Emmerson's Heart Page 8

  Biting my lip, I followed the marks and rounded the corner to the house. Her house. The run down, shabby place I dropped her off at all the time. The back steps had been broken and the track led right under there. A soft whimper had come out from the darkness making me just sick. It wasn’t an animal at all. It could be a dog, but for some sickening feeling that grew more and more with each noise, it wasn’t. Crouching down, I held my flashlight out and saw the stocking foot sticking out and shaking.

  Grabbing it, I tugged the body out from under the porch as she just laid there not even giving any fight. It was her. It was Will’s damn classmate and the girl I last saw a little over a week ago. “Emmerson, it’s Paul, Will’s brother. I’m going to….”

  Exposing her, my stomach turned violently wanting to bring all the contents of my dinner up. Hell, she was wearing a pair of thin black leggings and a long sleeved tee shirt. No shoes, no jacket, nothing but a pair of damn socks. Her fingers were so cold they were blue. Her lips were chapped and the markings on her puffy bright red face didn’t look like marks made by her crawling under the broken porch. Her hair was so matted and there were frozen chunks of something tangled within it. Hell, there were icicles hanging from her long lashes and even with her fighting to look at me, her eyes kept rolling back. Little frozen gasps came from her—so painful, so forceful, I wanted to just throw up.

  There was no way that I could let her go back to her house. She needed help. If she was just locked out, I could bring her home to our place until her dad got home. But this…this wasn’t just being locked out. There was really something going on in that house just like I knew there was. I should have checked on her. I should have just sat her down and made her talk to me. As much as my dad reminded me if I saw anything that looked suspicious, I needed to tell him. Right now, there would be no way in hell I would stand to let her go back to that house. She hadn’t been locked out just for a little while. No, this was a long time. Way too long. And with her being as smart as she was, she would have gone somewhere warm. Emmy wasn’t stupid or close to it. If this was as simple as accidently locking the door behind her, she would have gone to city hall where the first door was always left unlocked and it was warm in there. Not to count all the times I reminded her if she ever needed anything to just call me or Will or Rob. This was not an accident and I knew I had to make my dad see that.

  Carefully, I picked her up and brought her back to my truck. Putting her in, I gritted my teeth. Her damn shirt was frozen. It was frozen! She was out in that weather dressed in practically nothing!

  Putting her in the seat, I grabbed my jacket from the back seat and covered her up with it while watching her just slump onto the console in between the seat. Good God! What in the hell was going on? Why hadn’t she said anything? If she needed help, she could have talked to us. I told her that over and over, though I made sure I didn’t just blurt it out. In a roundabout way, I told her, but she knew. I saw it in her eyes. Maybe that was why she took forever to get out of my truck when I brought her home all those times. She wanted to tell me. She wanted to confide in me, but she was scared and didn’t know how.

  Going around, I got in the driver’s seat and turned the heat on high. Keeping my eye on the house, I chewed my bottom lip. The curtains hung in the windows haphazardly. One of the windows had a crack that was taped with some clear packing tape and that was it. Another reason to be thankful that we had a nice house. But there was no sign of her dad. No sign of someone looking for their child. Not one care. He was home. He had to be home. There was a little flicker of lighting coming from a back room.

  Still, I had to be careful in what I did. I couldn’t go up to the door and demand answers from her dad. This could really just be an accident. Maybe she got in a fight with someone, which was possible with the way people teased and picked on her. And there wasn’t anything else telling me this was more. Maybe her dad wasn’t even home. Maybe she left the television on and locked herself out.

  No, she was smarter than that. Hell, she was smarter than me at a few things. I watched her help Rob with a few of his assignments without batting an eye. Something else was going on. This couldn’t just be an accident, but I was hoping it was. To think that someone was hurting her….She was a damn good girl. Very good.

  Looking over at my brother’s classmate, I swallowed hard as my stomach began clenching even tighter. Turning on the dome light, my chest tightened as I saw something on her neck. Moving her hair to the side, I gasped when I had seen the large man-sized purple bruise. My eyes caught something on my sleeve, the sleeve that her back rested against. There was something there. Something chunky….something…red? What would she have gotten into that was red and chunky?

  Looking down at the front of my sweater, there was more. A lot more. Hell, there was red all over. Could it be blood? Reaching over, I tugged the back of her shirt up seeing, nothing but large and long lacerations. Her whole back was just covered with them. The blood was so thick over her back that I couldn’t even see any skin. Blood. It was all blood and most of it was still chunky. Hell!

  Cursing, I put the truck in drive and went straight home as fast as I could. I knew there was something strange with her. Pulling right up to the house, I jumped out, carefully picked her out of the seat, and practically busted through the kitchen door. “Mom! Mom, I need you!”

  The living room light flipped on and she had come out tugging her robe on with my dad hopping after her. Hell, since he had broken his damn leg, he wasn’t able to move around much. Not without hopping or his crutches. “What’s wrong?”

  “I found her out-freaking-side!” Nudging the chair out from under the table, I felt myself shaking so bad that I was scared I was going to drop her. Hell, what kind of pain was I inflicting on her just by holding her?

  “Just calm down….” My dad cleared his throat as he hopped over to the table for support. He hated when we swore. There was no reason to use that type of language and normally, I really watched what I said, but tonight was something I never imagined I would ever see.

  “She’s hurt, Mom. She’s hurt really bad.” Cursing, I braced her on the chair seeing Will’s tired face. His dark hair was messed and his pajama pants were hanging low on his hips. There was no way that he should be there witnessing this at all. “Get your ass back to your room!”

  “Where is…” Carefully, my mom lifted the back of her shirt and gasped. Her eyes glassed over with tears as she looked back at my dad’s tense face. His jaw was so tight, on the verge of breaking as his eyes drifted over her.

  “Get her to the bathroom in our room. Then, get the first aid kit and that wrap for my leg.” His growl came out as he turned to hop out of the way.

  “Should I take her to the city? I found her outside!”

  “No, they will call her dad. Just take her to the bathroom.” Fist pounding the table, he glared at her, at Emmerson. This wasn’t her fault. This was ours. We should have seen this was happening. And this, by just what I saw, wasn’t just a one-time incidence. This was someone that beat the shit out of this girl and left her outside to freeze to death.

  “Be careful with her. She’s thawing out and she will be hurting soon.” My mom put the shirt back down and brushed the tears off her cheek. “I will be right in there.”

  Picking her back up, I held her like a little kid feeing just how starved she was. God, for her age she was so thin and I could feel her damn bones. Tears hit my eyes, tears of anger and hatred for her father, for someone that could do that to her. She was a good kid. Being at our place, she had actually started to become happy and eating more. Then Thanksgiving had to hit. I should have checked on her. I should have when Will said that she hadn’t been in school all week.

  Taking her into my parents’ bedroom, I went straight to the bathroom and put her down on the counter, holding her up and trying not to inflict any more pain on her.

  “Paul?” Her raspy, pain filled voice came out and shattered my heart. “Paul, it hurts.”
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br />   “You’re going to be just fine.”

  “I’m dying this time, aren’t I?” Her face pressed into my chest as her body was still limp. I imagine if she even tried moving, the pain would knock her out now that she was unthawing. Maybe I should be thankful it was as cold as it was. If this had been summer, she probably would have bled to death before I found her.

  Clenching my fists, I hissed through my teeth. This time? This freaking time? What kind of monster was her dad? What kind of monsters were we for not seeing this was happening to her? “You’re here with us. Mom’s going to make it better.”

  A loud cry came from her as she slumped forward. Jumping, I caught her trying not to touch her back. God, I had seen a small portion of that raw back, but with what my mom was able to see, I knew that it was more than that.

  “Help me get her clothes off and I will get her in the tub. Will’s getting the first aid kit from the barn and Rob’s getting the one from your place. We are going to need everything.” Her voice cracked as she brushed the hair back from Emmerson’s face. “Oh, Honey. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “He….he….please, I don’t want to go back there. Please, don’t make me go back.” Her cries had come so loud and uncontrollably, my stomach knotted again. Looking over at my dad, his face turned red with anger. I had never seen him that angry before, even in his most heated argument with our neighbor, Mr. Andrews.

  “Alright. We need to get this clothing off so I can see how bad she is.” Turning the tub water on, Mom had checked it a few times before she had plugged it and let out a little sigh. “We will get her in the tub and wash her up. It’s only just warm enough, but you will have to ease her in there slowly. We don’t want to shock her.”

  “You mind your damn eyes, too!” The deep voice drifted through the air from my dad.

  “She’s hurt, Dad!” Taking her off the counter, I put my hands on her hips and let my mom peel the thick crusted cotton cloth off her back and her upper body.

  “Enough! Just shut the hell up, both of you!” The more that my mom had revealed, the more anger settled into her eyes. “Try not to touch her back. I’m going to have you lift her up so that I can get her pants off. I will tell you when because it is going to….hurt her.”

  “Emmerson, just rest against me, okay?”

  “Please don’t make me go back there. I will do anything to stay here. I can work outside…” Her cries had softened as her body fell against my chest. “I can stay here and not….go to school….and please….” The cry wailed out of her as she tried to move. Falling back to me, she just trembled from the pain and the cold I had brought her in from.

  “Like hell you are going back there!” Hopping in, my dad’s eyes glazed over with the fire that was raging behind them. “You are not going anywhere!”

  My heart jumped hard as I looked at him. This was a side of him that I had never seen and I was proud that he was my dad. Damn proud.

  The shirt was tossed into the garbage and my mom knelt by her legs. “Okay, Paul. Easy and do not touch her back. Keep your arms under hers and just lift straight up.”

  Tucking my arms under hers, I started to lift up when the loud cry ripped through her. Pressing my cheek to hers, I felt her just shaking like nothing I had felt before. God, how it must have hurt. I was hurting her so much because of this. If I could take it all away from her, I would in a heartbeat. This….this was disgusting—that a father could do this to his own daughter. And I had to be the one to inflict more pain on her to help her. “I am so sorry, Emmy. Just hang on.”

  “For crissakes.” The breath had come out of my mom as the tears had rolled faster. “There’s no way that she’s going to be able to go to school for a while.”

  “It hurts. It hurts.” Emmy cried softly, making the tears come to my eyes.

  “Just hang in there. Almost done.” My chest hurt, my body hurt. Seeing this really made me appreciate my family more and more. Guilt pooled in my stomach over not going to check on her. I should have seen something more. I should have known this was happening.

  “Okay. Put her down.” Taking the pants, she tossed them into the garbage also. “Jackson, go and get my red soft pajamas please. They should be in my top drawer.” Her eyes shifted up to me with the pain deep in them. “Okay, we need to get her cleaned up. Try to not let her sit on her butt. That’s just….” Her voice cracked a little as more tears slid out of her eyes. “That’s just as bad.”

  It had taken a while to get her in the tub, but we did. The pain that we were inflicting on her had my mom crying and my dad fire red with each cry. God, she was bruised, cut, had scars, and it was just purely sickening to see her like that. If my parents had known sooner, they would have stepped right in to make sure that this never happened to her again.

  Mom had washed her up, dressed her wounds, and dressed her into the soft, warm fleece pajamas. Taking her to the spare room across the hall, I put her in the bed and covered her up. Leaving my mom to her for a little bit, I went out to the living room while raking my fingers through my hair. If I hadn’t checked out what that was that I had seen….If I hadn’t left the bar at that time….If I hadn’t decided to go to town, she would have frozen to death. A fourteen year old girl was left outside after getting severely beaten. I couldn’t wait until I found her father.

  “She’s sleeping. And you should get some rest, too.” My mom came out of the room with the tears still running down her face. Her hand rested on my arm as her eyes filled with the pain. Wrapping her into my arms, I let her cry a little. The guilt was deep inside of her. We should have known that something was up.

  But I swear. No one, and I mean no one would ever hurt that girl again. I didn’t care if I had to be with her every second of the day. I would never let anyone ever make her cry like she had tonight again.

  Chapter 7

  ****Present****

  Emmerson

  Tucking myself into the corner of the hall, the quiet hall filled with beige and white, there I sat on the first weekend I didn’t go back to the ranch. How could I? I could easily go back for the weekend just to hang out with Rob and Will, talk to Connie, cuddle with Ben, and push Jackson where his face reddened with anger. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to face Paul. Not after what he said to me at Thanksgiving.

  This was where I needed to be. Alone and at the damn college Jackson pushed me into going for my year. At least one semester is almost done. Three weeks was all I had left. Three weeks until finals week and I would be able to be done for the holiday.

  This Christmas was one I actually looked forward to. All those years spent with the Hucks, I was finally comfortable with the holidays and ready for it. I was ready for Connie’s cooking and fussing over me, Jackson’s constant watch, Will’s video games, and Rob’s raunchy talk about what girl he was chasing after for the week. And the one thing holding me back from going to the ranch was Paul and that disgustingly perfect Becky. I hated her. I really did. What woman would come in between Paul and me? But what man, what best friend, would let that happen?

  I hated Paul right now also. To look me in the eye and tell me he regretted that night he saved me… I could understand where he was getting frustrated with me, but what did he expect with the way he was treating me? Since that night of my graduation party, he changed. Something changed inside of him, turning him against me. And it had to be Becky.

  I knew he had a thing for her. He always had a thing for her. Whenever we were in town and his beautiful dark eyes caught sight of her, his boyish grin would come out and his shoulders straightened, chest puffed out. Like I hadn’t noticed that turkey going into strut. I wasn’t blind. And her. That little flirtatious wave and that hair flip. Come on. Gag me. She was exactly like these mean girls here at my school. Just something about all them fit. I didn’t like them and they just seemed too perfect.

  Checking my phone again, my stomach dropped again. If I did go back to the ranch, I would have been there already. And no one called yet.
Not Connie. Not Will or Rob. Definitely not Paul. Jackson….I give him another hour before he called to check on me. It did surprise me a little that Jackson hadn’t been on the phone yet, but with the warmer winter so far, I knew they all were getting as much done and prepared if the winter hit hard and fast.

  But Paul. I wanted to see his name on my screen. I wanted him to be the one who called first, wondering where I was. I wanted to hear his voice, that one I used to know, the one who made me comfortable to talk to him. Every night, I lay in my bed wondering what I did to turn him against me. And all I could come up with was maybe he saw how I was really starting to look at him and he didn’t like it. Maybe he noticed I was a little more attracted to him than I should have been.

  Rob told me about guys that did that. He did that a couple months ago with a girl who was chasing him and he had to get a little more mean to her for her to get the point. Not something he wanted to do, but he had to….I guess. Me, I would have just told her I wasn’t interested and let her know how I honestly felt about her right there. Doing something that hurt something else wasn’t something I thought was right. Then again, maybe it was, but the way I grew up for fourteen years, I had that happen over and over. Maybe that was what Paul was doing with me. He didn’t want to hurt my feelings so he was just saying things to get me to not like him.

  Hearing the group of mean girls down the hall in the corner room where the music was thumping, burning water came to my eyes. It wasn’t like I couldn’t hear them. I did. I heard them trying to come up with all sorts of reasons why I was so scarred. And each one hurt more and more, maybe because they were getting closer to the truth. I would have rather done this to myself than to have them because of a man who was supposed to love me unconditionally. All the reasoning’s those girls had come up with were horrible and I hated it. I hated when they called me those hurtful names I wouldn’t dare to even call the Andrews’ boys in all of our fights in high school. And this morning, because of my new best friends and their comments, I was called to see the life coach on campus because someone was worried I was a cutter. I had a hard enough time being at this hell hole, but to be marked with that when there were real people who truly did things to themselves who needed the help made me hate this place even more.