The darkest despair

chapter one

Sunlight poured into the bedroom window and heated Emily's face. She blinked several times before she could fully see, so she wiped the sleep from her eyes. Rolling halfway onto her side, Emily staired at her alarm clock intell it came into complete focus.

Song birds hummed a gentle Melody outside her window and the light from the morning sky turned Emily's room into a pink and orange mix of sunrise colors. Noises from the kitchen were obvious that someone was cooking, the smell that hung in the air was another dead give away. Emily gathered the energy to plop herself out of bed and get dressed.

She pulled her jeans from yesterday on and over her legs, then covered the white tang top she was wearing with a long, blue and white sweater. A full length mirror stood in front of her, allowing her to see exactly what she looked like. Emily was average height for an eighteen year old girl, but everyone called her short.

Standing at five three in a half inches, she had long curly dark hair that swung passed her shoulders and stopped at her hips. Curves rounding her body and small legs, she had a pale completion, but her skin was very fair. Freckles were scattered across her nose, but dissapeared once they reached her cheeks.

Suddenly her alarm clock roared to llife, sending her across her room in seconds. She slammed her hand down on the top button and the agitating machine was cutt off mid scream.

"Em, hun you're pancakes are ready come and eat" rob said from the kitchen.

So Emily listened, gripping her back pack off of her ddesk and closed the bedroom door behind her. The whole house was hardwood except for the family room. With white paint and gray wall paper, her home blended in with the woods that they lived in. Trees surrounded her home and lined up along the long dirt driveway.

The backyard was different, it backed up to a lake tthat curved and cutt through the whole small town of crestwood. Walking out of the back porch would lead to a wooden porch and stairs that would bring a person to the boat house by the shore. Emily's home was on a hill.

"Good morning sweetness" rob her father said as she moved slowly to the kitchen table.

"Morning dad" she said in a tired tone.

Rob gripped her pancakes and set then down in front of her, noticing the lines under her eyes.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked.

Emily knew what that question meant. It meant more then just asking how she had slept for being polite. That question implied that her father knew she was having strange dreams again about her kidnapper from years ago and the post traumatic stress from the bear taking him out.

"Dad, I slept fine. I didn't have night tterrors last night."

"Are you sure..? Because I heard you talking in your sleep."

Emily's eyebrow rraised "I was talking? What did I say?"

Her father sat down and planted his pancakes in front of him mirroring the way she sat at the table. robs shoulders slumped forward and he groaned.

"You were talking to a man. but I don't think it was your kidnapper this time. I think someone else was there."

"Someone else" huh. Great. "That's weird."

They both sat in silence for a minute while they crammed pancakes down in their mouths.

Rob set his fork down and wiped his face. Emily only staired at her plate and kept her eyes low. She didn't want to speak about her kidnapper, she didn't want to speak about the dreams. It was bad enough she dreamt of these things every night since it happened, she didn't need her father bringing it up to her.

"If you need to talk about it, you know I'm here for you."

Emily sighed. "Dad I don't want to talk about it. I want to forget it!" She rose her voice a bit.

"I'm sorry, I know I just don't want you to feel alone in this." He began to speak but Emily cutt him off.

"Dad honestly its been almost seven years, I'm stuck with these nightmares, I'm stuck with these strange dreams. But I'm not going to let them stop me from living."

"Okay." Her father knew how this effected her, so he sat and waitied for her to be done.

"I'm acting like it never happened. Can't you just act to?"

She stood up from the dinner table and grabbed her bag off the back of the chair.

"I'm going to school now" Emily said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Be safe" her father said as she made her way towards the front door.

"I will."

"I love you" rob shouted a bit so she could hear.

"Love you to dad." The she closed the front door and walked down the pathway to her truck.

She pulled out of the drive and made her way to school