Colliding Hearts #Wattys2017

Chapter 4- Day Out

Emerson's eyes slowly opened to see the plastic glowing stars on her ceiling causing her to smile as she remembered that day. She had been ten and she and her mother had spent the day learning all about stars. Emerson had enjoyed that day more than anything so much that her mother had went out and bought the glow in the dark stars and had helped decorate her entire room with them.

Now only the ones that had been stuck onto the ceiling remained and Emerson often found herself missing the fake stars when she couldn't sleep at her dorm. She always felt happier being in her room, knowing her mother was just down the hall a short distance. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being on her own, it wasn't as hard as many had made it out to be, it was just she missed her home and best friend.

"Emerson? You up?" Her mother's voice filtered through the thick wood of her bedroom door.

"No, I'm lying down." Emerson called in a serious tone as she remained laying under her blankets. Her door creaked open, her mother's head appeared in her peripheral vision causing her to twist and prop her head up on the palm of her hand. Her mother pushed the door all the way open and stepped further into the room.

"It's almost twelve, were you planning on getting up today?" Tessa joked as she placed her hands on her hips and watched as her now wide awake daughter sat up.

"I was planning on it." Emerson spoke as pulled her knees up to her chest just as her mother sat next to her. Her mother looked as if she hadn't slept last night; her hair seemed flat. Her eyes looked darker and her lips looked like she had gnawed on them, a habit she noticed her mother had when she had done something she regretted.

"What did you do?" Emerson inquired in an innocent tone, blinking her eyes and waiting for her mother to answer.

Tessa blinked in shockstaring at Emerson who sat looking at her innocently, it was an innocent enough question Tessa guessed. However she still did not understood what would cause Emerson to ask such a question, especially since the girl just woke up.

"I haven't done anything, is there something you've done?" Tessa joked as she brushed Emerson's hair from her face.

"I plan on staying here, but I need to go out for a little bit." Emerson spoke as she crawled to the end of her bed, and stood walking past her mother to her closet. She slid the door open and began deciding on what to wear.

"What? Where are you going?" Tessa questioned as she stood and crossed her arms against her chest, watching as her daughter pulled out another one of her large knit sweaters. Tessa wondered where Emerson had gained the love of over sized sweaters. Emerson's closet was full of varying colored knit sweaters and plain skinny jeans.

"You asked what I was doing this weekend." Emerson said as she pulled out a dark orange knit sweater and a pair of darker skinny jeans.

"Right, what I asked last night, well I guess since you're staying the entire weekend I'll need to go and get groceries." Tessa trailed off as she kissed Emerson on the top of her head before walking out of her room, not at all worrying about Emerson having not answered the second part of her question.

"Glad she's not making me go." Emerson muttered out loud as she grabbed a pair of clean underwear, orange socks and a black undershirt and shuffled towards the bathroom to shower and get ready for the remainder of the day.

~~~~~

Emerson had forgotten where she was going. Of course this was nothing new, Emerson had forgotten her bag and had it not been for her mother chasing her down the narrow stairs of the apartment building, she would not have it with her now. She had rummaged through it, seeing a note from her mother telling her to stay safe and focus; she had smiled and kept the note.

Now she was lost in the Brooklyn area not far from a small fruit stand, was where she stood, watching strangers walk past, watching cars get stuck in traffic and honk their horns in anger. She stood by the fruit stand, her hands being swallowed by her knit sweater; they rested loosely on the strap of her bag.

The smell of the fresh mixture of fruit filled her nose, making her smile as she let out a sigh of content. Despite her being lost and unable to find the book store, her original destination, she didn't mind being lost near food. Deciding she would buy something she turned and began to look at the assortment of fruit.

From her peripheral she saw a young man who seemed to look just as out of place as she often felt. He stood to the side, shadows cast from the building he stood near. Emerson turned and watched him, observing his movements. He looked familiar; almost as if he had been an old friend she just couldn't recall their name.

His skin looked like he had a fading tan and looked to smooth. His dark black hair was cut short but still seemed to cover a small portion of his forehead; the style resembled a short fringe cut for guys. Emerson could hardly make out his eyes, taking to guessing he had brown eyes.

He was dressed in an unzipped black leather; Emerson could faintly make out the detail of black ink on his neck. He wore simple black jeans and what she thought were black boots. Emerson watched as he turned, his back facing her as he walked off, moving through the steady crowd without ever bumping into someone.

"Are you going to buy anything?" A disgruntled voice pulled Emerson form her observation, causing her to turn and stare at the angry looking man who was running the fruit stand.

"No." Emerson said, deciding against it and the entire trip in general.

"Then beat it." The man snapped, shooing her off as he sat back onto an old wooden chair. Emerson simply turned and walked towards the direction of her home. Something about seeing that stranger had caused her to feel, well she felt different.

Emerson was often happy and calm, only showing any other emotion when she was frightened but she usually laughed it off. It wasn't that she didn't understand her emotions, it was just she'd rather not deal with any of them. She had long since decided that if she had to hide what she saw, she would have to hide her emotions.

Granted it makes little to no sense and if she were to be honest, she didn't fully understand what had led her to that conclusion, but Emerson kept her word, regardless of how silly it was. She was upset, however, that she hadn't been able to find that book store; she had seen it online and had called to see if they had a specific book she was looking for.

The sun was bright and warm, the wind was cool and despite the slight pollution smell it was still clear. For a day in late August, it was a nice day and that was perhaps why Emerson had gotten distracted and lost in the first place, it could also be why she had somehow managed to take three hours to return to her home.

"I really need to focus." Emerson groaned as she jogged up the stone stairs. She could feel the soon to be setting suns rays beating on her back as she headed towards the narrow stairway.

As Emerson was climbing the stairs a strange feeling washed over her, as if something seemed out of place or if something was going to happen. She felt chills crawl down her spine as she turned only to see no one was there. She gnawed on her lower lip, chewing on the flesh nervously as she turned and sprinted the rest of the way to her floor.

She was being paranoid again, this feeling often came out of the blue, and she had originally thought it surfaced before she would see a monster, yet she knew for a fact that there weren't any of those things living in this apartment building. So perhaps she was just being paranoid for no reason. She reached the landing her room was on and she quickly walked past the other doors, still gnawing on her lower lip.

Pulling her keys from her bag she went to unlock the door but found that it was slightly open. She frowned, worry settling in the pit of her stomach; she was forgetful, but she knew for a fact that the door had been shut and her mother was just as paranoid about open doors. Emerson put the keys back in her bag and adjusted the bag around to where it rested against her backside.

Carefully she pushed the door open, her eyes narrowing as she looked around. Her heart was racing, pounding painfully against her rib cage as she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise as she stepped further into her home. She wouldn't normally be doing this, she normally didn't let her curiosity dictate her actions, but she wasn't certain if her mother was home or not and she had to know for certain that she was safe.