Emma

Chapter 8

Once Emma sees that it's Austin, she doesn't know what to feel. Angry that someone followed her? Scared that someone will know she's been killing people? Flattered that someone took such an interest in her? Instead of pondering what to feel, Emma walks past Austin and down the opposite side of the hallway that the authoritives had taken.

Emma hears Austin following her. Down the hallway there's nothing to see. There are a couple of doors that are so dusty you could automatically infer that none had been down this side of the hallway in years.

So Emma hoped that was true and opened one of the doors that didn't have as much dust. Inside the room was a desk cleared of any papers. There wasn't a nametag to indicate whose office this used to be and there didn't seem to be any personal items in the room to tell Emma and Austin if anyone still came here for occasional visits. It was perfect. This room was so far down the hall and the door so thick that if someone happened to scream no one would hear it.

Emma waited for Austin to come into the room, then she shut the door. Austin proceded to flick the light switch on and turn on the overhead lightbulb.

They stared at each other until Emma finally spoke. "Why are you following me?"

"Because I know," Austin said simply, still staring at her.

"What do you know? I don't think I understand what you are talking about," Emma contradicted.

"I know you're the murderer. It's so obvious that it's ridiculous. All you ever do is sneek around. Probably seeing who is the most vulurable to take down," Austin mused.

Emma didn't know what to say so she settled on the truth. "So you're telling me that you are following me because I'm the killer. And what do you think you'll achieve by doing that? To stop me? Because you already know that you won't be able to."

Austin took a step closer to her but Emma stood her ground.

"No. I don't want to stop you. It's much too thrilling," He took three steps closer. So now they were inches apart, "I want to help you."

"Now, why would you do that?" Emma whispered, staring at his lips then meeting his eyes.

"Because it just makes sense." And with that he closed the few inches seperating them. He didn't kiss her. Only their lips grazed. And Emma wanted more. This didn't feel anything like what Robert had done to her. Then she was only scared and angry and filled with a want to murder the man. But with Austin she was filled with what felt to her like happiness and a want to graze her fingers through his hair and kiss him forever or until she got tired. And the answer would be that she never would get tired.

"But I want to get to know you," Austin said. He pulled away about a millimeter. Emma hated that extra millimeter.

"Well, then let's get to know each other. Starting with you," Emma said. She really didn't want to have to relive her entire past.

Austin took a deep breath and pulled away entirely. He looked around and sat in the chair by the desk. Emma also sat down in the matching chair right by the one Austin had chosen. Emma longed for Austin to grab her waist and kiss her until the glitching went away. Until she forgot everyone and everything.

"Once upon a time there was me. And there was my mom and my dad. I don't know why, but my dad liked to hit me and my mom a lot. It would always happen out of the blue, too. He never drank unless it was on a Saturday because that was when his friends from work always went out to the Bar. One day after work, he hit my mom too hard and she fell backwards and hit her head on the edge of the coffee table. There was so much blood," Austin paused when his voice cracked and tears started to form. He took another deep breath. "My dad tried to clean up the mess. But bleach can only do so much. That night when I was supposed to be sleeping, I got up and grabbed the bleach. I went into his room while he was sleeping and I dumped the bleach down his throat and he woke up. He kept trying to breathe and it was so easy to hold him down, so I just kept pouring the bleach in his mouth and nose," Austin stopped again and chuckled darkly and continued.

"The next day, I called the police and said 'my daddy had killed mommy and then drank something and now he won't wake up'. Everyone believed me because I was only about six at the time. And then I went to a foster home and ended up here," Austin finished. He looked at Emma and urged her to start.

She cleared her throat and began. "Well my mother hated me and always hit me. One day Child Services came and picked me up. They took me to a foster home run by these vile people name Celia and Robert," Emma paused for half a second, disgusted at the thought of them. "They locked me a damp and cold room with absolutely no light and nothing to do. Literally. All I had was a metal bed like the one in military training camps. Robert would always come into my room when Celia was somewhere else and . . . " Emma trailed off. "Anyway, after, like, eight years they sent me off here."

"So, when did u start killing?" Austin asked her.

"A couple of nights after my first day." Emma stated. But she had a question for him. "Did you ever kill anyone besides your father?"

"No, actually. I tried to keep a low profile. You seem to be doing good though. Nobody would even guess it was you. Well ...." He trailed off.

"Well?" Emma encouraged.

"Well except for maybe Jade. Around her you seem to act more suspicious," He admitted.

"Hm. I'll have to work on that." Austin laughed.

At first Emma didn't understand why. Then she found it funny how they were just talking about murder like it was an everyday conversation. So Emma laughed as well. It felt good to laugh. When it wasn't menacingly, like when she killed Meghan. And it felt good to smile. And not the smile she had given Jesse before she killed him.

With Austin, Emma felt like a real person who could have a life.