The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 14

              "Luke, how did Adam find us?" Emma whispered softly. Luke started to talk but his voice faded as Adam moved slowly toward them.  Neither Luke nor Emma tried to leave they both instead just sat there. Suddenly, Adam was standing right in front them, "Nice ring, Emma. Do you remember when you had the promise ring that I gave to you on that finger?" He pulled a small gold ring out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment before showing Emma, "Do you really think that getting married to that idiot is going to fix your problems? He doesn't love you, Emma. I love you. I kept this ring because I know you are going to change your mind about me, about us..." Luke had punched him; he had punched him right in the middle of the last dance of the night. They left quickly and started to head back home. "You know he is going to follow us, right?" Emma said looking out of her window. Luke considered what she had said for a moment, "We go home and get some clothes and whatever else we need. Then we go on a little road trip." Emma grabbed his hand and squeezed tight, "What about my parents? They aren't going to just let us go off." They pulled into the driveway and noticed that no cars were there. Emma went straight to the kitchen were a note sat that said, " Your dad and I went to a friend's house. We will back soon. -Love Mom." Luke followed behind and picked up the phone to call them.

    "Hey, Cindy. This is Luke, so Adam is back in town and he found me and Emma at the dancing place. We need to get out of town before he shows up again." He heard silence on the other side of the phone. "Where are you guys going to go? Do you even have any money left?" Luke pondered on the thought for a bit. "I have money and I don't know where we will go, but we need to go now." With every headlight they saw pass they got more and more worried. "Then go and call as soon as you find where your going. Tell Emma I love her." They moved quickly and grabbed whatever they could fit in a small suitcase. When both of them got in the car the panic was still high. Luke tried to keep calm for Emma who was trying to hide the tears that fell down her face. "Em, it's okay. We are going to be okay." Luke went to grab Emma's hand, but she wouldn't allow him to take it. You could see the mix of fear and pain in her eyes as she looked out of the window. "What did I ever do to deserve this? I know I haven't always made the best choices, but I don't understand why he has to come after me. Before everyone found out he is crazy, he could've had any girl he wanted. Why is it me?" She shook her head in disbelief, like somehow she could wake herself up from this nightmare. Luke drove fast, but soon he knew Adam's truck was behind them. Emma was curled into a tight ball; she had lost any sanity she had left. "Luke, pull over." He turned to her with a worried expression. 

    "Em,  I get that you are really upset right now; I really do.  I am not willing to risk our lives and pull over." She took her shaky hand and placed it on Luke's. " I can't keep running and hiding from him; I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. Just pull over and I'll go with Adam, so I will at least know that you and the rest of the family are safe."  Luke was silent and kept driving. "Luke, I get that you want to protect me, but you don't get to chose my life choices for me." A red light put them to a stop and he looked over to her. " I don't get to make your life choices for you, but you are trying to get me to pull over and give you to someone who will do exactly that. You won't make another decision in your whole entire life; Emma, I would never be able to forgive myself if I let you get out of this car to go to him." They drove in silence for another thirty minutes; Luke went all different ways trying to lose Adam. He glanced over at Emma every once in a while. She looked like a small child the way she was curled up; he could hear tiny whimpers coming from her. Finally, He couldn't see any trace of Adam anymore, so he pulled into the next hotel parking lot he saw. 

   "Em, I know your mad at me, but I need you to get out of the car." Emma got out of the car and headed toward the hotel with Luke behind her carrying everything. They got a room and started the walk toward it. "I'm sorry." Emma mumbled under her breath to where Luke could barely hear. As soon as they walked through the door, Emma laid on the bed and curled up the same way she did in the car.

The next morning...

   Luke awoke to find Emma gone and a note on the bedside table. The note read, " Dear Luke, I know you are wondering where I am. As I am writing this, I am wondering where I will be when you wake up to find this. I can't hide from my problems any longer, and I intend to face them head on. I took the car, so you will have to wait for me to come back before you leave the hotel. If I am not back by 2:00 today, then you must call the police. Love, Emma." Luke picked up his phone to call hers, but he soon saw Emma's phone flashing from under the bed. He called Emma's mom's phone only for it to go straight to voicemail. Luke paced around the room for what felt like forever; he felt like a lost puppy dog, alone and confused. He looked at the clock it was only 9:30. "When did she leave?" Luke said aloud like someone would answer back.

    He got up and went to the front desk, " Excuse me, did you see a teenage girl leave the hotel this morning?" The front desk worker pondered on the thought for a moment, " Yes, she had green eyes and brown hair with blonde highlights. She looked upset. Was she okay?" "I don't know. She was upset last night and when I woke up this morning she was gone." Luke laid his head in his hand trying to figure out what to do next. "Will you tell me if you see her? Her name is Emma." The worker wrote down her name on a piece of paper, "I will let you know." Luke went back to the room and sat down on the bed. He thought about what she was doing now, and how she was doing.

    He remembered how she looked when he saw her after she was found from being missing for that year; her hair was matted and her lips were dry and cracked. Emma had a bruised face and was too shaky to pick up anything. She was so in shock that nothing that she said really made sense for the first couple of hours she was back. Luke thought even further back to when she had first started dating Adam; he had prepared to ask Emma out, but she had already found him. Luke was to tired to think, so he took a nap. 

   When he awoke, it was 1:30. He got up and looked around the room; he saw that the bathroom light was on. "Em, is that you?" There was no response. Luke slowly walked toward the room. He tried to turn the doorknob, but the door was locked. "Emma, I know your in there. Just let me in; I'm worried about you." Luke heard the lock click, and watched the door slowly open. Emma stood in the bathroom with blood on her hands, shirt, and in her hair. There was a certain look in her eyes; it was a mix of sadness, anger, and fear. "Em, what did you do?" Luke said.