Colliding Hearts #Wattys2017

Chapter 3- Family Time Part 2

"Monsters stuck in your head,

Monsters under your bed,

We are monsters, oh, ohh."

Emerson sang softly as she passed what looked like a shifter demon. She didn't know the proper term but knew that they could shift into whoever they touched and were very dangerous. As she passed the shifter, it tried to bump into her but she expertly avoided it; by tripping on her own feet and face planting the sidewalk. The demon let out a snort and kept walking as she sat up and rubbed her nose.

"Always works." She muttered in a low tone as she stood and fixed her hat and brushed off the knees of her jeans.

Everyone around her walked past as if nothing had happened and she wondered if there were others out there that saw the things she did. She had long since learned to never speak about what she saw and always avoid the things she seen. There had been one incident when she had been ten and was at the park with her mother when she had thought she saw a girl that looked like her being attacked by a fish monster.

She didn't understand why the fish monster was attacking her but out of no where a woman who looked like both her and the girl appeared and killed the monster before they both ran off. She had learned on that day that if you hint that you can see them, they would kill you. Shaking her head she carried on, ignoring the demons and fairies that walked and flew around the humans.

~~~~~

"Knock, Knock!" Emerson shouted as she unlocked the old apartment door and pushed it open. As she entered and shut the door behind her, the scent of homemade cake filled her nose and had her pulling her bag and tossing it on the sofa and running to the kitchen.

Sitting in the center of the table was a two layer cake that had white icing with a mixture of green candles. A smile formed as she counted all nineteen candles and read the writing, Happy Birthday Emerson, was elegantly written in light green icing. Looking around the empty kitchen and living room, Emerson was about to stick her finger in the icing when a light whack on the head caused her to jump and spin around.

"Not yet!" Her mother scolded, pointing her finger at her and moving the cake to the counter. Emerson pouted but titled her head to the side as she took in her mother.

Her mother looked older and ever since she came back from that three week business trip, she seemed even older. Her ebony black hair was streaked with gray and was shorter than Emerson remembered. Her once bright and calculating brown eyes now seemed duller and not as calculating. Her shoulders seemed slumped and her clothes seemed disheveled.

Emerson recalled how before that trip, her mother was always dressed neatly and always looked as if she had to fight or run. Now she looked, Emerson couldn't quite put her finger on how her mother looked now. Still all the same Emerson walked forwards and hugged her mother tightly, something she always did when seeing her.

"I'll never understand why you always hug me like it's your last." Teresa Gray, better known as Tessa, chuckled as she hugged her now adult daughter.

"Because it's how you always hugged me." Emerson replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tessa simply laughed and patted her daughters back while instructing her to take her bag to her room.

Tessa watched as Emerson did as she was told, smiling softly. Her eyes glanced to the clock on the kitchen wall and she sighed, today an old friend was getting married and she couldn't be there. But more importantly, Emerson couldn't be there. Tessa shook her head and went about preparing Stir-Fry for Emerson, it being her favorite food. She knew Emerson had realized she was different; there wasn't much that took place that Emerson wasn't aware of.