The Hummingbird and the Expelled

Chapter 7

Emma and I sit in the car outside of the diner, waiting for her mother to show up.

"It's almost six thirty, she should be here by now." Emma sighs. "If she's not here in the next twenty minutes we're leaving." I nod as a green Jeep pulls in next to us.

"That her?" I ask and point to the woman coming around the front of the Jeep.

"I think. Stay here. Don't come in unless I make it clear." I nod and Emma gets out of the car as the woman goes into the diner.

I watch as they both start talking and sit down. Things seem to be going fine until the woman seems to get mad, causing Emma to get mad and they seem to argue. I resituate myself in case I need to go in as the two argue.

When Emma gets up and the woman grabs her hand in an overly aggressive manner. I immediately get out of the car and head inside.

"Emma, you can't just ignore me forever."

"Get away from me." Emma pulls herself away from the woman and I stand next to her.

"What's the problem?" I ask.

"Who are you?" The woman asks angrily.

"I'm her friend." I inform the woman.

"Lets just go." Emma says in a quiet but angry tone.

"No." The woman grabs Emma's arm again. "You have to give me a chance."

Emma pulls away but the woman's grip looks to get tighter.

"Let her go you psycho." I tell the woman as I help Emma get away from her.

"She's my daughter." She protests.

"That doesn't mean shit." Emma says, now furiated.

"I'll drive." I tell Emma as we quickly leave. "You shouldn't drive angry."

Emma gives me her keys and we get in the car, ignoring the woman trying to stop us. I drive us back to the house and Emma goes to her room as I go to the kitchen.

I get an ice pack for Emma's arm when I hear yelling from her room. I quickly jog up the stairs and see her door is open. When I go in I see Karen standing above Emma as she holds her cheek.

"What the hell!?" I go over to Emma.

"Learn some respect." Karen hisses.

"Try earning it!" Emma yells as she stands.

"Lets go." We go back downstairs with the ice pack and get in the car. Emma holds the ice pack to her cheek while I drive to the junkyard.

"Today sucks." Emma sighs.

"What can I do?" I ask as I stop the engine.

"Nothing you can do." She gets out of the car. "Come on." I follow her as she leads me through the junk around us. We end up at the top of a hill hidden by the trees behind the junkyard.

"This is beautiful." I whisper as we look at the setting sun.

"I love it here. Not many people know this place exists. Or if they do, they don't come up here so it's peaceful." Emma explains.

We watch the sun go down until we can see the stars. Then we just look at the sky and before I can stop myself I'm fast asleep.

"Wake up." Emma's voice says. "Will, wake up." I yawn and rub my eyes before looking around. It's still dark. "Come on, it's like three in the morning."

"Really?" I question.

"Yeah. Let's go." I nod and we start walking home.

"Are you sure you want to go home? I don't think I would."

"I came home last time." She shrugs.

"Last time? She's hit you before?" I stop in my tracks.

"When she first moved in with us. Dad never found out."

"You can't go back there. Not if she's gonna be there." I tell her.

"Relax she'll be sleeping by now. And she'll be gone by the time we wake up again."

"Fine. But if you won't tell your dad about it you avoid her as much as possible." I can't let her keep getting hurt.

"Already planned on that." She nods and we walk the rest of the way back.

When we go inside the house is dark until I close the door behind me. The lights turn on and Shawn comes over to us.

"How did it go? Talking to your mother I mean." He asks.

"Fine." Emma lies and tries to go upstairs but Shawn stops her before noticing the bruise on her arm.

"What's that?" He asks.

"Nothing, it was an accident." She says.

"I know what accidents look like." Shawn sighs. "Did she do it?"

Emma nods before Karen comes down the stairs, causing Emma to come back down and stand next to me.

"Where have you two been?" She questions as if she cares.

"Like you care." Emma huffs.

"I do care. Don't go thinking you know what I care about." Karen retorts.

"Oh blow me."

"Emma!" Shawn says.

"What?! She's made it clear she doesn't care. She would rather have you all to herself. You just choose not to see it."

"Emma, she cares about you." He tells her.

"Is that why they fight all the time?!" I try not to yell but do anyway.

"You don't even know what you're talking about! You've been here two weeks!" Karen yells.

"No, you don't get to decide what I know! You know for a fact what I saw when I came upstairs earlier! Do you want to tell him? Or should I?!" Emma puts a hand on my shoulder like she's trying to keep me on the floor.

"You don't know anything!" Karen repeats.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Will." Emma says in a warning tone as she holds my shoulder.

"I'm sorry Emma but I have to." I tell her.

"Have to what?" Shawn asks.

"Karen hit Emma! When we came back from meeting her mom."

"I did no such thing!"

"I got ice for her arm and came upstairs to Emma on the floor and Karen standing above her. I know it's not the first time and I know it won't be the last unless you do something about it." Emma keeps her hands on my shoulder.

"Is that true?" Shawn looks at Emma who just nods. "Karen I think you should leave."

"What!? You know I would never." She protests.

"I trust my daughter." He states. Karen huffs before pushing past Emma and I. "You two should get some sleep." With that Shawn goes upstairs to his room.

"Dude, calm down." Emma whispers to me. "I barely kept you on the floor."

"What?" I ask, confused.

"That thing you did when you fell out of the tree. You just started floating. Lucky I stopped you from letting them know. They'd think you're possessed or something."

"Seriously?" She nods. "Jesus christ. Tomorrow we have to find out what this is."

"Agreed. But we should both get some sleep first." We both go to our rooms and sleep.