Chapter Seven - Raspy Growl
~Evening
Emma no longer harboured the desire to wallow lazily in her own bed. She completely dismissed that feeling from her heart and jolted out of her bed to head out the door.
‘At the end of the day, I'm truly kinda hungry.' she mused, and padded down the chunk of stairs. Actually, she flew over quite a few.
She sauntered through the narrow passage and got into the kitchen where she met the dining pretty much set for dinner.
“Aunt Freya?”
Emma could study the atmosphere in that place. It was a gloomy one but she chose to make light of things.
‘‘Uncle! Were you two seriously going to dine without me?’’
Her aunt stopped aligning the cutleries near the plates on the table, and darted her gaze towards her neice.
‘‘Oh! Honey, you know we would never do that.’’
The woman's lips quivered at her weak attempt to break out a smile, but Emma decided to let it go.
‘There's been quite enough tension for the day.’ she pursed her mouth to think but still remained standing.
She saw her aunt reach her ass unto the seat beside her husband, just across the table.
“Well don't just stand on there.” her uncle raised his voice a little. “Come on. Sit.”
Emma did as she was told because his words had just saved her from drowning in silly musings regarding her aunt's not-so-cheerful mood.
‘‘So… ’’ Emma stalled on purpose once she assumed her seat. ‘‘Is anyone going to tell me why it's deadly quiet in here?’’
Nobody said anything and the feasting began.
‘Strange!’
Emma tried her best to settle on her food but she'd quickly lost every appetite to eat.
She could well picture her aunt putting the effort to finish her food; one she was clearly looking at with utter disdain.
The brutal silence in the air started to sink in her bones as she studied the unpleasant view of her guardians struggling to dine with ease.
Maybe she'd held onto the fork too tight as she observed the mood in that place because the splattering of her spoon hard against her plate, soon sent every head bobbing her way.
‘‘I need to leave.’’
Emma sprang up from her chair which was actually a tall comfortable stool. She'd barely touched her food and she knew her aunt was never the type to encourage wastage.
“What's the matter, honey?” the woman's brilliant eyes which had dampened for whatever reason spoke a different language to Emma. It wasn't what she said. It was what she didn't say. ‘Don't you like the food?’ Emma considered this to be the purpose of her aunt's lingering stare.
“NO.” she muttered in a rush.
“No?” Her aunt Freya repeated after her.
Suddenly an unsettling feeling bolted a sharp pang through Emma's chest.
The pain was excruciating and since she didn't understand the reason for it, she hurriedly dashed out of the kitchen.
She mounted up the stairs in a fit and once she'd slammed the door with some degree of rage, she dropped to the floor… slowly. Her back rested easy on the door frame.
‘Goodness me!’ Emma thought.
“What was that all about?”
She muttered loud.
Her heart started to palpitate fast and her brows creased into an untidy wrinkle.
Emma did not care for that.
She became more concerned about having some company right there but she knew with how she'd left the kitchen, nobody would walk up to her room.
Not even Juno.
Sadly!
In the deep of her musings, Emma could have sworn she heard a distinct voice crawl its way inside her head.
‘Holy cow!’
She jumped off the floor, startled much.
“Who is there?” she asked out loud in a fit of sudden confusion. ‘‘Whoever you are and wherever you are in this room, I command you to show yourself.’’
Shouting like a raging animal, she quickly reached for a stick nearby; although it was more of a folded cardboard sheet than a stick. Either way, she chose the item for what she thought it to be.
‘‘Show yourself!’’
Emma lurched forward, seeming as though she was ready to launch an attack on whoever it was. The bitter clause became that the silence thickened the more in addition to the fact that nobody came.
Not even her shadow!
‘How much more awkward can my day get?’
Emma settled back on the floor, gasping like a dehydrated donkey. It certainly was a lot of work boxing nothing tangible but thin air.
A raspy growl grunted abruptly out of her throat, but she ruled it out as being a mere expression of how tired she'd got.
Just as she was about to calm her nerves completely, her mobile phone dinged a sudden notification in the distance.
Emma hurriedly ran towards her bed where it sat and dived into the sheets.
With her phone in hand, she lay down flat on her stomach, letting her legs dangle mindlessly in the air.
She peered into her device.
‘‘Josie.’’
!Incoming message from Cute bunny ^o^:)
|Hey darling.. Are you okay? I called a ton of times already, your phone rang a lot, but you didn't answer. I really wish we get to talk about what happened at school today. No pressure, just worried much. Lots of kisses.
Love,
Jozey.|
A fat grin was plastered on her face by the time she read to the end of the text.
‘‘You're ever so thoughtful, Jo. But I'm doing fine.’’
Emma texted back immediately.
She'd scarcely clicked on ‘Send’ when another message notification buzzed right into.
‘Right. Also, Lucy.’
Emma cringed from feeling so loved and cared for.
Lucy was never the emotionally-sensitive sister to Josie. So, Emma felt a ton of gratitude receiving her text.
!Incoming message from Annoying rabbit v_v:)…
Emma rolled her eyes up and back before attempting to read through its content.
|… Hey, Em. We're all worried. Will you be at school tomorrow? Nico said he's dialed you 17 times already.
Beep me or him.
(¬_¬)|
“What!” Emma sparked and scrammed her lazy self out of bed.
“Nico put a call through to me seventeen times?!”
She could not believe it and as she leaned her profile on the table behind, she kept scrolling up and down until she certified herself wrong for not accepting things sooner.
Wow!
Why didn't the device ring out, though?
Emma stood baffled at first but soon remembered she'd turned the ringer sound off from notifying her of incoming calls. As such, she could not have known he'd call.
But ’17 fricken missed calls? When did Nico ever become so compassionate?
“I can't believe this.”
Emma peered longer into her device.
She wasn't blind or making these things up.
Nico had clearly called her that amount of times.
She cringed.
‘‘You know… ” a macho voice broke out from somewhere inside her bedroom. “I'd be more mindful of lil lover boy if I were you.”
Halt!
Emma's feet got stuck in her place and would not move her one inch forward.
She gasped.
‘This can't be right.’
Her heart started to pound louder to her hearing.
That voice…
It sounded so similar to his voice.
That man..
She'd met him back at the locker room.
The ripper?!
It was his voice. Wasn't it?
It had the same gravel feel to it.
What was he there for? Emma pushed back the sudden urge to pee in her pants.
Was he… there to kill her off for being a possible witness to his crime?
He was going to waste her off like he'd done that man back at the school?
Her head started to burn from assuming these things.
She regretted now the poor lighting in her room; disco jive.
Foolish move!
Emma squinted her eyes to reach the angle of the window curtains.
She was certain he'd spoken from that corner.
Her chest continued to heave up and down the minute she heard a sound filter noisily from that area.
Her courage sank.
“Who's there?”
She could feel a tinge of paranoia soak up her nerves.
She started to exhale more noisily when the speaker decided to reveal himself at once.
“You?!’’
Emma almost fainted the moment she saw his dashing self retreat out from hiding and more into the open.
She quickly switched on the fluorescent lights from the wall behind her.
‘‘I.. I.. What are you doing in my room? Psycho!’’
‘‘Well, I came to pay you a visit. Although from the look of things it's like you expected it to be someone else. Could it be, loverboy Nico perhaps?’’
‘‘Leave my friends out of this!’’
Emma yelped her guts out.
‘‘Well, I came for a simple talk and I won't leave until you grant me an audience.’’
“Uncle!!!!!!!”
Emma bursted her sudden shout.
Vlad stood unmoved and simply frowned at how she'd just torn her lungs apart.