Come Home

Chapter 1

    Emmalyn Frank wakes up to the spring sun shining in her face. Her little brother Ryan is standing by the window holding the curtains open. He is four (and a half, he says) years old. He grins broadly when he sees that his sister is awake. She peeks at her phone and it is only 5:30 am.

"Hey bud," Emmalyn greets her little brother with a smile. "Why are you up so early?" Ryan face is full of worry now. He shakes his head.

"Mommy is sleeping on the floor again and she won't listen to me," He says. "What should we do Emma?"

Emmalyn bolts out of the bed and runs into the small living room where sure enough, her alcoholic mother is passed out. Like clock-work, she picks up her twig of a mother and takes her to her room then gets her a glass of water. Gina Frank's breath reeked of vodka and what smelt like toothpaste. Emmalyn figured her mother was trying to mask the smell of vodka. It definitely doesn't work.  While this happens Ryan is eating cereal and watching this from the hallway.  Within ten minutes later Emmalyn's mom is passed out in her bedroom. 

Emmalyn texts her best friend, Tori Mynatt. 

Emmagurl46: Sup gurlll. What do we have planned tonight

ToriToralini: Hmmmm. How about movie at my place and we can study for finals 

Emmagurl46: Ok but really!? STUDYING?

ToriToralini: Sorry but we have to the finals are in 2 1/2 weeks

Emmagurl46: Fine but i choose the movie

ToriToralini: FINE

Emmalyn quickly sets out Ryan's clothes for preschool and sets out his toothbrush and toothpaste. She does this every morning. After that she takes a quick shower and pulls her dark brown hair into a messy bun. Which in fact took six million times for it to actually look like an acceptable bun for school. Then Emmalyn hurries to the coffee shop across the busy street while Ryan watches a little TV before school. Ryan is basically who Emma lives for. Her life is mostly about taking care of Ryan because his own mother can't. His father died a couple months after Ryan was born from a bomb while he was in Iraq. He was in the army. So Emmalyn is the only person to take care of Ryan other than Tori who helps sometimes when Emma can't. Tori and Emma had been best friends since fourth grade. They were inseparable, they still are. 

Emmalyn, Ryan, and their mom live in an apartment in the city. They had to move out of their old house when Lewis Frank died. The house was a beautiful victorian house in the country. They had everything. But then he died and Mom started to drink and everything started to go bad. Emmalyn always tries to get her mom to go to meetings for alcoholics to help her but the conversation always ends in yelling and the slamming of doors. 

When Emmalyn gets back from the coffee shop, fully caffeinated, she gets Ryan and drives him to his preschool and then drives herself to school. Today she is a little early because of her "wonderful" early awaken.  Emmalyn is a senior at Buckingham High School. She waits in the courtyard for Tori to show up. When Tori walks towards her she has a grim expression on her face. 

"What's wrong?" Emmalyn asks. Tori is usually cheerful and bubbly.

"Nothing," Tori answers quickly. Emmalyn raises her eyebrows at her, "I'm serious." She says sharply. Then Tori gets up and stalks off to her locker without another word, leaving Emma with a confused look on her face. 

"What just happened..." Emmalyn says to herself. 

"HA! Old Erm over here has finally started to go crazy! Talking to herself!" Tasha Truman yells to everyone around in a nasty tone. She was one of those girls that bullied other girls to make her feel better about herself. Emma's face goes bright red. She wants to say something but decides to brush it off and walk away. 

At lunch Emmalyn walks to her usual spot where her and Tori usually sit but she wasn't there. Emma figured that she was still mad at her for whatever she did. She'll be normal and I'll see her after school. Little did Emmalyn know that she wouldn't be seeing her for awhile.