily couldn't even look at her bed without remembering everything they did in it.

And it would never happen again. Alison would never visit her house again, and Emily would never go to Alison's again. The place that had become a second home for her was now a place she wasn't welcomed in anymore.

Before she knew it, tears were cascading down her cheeks once more. She sat down tiredly on the bed, exhaling a laborious sigh. Her eyes traveled to the dresser where, in the third drawer, Alison's UPenn sweatshirt and her Eagles hoodie rested. They then wandered to the window seat where she sat every time she talked on the phone with Alison, before transferring over to the desk chair where Alison had sat when she wrote down something in the Great Expectations copy she had given Emily.

Come to think of it now, Emily never got around to reading what the blonde had secretly written there and told her to read later. After she had moved back home at the time, she hid the book in her bedside desk drawer, forgetting that Alison had penned a passage on the blank page that came before the first page of the story.

Out of curiosity, she found herself pulling out the book from the drawer and opening it to that exact page. Her breathing became constricted just from seeing Alison's handwriting for some reason. In it, she read the dedication;

Pip gets Estella in the end, but of course you already knew that before you even finished the book.

That's what I love about you. You're big on happy endings.

Think of me whenever you read that quote - you know which one.

Yours with every inch of my heart,

- Alison

"Emmy?" her head sprung up as she suddenly heard a muffled voice from the hallway, rushing to stuff the book back in the drawer as footsteps approached.

"I didn't even hear you come in. Where have you been? It's very late, I was-" Pam's worried rambling paused once she opened the door, finding her daughter strung in a bleak disposition.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" her mother approached in concern, sitting down next to her on the bed.

Emily felt tears welling up in her eyes from the mere question. What wasn't wrong?

She opened her mouth to speak but her vocal cords were so strained that she couldn't get a single word out. She shook her head as her vision blurred from the tears.

Pam turned distressed at the sight of Emily's condition, pulling the girl into her arms. Emily fell into her mother's comforting embrace, breaking down with gentle sobs against her shoulder. Her arms tightened around the woman, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, forcing out the heavy tears.

"Talk to me, Emmy," Pam pleaded softly, rubbing her daughter's back.

"It hurts, mom," she let out a frail whisper.