x
I take a deep breath, knocked on the door and waited.
"Who is it?"
“Ma’am? It's me, Emma. Can I come in?”
Footsteps were heard and once Amanda opened the door, I felt sorry for her. Her eyes were red making it clear she had been crying. She sniffed and opened the door wider allowing me to walk into her spotless apartment which was furnished with old-school furniture.
I sit on her leather couch and wait until she brings me some tea. “Thank you.”
She nods and looks away creating an awkward silence.
‘Oh no! What should I say?’
‘Tell her you are sorry about what happened to her nephew.’
“I heard what happened and…”
She stops me by raising her hand. “I don’t want to hear it.”
We stay silent for some minutes.
“He is going to be buried next weekend.” She adds.
I nod and place a hand on her shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head. “No. I am good. I…I think.”
Amanda, the tough stone-faced manager was a good woman with a heart of gold and I admired her. Why? She looked like a person who could survive anything that came her way but seeing her like this: sad, depressed with a distant look in her eyes...
I reach out to hug her and she sobs on my shoulder. Some minutes pass and she's finally calm enough to speak.
“We used to play games in the school yard back in my hometown.” She says nursing her cup of tea in her hands. “Then we'd go fishing by the creek and have shaved ice as a treat after that."
She blows her nose into her handkerchief and sniffs.
“Then my sister got a divorce from her husband and took him to the city despite my warnings then I grew tired of living in my hometown. So, I move here to start a new life. It's been a few years since then and we only communicate through letters and phone calls. Suddenly, she sends him to me to ‘discipline’ him and now…”
Her eyes were full of tears by this point and she starts sobbing again, her handkerchief over her mouth as she cried.
“It was hard. It was very hard to tell my sister her only son is dead and what a way to die! He died on top of a girl! Who dies like that? Who?”
I had no reply to it because the news was bizarre to me too. Ral passed on on top of the girl in a hotel room due to a heart attack during the activity. They examined his body and discovered traces of illegal substances in his system but it was the viagra that caused his death for he overdosed on it. News of his death spread like wildfire and everyone laughed because it was some kind of sick joke but this happened after the diner was burnt to the ground.
‘Yeah it is an embarrassing way to die but I can’t tell her this. It would hurt her feelings.’
So I say, "I understand how you feel because I lost my parents when I was a child.”
She sniffed and I bow my head in sadness.
“I couldn't remember the details since I was very young but they were shot trying to protect me from thieves who tried to rob our house and it hurts thinking about it but what makes me feel better is remembering all the good times we had together and trying to recreate those memories"
I look up and give her a warm smile and wipe the tears from her face. "I believe they are up there looking out for me wanting nothing more than to see me happy and I am sure that's what he wants too.”
Tears filled her eyes once more and she scooped me into her arms.
“Thank you,” she whispers burying her face in my neck. “Thank you so much.”
I stay with her until noon and then leave her home to the convenience store with a warm smile on my face. As I walk, I hear footsteps coming in my direction and walk faster to break into a run.
'Don't look back. Don't look back.' I chant repeatedly for the last thing I wanted was to see his twisted demented face. Suddenly, someone grabbed my shoulder and I turn around to see Taro Yamada panting like a fish out of water.
"Wow! You are a fast runner," he says.
I heave a huge sigh of relief and relax. 'It's okay. He is in the labyrinth. It's okay.'
"Is something wrong?" he asks with eyes full of concern.
Shaking my head, he lets go of my shoulder and adjusts his suit. "I heard about the incident and I am sorry about what happened to the Diner."
I nod wishing I could put my hands inside the pockets of my jackets because it was getting cold but it's rude to do that when your elders are talking to you.
"I am sorry Mr. Yamada but I want to go to the convenience store to buy my supplies for school.
"Oh. Are your parents helping you with the shopping?"
I shake my head.
"Okay?" he sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Do you need help?"
I shake my head again.
"Oh. Okay." there was a disappointed look on his face. "Well, goodnight Emma Cross-wood."
I bow, go straight to the convenience store, and buy what I need for school with some food. Hauling two huge bags of groceries, I go to my apartment building and was shocked to see a moving van along with men carrying boxes and furniture into one of the rooms.
'Wow! Are we getting a new neighbor?' I take a closer look and hear a squeaky but familiar voice yelling at someone.
"What do you mean it can't fit inside the room?"
"I am sorry ma'am but the space won't be enough for your king-sized bed..."
"THEN SQUEEZE IT IN THERE!"
'I'd recognize that shriek from anywhere.' I tiptoe towards the door that leads to the apartment, I see a brown-haired girl yelling abuse at someone who looked terrified.
"I...I am so sorry..." a man who looked like one of the movers pleaded stammering but the girl huffed dialing a number on her phone.
"Forget it! I'm calling your boss to make sure he fires you and your pathetic men for doing a bad job." but she stopped when she saw me. "Emma Cross-wood."
My hair stood on end. "Julia."
"Yep, that's me! Long time no see eh buddy?" she said raising her hand with a smile on her face.
My right eye twitched in annoyance. "How on earth did you find out where I lived?"
She hummed walking up to me in her signature sassy manner. "I've always known where you lived Emma. It's just that I have been unable to visit you."
Then she stopped frowning at the bags I was holding for they were covering my boobs.
"Whatcha got there? Something tasty?"
I take a few steps back. “What do you want?”
“That’s no way to talk to your best pal.” She gave a sad face. “After all, you and I had fun while we were students at Peterson High.”
"Fun? You call sexual harassment fun?!" I yell getting the movers' attention but I didn't care for she giggled and walked closer to me.
“Well, it ain't fun unless you enjoyed it which you did from the moaning sounds you make any time I touched your melons from my point of view."
I give her a nasty look.
"Besides, I missed you so much! You have no idea how much your absence affected me. Why did you leave? Don't you like our school?"
The memories of what I faced in that school along with my evil deeds flashed before my eyes sending irritation through my body. Then, I felt angry. Angry that I let someone like her abuse me during my years in that school.
'Honestly, what was wrong with me back then?'
“Hey! Earth to Emma!” she cooed waving her perfectly manicured hand in front of my face.
I slap it away and turn my back on her.
“Don’t you walk away from me you smug b!tch!” she yelled kicking the back of my legs but ignoring her, walking into my room, slamming the door in her face.
“Hey! I am not done talking to you!" she yelled knocking on the door. "Hey! Are you listening to me? Hey!”
I drop my things in the bedroom, eat dinner and take a bath but while scrubbing myself, I felt like he was there, watching my every move. I close my eyes to prevent the soap from entering them and the feeling intensified until I rinse and enter the bathtub.
'Relax. He is trapped in the Labyrinth. Relax.'
'What if he knows the rules of the labyrinth and had already sacrificed a soul to get out?'
The question haunted me and turned my dreams into nightmares which tormented me until I woke up to someone knocking on the door. I look through the peephole and see Brianna and my friends and open the door.
"Emma where have you been?" Brianna asked embracing me.
"Yeah we have been looking for you since the incident?" said Ralph.
My heart soared when I saw them for I thought the worse. "Oh, it's nothing. My Aunt decided to take me to visit a distant relative for while."
Brutes pushed up his glasses. "I see."
I let them in and go into the kitchen to get them something to drink.
"We were worried about you," Andrew said as I appeared with glasses of orange juice on a tray.
Aubrey nodded. "Yeah, we heard what happened at the diner and..."
I raise my hand to cut her off. "I know. One minute you are coming home from school and the next thing these events happened. Have they caught the culprit?"
"No, but I heard they were members of the Yakuza gang." Brianna shuddered
"Do you think it was a gang war gone wrong?" asked Ralph.
"Please don't talk about it." Andrew took a sip of his drink and sighed. "So, how have you been doing Emma?"
I force a smile recalling my supernatural adventures and the fight I had with Jake where I nearly killed myself but I say, "I'm doing fine except I have been having nightmares after the events."
"Yeah. I heard your co-worker died in the most *chuckle* embarrassing way ever."
We watched Aubrey laugh and Brianna shook her head at her. "Now Aubrey it is not nice to laugh at someone's demise."
"But it is funny isn't it?" she said.
"Nope," we say in unison.
She huffed and turned up her nose. "You all don't have a sense of humor."
"We do but it isn't dark humor," Ralph said.
"But it is still humor," she yelled back.
All I could do is roll my eyes at their childish banter. Seeing them here made things normal again. It made everything...safe for some reason and I liked it.
"By the way Emma, we tried calling you why didn't you pick up?" asked Brutes.
I search for a good lie and find it. "I lost my phone in a creek while visiting a relative in my Aunt's hometown. Luckily she bought me a new one see?"
With that, I showed them my new phone but they looked unimpressed.
"Seriously? The one with buttons on it?" Brianna asked.
Aubrey shook her head with pity. "You have poor taste, Emma."
I chuckled for I was happy they bought it. "Yep, I sure do. So give me your phone numbers so I can call..."
Suddenly, Julia walks in grinning from ear to ear but it vanished the minute she saw my friends sitting on the couch.
"Oh Emma, I thought you were going mad as usual. I didn't know you had guests."
We were shocked because of what she was wearing, brown lingerie that barely covered her bosoms.
"What?" we croaked.
"Oh you didn't know?" she struck an arrogant pose. "Emma used to talk to herself in the girls' bathroom after school and we all thought she was talking to ghosts! It was so hilarious when a group of students who called themselves 'The Ghostbusters' interrogated her in the middle of class."
Then she laughed causing a grim look to appear on my friends' faces.
"What on earth are you wearing?" Andrew croaked.
The question annoyed her. "It's lingerie stupid! And it's in Emma's favorite color: brown."
Pissed, I give her the nastiest look I could muster. "First of all, that's not my favorite color, secondly I don't like girls wearing that sort of thing, and lastly, you were the one who spread that rumor about me talking to ghosts in the girl's room while you were the so-called ghost for it was the same group of students who interrogated me that caught you."
"Humph!" she turned up her nose in the air. "At least I'm not suspended for prank unlike the 'Ghost Busters' who got suspended for putting cameras in the girl's bathroom."
"But they said you were the one who initiated the idea."
"SHUT THE F#CK UP B$TCH! I AM TALKING HERE!"
We all stared at her in shock. Well, all except me because I was used to her ridiculous outburst.
"Whatever. Get out of my apartment." I say pointing to the door for emphasis.
"But why? I thought you wanted to play the games we played while you were a student in our school besides," she posed with her outfit. "I even dressed up for it and brought toys! Don't you like it!"
"I-said-I-don't-like-girls-in-that-so-get-out!" I say through clenched teeth.
"Ah! How rude!" she said putting her hand on her hips.
"Emma? Are you Bi?" asked Brutes.
"Of course she is Bi. What? You didn't tell your friends? What a shame."
I had enough. Grabbing her by her pigtails, I dragged her out of the room while she screamed curses and abuse at me, telling me how I had no right to do this to her.
I toss her out along with her bag, lock the front door and sigh while my friends look like they had just seen a ghost.
"Look guys I...I am so sorry about what happened."
Brutes sighed and pushed up his glasses. "It's okay. As long as you remember to lock the door after letting a guest."
We tried to entertain each other after what happened but the mood was soured thanks to our unexpected guest. My friends left and I was alone in the apartment thinking of the events in the Labyrinth.
'The only small crumb of comfort I have is the fact the boy and his father are out there having a better future which is good.' I pour myself a cup of tea and take a sip. 'His wife will never leave the labyrinth but her soul won't rest in peace either. She will be among the restless spirits roaming about the labyrinth but as long as I don't enter that motel, I will be fine...I hope.'
The day passed followed by another round of nightmares. Soon I was in the classroom waiting for the teacher to show up and when she did, she arrived with someone familiar.
"Class meet Agatha Harrison." the teacher said putting a hand on the purple-short-haired girl's shoulder. She had purple eyes filled and she was wearing dark make-up which made her look like a goth. Not a creepy goth but a hot one. Her eyes scanned the room and upon seeing me, she gave her signature grin showing the canines of her teeth.
I glared back at her with hatred in my eyes for I swore to never see her again. 'What is she doing here?'
"Does anyone have any questions for the new student?" asked the teacher.
Brianna rose her hand up. "Mrs., can I show her around the school?"
The teacher gave her a doubtful look. "I am not sure that's good..."
"Don't worry ma'am. I am okay with missing classes for the first time and I do need someone to show me around but for security purposes, can I have two escorts?" she said without missing a beat.
I scoffed ruefully. 'Arrogant and cocky as always. You haven't changed a bit, Agatha.'
Though flustered, the teacher agreed and I wasn't surprised when she picked me to be the second escort.
"Wow! It's so nice to finally see some new faces." Brianna chirped as we walked out of the classroom. "It feel like a breath of fresh air."
"And some old ones too," Agatha added flicking her hair in her usual arrogant way. "So, where should we start?"
Brianna took up the role of a tour guide while I followed them silently nursing my hatred for this girl. Twice I caught her looking at me with her signature delinquent smirk and twice I gave a glare which spoke a thousand words for she looked away.
"The last thing to be seen on our tour is the school's Legendary Confession Tree," Brianna said pointing at a cherry blossom tree on top of the hill behind the track.
Agatha hummed in thought. "Why is it called that?"
"I'm glad you asked. Many students believe if you confess to your love underneath it on Friday after school, you will be together forever." Brianna explained.
I scoff and fold my arms. "I don't believe it. Most of the students who tried that ended up breaking up in the worst ways possible"
"Oh, Emma! You are so cruel." Brianna whined.
But Agatha gave a cocky grin. "It's okay, I don't believe it either."
Then she reached out and kissed me on the lips sending waves of shock through my body. Pulling away, she smirked at the look of shock on my face, "It's a good thing we still have some things in common. Be seeing you Emma Cross-wood."
And putting a finger on my lips, she winked and walked away leaving Brianna shocked and me pissed.
"Emma, who is she to you?" Brianna managed to ask.
I look back at her in anger. "My ex."
ns 15.158.61.17da2
