Dauntles Black Heart

Ch21

During lunch everyone went to eat, I set at my desk, I see that Max is in his office, I nock on the closed door.
"Who is it?" he asks.
"Emerald" I answer, he does not respond.
"It's Emerald, Eric's assistant." I then say.
"Go away" he says, I open the door anyway.
"What do you want?" he asks.
"Why do you hate me?" I ask.
"Go away" he says.
"Not until you tell me why." I say.
"I said to go away" he says through clinched teeth.
"What is wrong with me? What did I do to you?" I yell.
"This does not concern you" he yells back.
"Just tell me." I yell, he stands up from the desk.
"You shut up, shut up now" he yells.
"You won't tell me because you don't have a heart. You are a cold, heartless, lonely man." I yell, he jumps on top of me. Eric, Uriah, and George pull him off me and Marabella pulls me out of the room.

"What happened?" she asks me as Eric, Uriah, and Georgie try to calm Max down. I don't answer her. I'm not scared of Max, it just that what would have happened if they wouldn't have been there? I didn't think I could set Max off like that. Why doesn't he like me? Why couldn't he just answer my simple question?
"Emerald, what happened?" she asks me again.
"I wanted to know why he hates me." I say.
"Why do you care?" she asks.
"I already have enough targets on my back, I just want to know how to get one off." I answer, she doesn't say anything. Then Eric, Uriah, and Georgie walk out of Max's office.
"Emerald I think you should go home." Uriah says.
"Come on I will walk you home." Eric says, we then walk to my apartment.

"Can I talk to you?" he ask as we walk in.
"You can always talk to me." I say.
"I know, but it's just that... I..."
"Eric, talk to me."
"Do you like Thomas?"
"He is my boyfriend, of course I like him." I say.
"No, I mean do you... love him?" he asks, I set there and think about the question. I loved Joey and he help kidnap me, I loved Matthew and my mother but they must hate me now, I loved my grandmother and she died. Everyone I love ends up dead or hates me, I don't want Thomas to hate me or worse die. I then remember he is waiting for my answer, I nod, He smiles.
"Would you like me to stay here till Thomas gets off work?" he asks.
"No, I don't need babysitting." I say, he smiles and walks out the room.

I start to practice on the Xbox, I'm trying to perfect a move I created. After a while there is a knock on the door. I open the door to Marcus, I try to shut the door, he pushes it open, then pushes me to the ground, and closes the door.
"Marcus what are you doing here? How did you get out of jail?" I asks, I'm shaking with fear, I try to press the charm on the bracelet, but he holds my hand down.
"This is for your own good." He says then starts to hit me with his belt, I'm trying not to cry.
"This is for your own good." He repeats, I'm now crying.
"Please stop" I manage to say, he keeps repeating "this is for your own good." After more than twenty minutes he finally stops. He sets on the ground, he pulls me close, and hugs me as I cry.
"Sweet heart, don't cry." He says, I try to get away from him but he is stronger than me.
"Daddy is right here." He says, then injects me with a liquid, I manage to press my bracelet. My vision is starting to go out, but he holds me like a father would after their kid had a nightmare. Then my vision goes black.

Thomas' POV

My phone rings, its Four.
"Hello" I say.
"Get to my apartment now." He says, he sounds like he has been running.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Emerald" he says, my heart drops, I take off running.
"Kayla cover my shift please." I say.

I run to Four's, I go through the door and see Emerald laying on the couch, Four is pulling a blanket over her.
"What happened?" I ask.
"I don't know, she pressed the charm and when I found her she was laying on the ground, I also found this letter." He says then hands it to me.

It reads:

No one believes that I would do such a thing to my children. I will only do what I think is the best for them. My son has already learned what is good for him, but for my daughter it is only the beginning. Don't do anything you will regret later. This is for her own good.

-Marcus

"He gave her a sleep serum, she should wake up soon." Four says. I look at Emerald, she is laying on the couch can tell she had been crying. I hate Marcus, I have never hated someone so much in my life. I sit on the ground near her and hold her hand. After an hour all of our friends are here waiting for her to awake. There is a knock on the door, Zeke opens it, Max stands on the other side, Uriah and Eric make their way to the door.
"What do you want?" Eric asks.
"Is she okay?" Max asks.
"Why do you care?" Uriah asks.
"Just tell me if she is okay." Max says.
"She will be." Eric says then closes the door.
"What was that about?" Zeke asks before I can get the words out.
"Emerald and Max got into it again." Uriah answers. I start to pace, I can still see Emerald laying there. I promised Four that I would protect her, I broke that promise, like my father always said I am so stupid.

"Dude, she is going to be fine. Are you okay?" Zeke says.
"I'm fine" I say and run my hands through my hair and put them on my neck. Four and Eric pull me into the kitten.
"She is going to be okay." Four says.
"I know but I promised..." I say then I fall to my knees, "I promised I would protect her. This is all my fault." My voice crakes when I say 'my fault' then I start to cry, Zeke and Uriah now walk in, they all bend down to be at my level, Eric puts his arm around me.
"It's not your fault, its mine, I told her she should go home." Uriah says.
"No Uriah, it's my fault I should have stayed with her." Eric then says, "I'm so sorry Thomas, I'm so sorry. I asked her if she wanted me to stay and she said she didn't need babysitting, I should have stayed." I look up at Eric.
"I didn't know you cared so much." I say, I'm not mad at him nor at anyone but myself.
"You love her and she loves you." He says.
"You don't know that." I say.
"She t-" Eric starts but is cut off by screams. Ear piercing screams, screams that will sending chills down your spine, the last time I heard those screams was the night Emerald had that dream about Marcus, Joey, Four, and I beat her. We jump up and run to her.

Her eyes are still closed, she twitches and shakes like she did during that dream, and the screams continues.
"Emerald!" I almost scream, she does not respond, I start to gently shake her. Her eyes fly open, she stairs blankly at the ceiling, her screams stops, and her muscles tighten, everything is quiet, the eye of the hurricane.
"Emerald?" I say. "Emerald, please come back." then she takes a sudden breath, like if she had been underwater then broke the surface, she looks at me, grabs me and she tries not to cry. I set on the couch, I hug her close to me.
"It's okay, I'm here, we are all hear, you are safe." I say. She still shakes, she then starts to cry into my shirt.
"I'm so sorry" I say then I let a few tears fall. She cries herself to sleep, Four said she would be sleeping on and off for a while.
"It's getting late, if you want you and emerald can stay here." Four says getting up from his chair.
"Thank you" I say. He gets another blanket and pillow, I put the blanket on Emerald, she is still shaking some and her skin is cold. Emerald is leaning up against me, my arm is over her, and she has her arms wrapped around mine.
"My precious gym stone" I say. She does not wake up the rest of the night. I don't go to sleep, I can't, I can still her screams in my ears. Looking down at her I say,
"My precious gym stone"