One Day Series: Life Changes (Book One) #Wattys2016

Chapter Forty-Two

Aye! Almost forgot to update. I wanted to earlier, but I got busy. So here is the update. After this there will be two more chapters before chapter 45 , which will become chapter 1 in the next book! Enjoy-expressionwriter

We graduate in thirteen days. It's so crazy how time has gone by so fast. All weekend I've been in study mode and will continue to be in study mode until finals are over with. I plan to ace all of my finals because I have been a little bit behind the rest of my class. Now I'm at the top again.

Michael and I have gone on three dates. All of which begin and end with a kiss. I'm trying to be more comfortable with being in a relationship with him. Because of my past it's really hard for me. It's better for the both of us to take things slow.

"Class, I hope you're studying. These finals will not be easy and some of you need to pass this final just to graduate. If you have any questions regarding the review or final ask me." Mrs. Locke said.

I hate Mondays.

"Emily? Emily? Emily?" Shawn repeated. I didn't look up from my papers. My focus was memorizing and studying. "Emily!" I finally looked up. "What the hell? I thought we were hanging out Saturday at the beach. Michael showed up, but you didn't."

"And? Is it not normal for me to not show up at the beach? I was studying all weekend. My grades don't come as easy as you think they do." I said.

"Okay. Can we hang out tonight."

"I'm studying until finals are over with. And...and I may try walking again." I stopped talking and looked at my notes. Everyone's mouths fell open.

"You didn't tell me that." Michael stated. I nodded.

The rest of the day was very quiet. It may have been because I put in my earbuds and shut everyone out so I could study. Or maybe because I didn't spend it with my friends.

I had the shuttle guys take me home after school. Michael insisted on taking me home. I was afraid he'd take me anywhere but home. So I went with my gut and actually went home. He wasn't too happy with me. It's not like he can ride with me.

This morning I kept thinking about my secret. I mean I take the shortcut to some classes going near that room. It was just something on my mind. Nobody still knows about it besides Hannah. She gives me dirty looks because she knows I'm keeping it to myself.

"What a shocker to find you not studying." Michael said. I shrugged off his comment. "You had the shuttle guy come early this morning. Mind telling me why?"

"The teachers won't let me near the room. I know they try to distract me whenever they feel I get too close to it. Sometimes I peek through the window of the door to look inside it making sure what I remember is true. I want to walk again. I can't break my promise. No matter how hard it's going to be I have to walk again. Abby wanted that for me." I said.

"Is this your way of telling me you need to talk about what happened?"

"I-I don't know, Michael. Mrs. Chase said that I need to tell somebody I trust. Well, I trust you, but I guess I'm just more afraid of saying it out loud than anything. Once I say it out loud, then I can't take it back. I don't know what will happen when I am open about it. After school?"

"After school. Would you like to join us?"

"In a few. There's something I need to do first." Michael nodded and left. I pushed myself over to the room. There was hardly any people over here because it's all too much to take in for most of the students. I sat in front of the door for several minutes.

A lot happened in that room. It will be with us until we die. Some will make it into a great hero story they survived to tell to their kids. Others will try to completely forget about it. I will do neither of those things. If it's ever brought up I'd say what happened, and then I would move on with my life. We have to be able to move past this. There will always be hard days in our lives.

"What were you doing this morning, Emily?" Joanna asked.

"Nothing. Just sat in a hallway. I decided to give myself some time away from studying. It was pretty relaxing." She slowly nodded her head. There was some truth to my response. I wasn't completely lying. The only thing she doesn't know is what I was thinking of and which hallway I was in.

Michael and I had been staring at each other for a good five minutes. We had the house to ourselves. I was still deciding if that was a good or bad thing. Who knows what will happen when I tell him about that day.

"Um, what do you need to tell me, Emily?" Michael asked.

"You need to know the reason why I jumped on Robin and what happened after you guys left." I answered. He stood there stunned.

"Wha-What are you talking about? I-I'm confused, Emily."

"I know. You remember what my life was like at that time. I wasn't happy whatsoever. Ella was bullying me and it was only getting worse at that time. I felt out of place in my home. Everybody was pretending I didn't exist. But then the time capsule videos got out. I thought things would change for me. Things only got worse. And then Robin was holding the gun towards us. I knew he'd be my escape. The entire time we were in there I was planning the end of my story. He was just scared. Mark was making things worse for everybody."

"The end of your story?" I nodded.

"I jumped on him to protect you. To save you, Michael. You guys ran and you were safe. All I wanted was for all of you to be safe. It was the only way. The gun was pointed towards the ground as I jumped on him and that's when he gripped the trigger by accident, twice... Robin dropped the gun and I fell on my legs. I saw the gun laying next to me. I knew what had to be done. So I grabbed the gun and held it up to my head. R-Robin yelled no and before I could pull the trigger he swiftly snatched the gun and shot himself. He saved my life that day. With all of the blood loss I couldn't remember what happened after you left. All I knew was that he was dead and I didn't pull the trigger."

"You were going to kill yourself?"

"Sadly, yes. It was just one of those low times in my life. The pain was almost unbearable. I was bleeding out. The third gun shot you heard was when Robin shot himself. Michael?"

"Why was it so important for me to be safe?"

"You've been my crush since I first saw you. I didn't want you in my life because I didn't want you to know what I was going through. But you opened up my shell, Michael. You helped me see my life is worth living. And then you told me you liked me. I never thought we could have a chance."

"Emily? Why have you kept this to yourself for almost five months? This really has to be eating you up."

"Now that you know the whole truth it's not anymore. I trust you and I hope you still trust me. We've had a lot of fun together these last five months. I-I'm sorry, Michael."

"Hey! Listen to me. That's in the past now. I know you don't have those thoughts anymore. We're together and we graduate in a couple of weeks. I-I just can't believe that's what you've been hiding from me. What's wrong?"

"What I just told you was about the day of the shooting. You need to know about the nightmares that really happened."

"Okay. How bad are they?"

"Let's just say I'd rather get shot again than go through what I did when I was kidnapped." My breathing shortened. It was getting harder to breathe and my hands were shaking. Michael sat on my bed and helped me lay next to him.

"Save it for another day. You need to rest. Relax first. We can talk about that another day."

But I woke up screaming...