Bury a Friend | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 23 | Red |

The doctor looks up at her and pulls down his mask. "It's not for you," he echoes the nurse from before. Deep within her, Emma can feel that she is intruding on something. It really is not for her.

She leaves the circle and returns to the nurse who grabs both of her hands. "See how much worse it is?" The nurse asks showing her her fingers. Her nails are cracked and still spilling blood. "Let's get you cleaned up."

The nurse takes her to a different room. She passes Peter in the hallway again. He still doesn't seem to see her. She's seated on a bed waiting for what's next. She waits and waits.

This is purgatory. It must be. She has died and is now in purgatory awaiting eternal damnation. She's accepted this by the time the door opens. The same doctor from earlier enters wearing a suit now. He removes his jacket and takes a seat. There is no greeting, he gets straight to work cleaning and bandaging her fingers. When he's finished he stands to leave.

"What's next?" Emma asks before he gets to the door.

"What do you want to be next?"

"I want to find the vargulf." The doctor frowns to her.

"You'll never find it here."

"Then where?" She asks.

"It was good seeing you again, Miss Parker. You're all grown up now," he gives her a half-hearted smile.

"Where do I go?" There's no response, the doctor just leaves. She tries to chase after him but the hallway is empty. On the right side, the lights are off. On the left, they flicker. Forward she thinks the only way out is forward. Emma walks down the left side of the hallway.

She walks, never getting anywhere. Every time she moves forward the destination gets further away. "There you are," a voice startles her. She can vaguely place it in her memory. "Come sit with me." Emma runs until she's out of breath and finally at the end of the hallway. Bursting through the door. The natural sunlight hurts her eyes and they take a moment to adjust.

She's back at the mansion. It's a room with mahogany trimming and bookshelves lining the wall. It's Roman's father's office. As children, they weren't allowed in here. "Come on, sit down," his voice calls to her.

Emma takes a seat on the other side of the desk. The man that only remains in blurred fragments of her memory sits at his chair. She can't quite get a good look at him, the sun shines in her eyes as she tries to remember his face.

"I'm going to tell you something very important, Emma," he says as if speaking to a child. "This is our secret, okay?" She nods. "You are a smart girl, I can already see that. Always remember that what's up here," he taps on his head, "is your way out. When you are older you need to leave this town and never come back. Do you understand?"

A loud crash comes from outside the door and then a young Roman bursts through the door. "Found you!" He shouts.

"Are you playing hide and go seek?" J.R. asks with a beaming smile. He stands and walks to Roman, scooping him up and pretending to almost drop him. "Well don't let me hold you up, go play."

Emma takes one last glance at the man before following behind Roman. She wishes she could remember his face better. Roman leads her down the hallway and upstairs to his room. He holds the door open for her. When the door closes and she turns around to face him he's older. "I don't know what to do," he groans and throws himself on his bed. "She's so hot."

Emma laughs remembering this conversation. Freshman year, he had a thing for a new girl, Melody Sheperd. She wouldn't give him a second look. Roman wasn't used to that, Roman always got as many looks as he wanted. He was Roman Fucking Godfrey. "Ignore her," she hears a voice come from the bathroom. A barely younger version of herself appears in pajamas. "Stop paying so much attention to her, you look desperate."