Engaged to You

Oh, Great Wise Woman, Won't you Flip a Coin?

"Emma!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, running as fast as I could into the cold night air. Even though I knew I would reach her eventually, even though I could feel the wind passing through my hair- time stood still.

In my mind, I wasn't moving forward, nor was I moving backwards. I was barely wavering in the wind. Everything was in slow motion, each footstep that pounded the earth seemed muffled and far away. My breathing sounded slow and deep. I felt like I was in those tense moments of a TV show, where the films been slowed down, each reaction showed and studied by the audience.

Finally, I seemed to have made some progress. Coming to the edge of the Show ground, a chain-link fence, a little taller than me, in front, more tents to the left and to the right, the car park over the small embankment.

"Emma!" I screamed, cupping my hand around my mouth, trying to get my voice to reach her. "Emma!"

Nothing. Silence. I took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm myself. My brain was in overload. I was panicking, worrying about Emma, about what was happening, about how it was my fault. And even though I'd pushed it as far into the back of my subconcious as it would go, I was worried about Nicole's baby. If it was mine.... I shuddered.

"Emma!" I bellowed, turning in a circle. As every minute passed, every second that ticked away, something could be happening to her. And I can't save her. Can't help her, because  I don't know where she is...

And that thought nearly brought me to tears. Me! Chase Micheal Flynn had tears in his eyes as he thought about not being able to protect his girl. Yep, she was my girl.

Think, Chase, think! I racked my brains for any idea, anything that would help.

"CHASE!"

I whipped around, my heart beating so fast I thought I might have imagined it. "EMMA!?"

"HELP ME!"

I turned on my heel, bolting up the embankment to the carpark, following the resonating sounds of her yell. I was going to kill who ever was touching her. Who ever hurt her was gonna die a slow painful death.

I heard a loud yelp and sprinted towards it. The back of the car park was dead silent- no lights, no sounds, no people. A few cars clumped together, clearing belonging to the people who were still here- store owners, ride operators and the like.

I neared a little clump of about six cars, all sitting idle and dark next to eachother. I realised that I was completely unarmed and helpless. I had to save Emma, but nothing was going to happen if I got hurt myself. Skirting around the first car, I stepped into a clump of trees, picking up a large but managable branch off the ground.

Sneaking closer, I heard movements and the odd grunt or groan. My mind immediatly flicked to the worse possible senario. I gripped the branch tighter, ducking behind the car, out of sight. Peering around the bumper, I peeked at the situation.

A grin spread across my face as I noticed the I really didn't have to do anything. Slipping out from behind the car, I approuched her carefully. "Em?"

She looked up and I gasped loudly, moving staight to her side. She stood there, shaking slightly, not saying a word, her eyes roaming my face. I glanced down at the people by my feet. Three teenage boys, about fourteen or fifteen. I tried to breath through my mouth- the alcohol coming off them was enough to make me tipsy. Idiots.

I raised my hand slowly, my fingers brushing Emma's bruised and bloodied face. "Did they do this?" I whisper at her, wanting nothing more than to sweep her into my arms and hold her while she cries.

She shakes her head. "No."

I frown at her. "What?" I pull out a hanky from my pocket and press it to her forehead. A deep gash runs just above her eyebrow, across to the edge of her hair line.