Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (2 page)

             
Sammy shoed her with the spatula he had in his hand, “Go on, and get out of here girl. Enjoy your couple of days off. You definitely earned them. Just be careful on your way home.”

             
“Bye. Don’t work too hard.” She smiled at her boss. She turned her head and glanced over to the strange men that were sitting at the table she had just turned over to Sammy, and noticed that two of the three men were watching her as she left the diner.  This kind of attention was unsettling.  She walked away from the diner as quickly as she could and never looked back.  Emma wondered why those guys were making her feel so uncomfortable. Why were they staring at her? Was this some kind of joke or initiation rite for some kind of sick club? She was just glad to be going home, and she thought, let Sammy deal with them.

             
The walk home wasn’t far.  It was only about two blocks from work, but right now it was way past midnight, and this was not exactly the best time to be out on the street alone. The streets were quiet tonight and soaked from the rain. With the lull in the storm, the few people that were out at this hour came stumbling out of one of the many bars that lined the street of this particular neighborhood. It was usually the drunken patrons of these clubs that almost always made their way into the diner throughout the night to get some food or coffee to help sober them up before they drove themselves home.  For the past week she had been the one stuck waiting on these drunken fools. It was a good thing that they usually tipped her well. Tonight however, something felt different somehow, and it wasn’t just because of the thunder and lightning rolling in the sky at a distance.

             
The air was thick and humid. It seemed to absorb the noise that would be coming from the soles of her tennis shoes meeting the asphalt as she walked at a fast pace down the side alley that led to her tiny apartment. The alley itself was too narrow for more than one car to access at a time, and it was clean and free of blockages.  There were many potted plants that sat outside a few of the doors that led to some of the other apartments in her complex. Her little apartment was the smallest of them all, but it was all she could afford on her meager waitress’s salary. The complex was owned by Sammy and Beth and they were renting her the efficiency apartment at a very good price. Beth was aware that Emma had no desire for a roommate, and Sammy could understand why. She did not want anyone to be able to rule over her life, she had enough of that as a child.

             
Using the light from the porch she took out her keys and began unlocking the door. She hung her keys on a nail that was on the wall and tossed her purse onto the only chair in the room.  After securing the door with its two deadbolt locks and a chain, she went into the only other room with a door, and turned on the water in the tub. The tight and sore muscles in her back and feet were screaming for the soothing effects of soaking in the hot water before she went to bed. She added a bit of strawberry scented bubble bath, and undressed, letting her clothing fall carelessly onto the white tiled floor. Stepping into the hot water Emma let out hiss as she slowly sank into the depths of the water in the tub. 

             
“Damn, that’s hot! Ouch!” She turned water off with her toes as she settled her back against the end of the tub so that she could soak. Just outside the tiny frosted window over the tub, she could hear rain drops begin to fall as they hit the metal overhang that extended from the side of the building. The sound was similar to rain falling on a tin roof. A distant roll of thunder could be heard far off in the distance and she could see a quick flash of lightening that would light up the sky through the window.

             
“Dang it, I forgot to turn on some music,” she chided herself as she thought about getting out of the tub to switch on the stereo.  However, the effort of leaving the soothing hot bath water was too great, so in the end she decided against it. She settled on listening to the sound of the rain as she leaned back and closed her eyes, listening to the rain drops as they picked up their tempo. She found the steady sound of the rain drops falling on the roof to be quite relaxing.

             
Emma was so happy that she would have the next two days off. First, she was going to sleep as long as her body would let her. Then, when she was up and ready, she would take care of the few errands that she needed to run.  She desperately needed groceries, there was a mound of laundry to do, and most importantly, there was a new release at the bookstore she wanted to pick up. She had been waiting for months to read the next book in the vampire series she was hooked on.  Two days off of work would give her a lot of time to read the new book, and she might even finish it. It’s not like she had anything else to do, or anyone to go out to see. Being alone was how she liked it anyway.

             
Emma had been alone for as long as she could remember. She never did find out who her parents were, and she spent the majority of her childhood being bounced around from foster home to foster home.  Emma remained in the state’s care until she was eighteen, and then she was booted out of the foster care system and forced to take care of herself. This was fine by her. She was always a responsible person, and had to grow up faster than children in traditional families would. 

Emma had managed to save a good bit of money while in foster care from working any job she could find. So, when the time came to leave the only life she had known, she had enough money to set out on her own. It was her dream to move to Florida.  Once she was free, she bought a bus ticket and moved there to start a new life. She had never been on vacation in her entire life and always dreamed of visiting Disney World.

              She settled herself in Orlando, Florida.  At the first opportunity, she went on her first visit to Disney World. It was the best time she had ever had in her life. She went on the rides, and walked through the parks just like a small child in awe. There were so many things to do and see, and she wasn’t going to leave until she saw every last bit of the grounds. She even managed to buy herself a couple of souvenirs to remember her visit. But, as it always did, the real world came back to slap her in the face. She quickly ran out of money, and needed a job in the worst way.

It didn’t take her long to find a job waitressing. She had been working in Sammy and Beth’s diner for six years now. Over time, Sammy and Beth became the only true family that
she had ever known. Sammy and Beth had been married for over thirty years.  They lost their only daughter, Katie, at the tender age of seven to cancer. They were constantly looking out for Emma and making sure that she had everything that she needed. At first it was uncomfortable having two people worrying about her like they did, but eventually she got used to it and accepted it, eventually letting down her guard. She had built a wall to protect herself from what had happened to her when she was still in one of her many foster homes.

On the second day of working at the diner, Beth found Emma in the bathroom of the diner cleaning herself up by the sink.  Emma jumped when she heard Beth say “Emma, what are you doing?” Beth was looking wide eyed at the open book bag full of personal care items on the bathroom counter. “Don’t you have a place to stay honey?” 

Emma didn’t want to be caught like this. “Actually, I don’t yet.” She looked down, away from Beth, and shook her head in shame, “I have no money, and I can’t rent anything without a deposit.  I have to wait until I get paid.  I didn’t want to ask you and Sammy for an advance because, it’s just not right. After all, we just met.” 

Beth was quiet for just a moment.  “You know, Sammy and I own a few apartments just a couple of blocks from here.  The tenant we had in the efficiency just moved out.  It is small, and rent is pretty reasonable.  The guy left it a mess, but it has a bit of furniture and the basic kitchen stuff.  I think that maybe if you agree to clean it up, we can forget about a deposit.  What do you say?”

“Beth, that’s just way too good to be true.  You don’t even know anything about me.  We just met just a couple of days ago.” Tears began to form in her eyes. “How do you know that I won’t just screw you over too?” she said as she wiped a falling tear with her finger.

Emma saw Beth nod her head a bit and smile, “I have a good feeling about you, honey.  I just think that you might be down on your luck and might need a bit of help finding your feet.”  She watched as Beth approached her slowly, reaching out to give her a tight hug.  They spent an hour together sitting on the bathroom floor coming to an arrangement with the apartment.  Emma would work for room and board until she made enough to pay the rent.  Then they talked about what Emma had been through in her short life, and the obstacles she had overcome. 

She told Beth that at the age of sixteen one of her foster fathers had broken her right arm when she tried to run away from his sexual advances. Luckily for Emma, his wife had come home unexpectedly, and had caught him in the act of assaulting her in their kitchen. She was removed from the home that day and placed into a group home for
a while. This was the way that the state’s social services department dealt with older children, because it was really hard to place older kids in homes. Families typically didn’t want to deal with a teenager. 

She was in the group home for almost three months until an elderly couple had agreed to take her in. That living arrangement wasn’t much of an improvement. Emma was acting as more of a live in maid and nurse to them. So many nights she would cry herself to sleep, wishing just for once, that someone would love her for who she was and not just try to get free work out of her. That’s when she had made up her mind to save as much money as she could, and get the hell out of that house.

The last night she spent in foster care was the best night she ever had. Tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday, and the day of her freedom from foster care. Without letting the old couple see what she was doing, she waited for them to go to bed before she packed up her meager belongings.  Excited as she was, she could hardly sleep.  With a smile on her face, Emma slipped on her floral print backpack, picked up the brown rolling suitcase that contained her clothes.  When she heard the sound of her foster parents talking and making coffee, she walked into the kitchen. The old couple depended on Emma for care and the bit of money they earned from the state for allowing Emma to stay with them.  They sat at the table looking up at her. She approached them with butterflies racing around in her belly and announced, “Thanks for nothing!” and then walked out the door.

She had come a long way since then. The place was a mess when she moved in.  She couldn’t believe that anyone could possibly live like that.  After spending much of her time cleaning, she had made this apartment her home.  At first, it was a scary living all by herself.  It was definitely better than living on the street. But, it was a great feeling for her to finally be out on her own.

She pulled up drain and stood up in the tub. Careful not to slip as she got out, she reached for the towel on the rack and began to dry her body.  Then, she towel dried her long black hair, and brushed the knots out.  She took a good look at her reflection in the mirror.  It was always the same.  She saw the long straight black hair cascading over her bare shoulders, dark green eyes with thin arched eyebrows, and unblemished skin that was light to fair in color.  She had long arms and fingers and nice perky breasts with small round pink nipples that were peaked as she was starting to feel the chill from standing on the cold tiles of her bathroom floor naked. She knew that she was pretty, as she wrapped her towel around her body and brushed her white teeth. She noticed the attention she got from random men on the street and the men she waited on at work. She stood around five feet seven inches tall and always maintained a
thin figure. She ate right and worked hard for everything she had, day and night, and this is what kept her in shape.

             
She dressed in her favorite Mickey Mouse pajama pants and black tank top after blow drying her hair. She turned off the bathroom light, and made her way over to her daybed that doubled as a sofa during the day. She pulled back the covers and crawled into bed switching on the small old television in timer mode. She flipped through the few channels that she had in her basic cable package and found nothing of interest to watch. It didn’t take long before her eye lids started feeling heavy and she soon drifted off to sleep.

             
She did not know how long she had been asleep when she was awoken by a loud noise. It was very dark in the small efficiency apartment because the TV had turned off. She wasn’t quite sure what the noise had been, but assumed it came from the alley.   Maybe it was one of those damn stray cats that ran about the alleyway knocking garbage can lids off to find their dinner inside.  She rolled over onto her side, pulling the covers back up around her neck. Closing her eyes, she attempt to go back to sleep, but a second later she heard the noise again.  It couldn’t be, could it? This time the noise was closer to where she was and seemed to be coming from inside her apartment.

             
She held her breath and laid completely still, slowly cracking open her eyes to get a glimpse of the intruder. She tried to focus on listening to the noises in the room.  However, her heart was pounding so loudly that she was sure whoever was in the room with her could hear it. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, out of the corner of her eye she caught some kind of movement over by the door. The dark mass split into two and moved closer to where she was. Without thinking, Emma sat up on her bed and shouted to the masses, “Get out of my home!” She scooted back into the corner of the small bed, but one of the dark figures continued to approach.