“It’s morning again. It’s always morning I suppose when it’s a new day. Another monday. Another day to get ready for work. My job is great I suppose, all the books I can read and such,” Emmy muttered to herself. The first thing she did was the same as she always did. Breakfast. The second best meal of the day because of bacon. For Emmy or Esmerald for long, bacon is the best of breakfast.
After breakfast she went to her room to get ready for the day. On went her jeans, boots, and blouse. She threw her hair up in a bun, and placed her locket around her neck. Her most prized possession was that locket, or rather, what it held. The picture of her whole family, a week before they were murdered.
She stared glassy eyed remembering her brother a sweet good natured boy of 12. It was his birthday. Esmerald came back to reality to see the time and hurry down stairs to the library.
The sky was beautiful and red. It had been that way for the past week. Emmy wasn’t afraid of omens like her mother had. She based the world she saw on fact, though she had her fantasies of the way it worked. She continued her path down the stairs until she reached her target.
The library was cool and dark from the lack of human presence the night prior. She unlocked the door and flipped the sign to “open”, then flipped on the lights. She beheld the beautiful sight before her. All the books before her in their places among the shelves. Some of the books with their tags on the binding.
“Hey Jake can you grab the books from the back and restock the shelves?” Emmy chirped behind her. “Sure” Jake shouted.
Esmerald finished with the last customer and closed up shop and grabbed a good book and something from the bakery. She found a comfy spot to indulge in fantasy, after a long day of work. Something doesn’t feel right. Emmy thought she could feel someone watching her. Well I am by a window.
Still though, something didn’t sit right with her. So, she looked out the window and just in the shadow of the street lamp across the street was a figure. It looked like a man dressed all in dark clothes. He was tall just staring at her. He started to walk away, but just before he was out of sight Emmy saw his face.
Emmy jumped up and ran to the door and opened it, but the man was already gone. “It can’t be” Emmy muttered to herself. “But he’s...he’s dead. I held him in my arms as he died”.
Esmerald thought to herself hoping that it was only a trick of the light. She decided that was enough reading for tonight. She turned out the light and headed up the stairs. She contemplated the events that just occurred. When she got to her flat she went to her computer and checked her emails. The screen read:
1 New Message
She opened the email. It read:
“Hey, it’s been a long time Emmy. Do you still have the locket I gave you? You need to know about something that happened on that day. It didn’t happen the way you remembered it. Someone had something to do with it. With love,
You Know Who”
Emmy felt a knot of dread finding its way to her stomach. Esmerald hoped that it was just Jake pranking her again. She called him. He answered from what sounded like a wild party.
“Yeah,” he shouted over the screaming and music,. “What is it?”
“Hey, did you send me a prank email again?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“No reason. Bye”, she said shakily. This can’t be good, she said to herself.
The first thought that came to her mind was to call the police. Something stopped her though, some strange force that lured her back to the computer. It was a new moon tonight which added to the eerie feel in the room.
She clicked the reply button on the screen. She responded:
“Hello James. Who are you? How are you alive? What do you know about that day? Tell me what you know.” She sent him the email. His reply almost came instantly. He wrote:
“Meet me in the park, at your favorite place. Be there at 7pm. Till then, Adieu.”
Esmerald head was spinning with all that had happened in the past few hours. The next day had felt like it went on forever. Whenever there was a free moment she would glance out the window, Thinking she saw that man again. Every time he wasn’t there.
6:50. Emmy glanced at the clock and started to close up early when Jake noticed.
“Hey, what are you doing? We don’t close for another few hours.”
“I didn’t realize. I’m going out early tonight. You mind closing up for me?”
“Sure, but where you going? You never go out. Like ever.”
“I’m meeting someone. I have to go now. Bye”, she shouted and ran out of the store.
It was late September and the leaves were turning golds and reds. The air was crisp and brisk as she walked to the abandoned bridge at the edge of the park and the forest. The sun was starting to set when she reached the bridge.
There he was. The ghost of her past she thought she buried long ago.
“Hello Emmy. It's been a awhile. How are you?”
“No small talk, I came for answers. So answer.”
“Well, my, my, my, you have changed quite a bit. If you want answers then you must have questions first, right?”
“Good. First, how am I alive? Long story short: an organization. Let’s say, found me. Second, I know what really happened that day,” James said curtly.
“Really? I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out already.”
“Figure what out exactly?”
“On who actually murdered our family,” he said. “IT WAS YOU!!”
“ME?! But I couldn't have. I would never!”
“But you did, or rather a part of you did. You see, you have multiple personalities. Your more violent self murdered all of us, except me. My you have been a bad girl,” he said scoffingly.
After this encounter Esmerald jumped off the bridge that she had spent most of her time pondering what became of her family’s murderer only to have it be herself.
She had a beautiful funeral. Although it was quite small after all, she had only one true friend and one living relative . Funeral fillers were also there and others that knew her paid their respects and left. She was buried like her past. I personally saw this coming, after all she did have an omen: Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky at morning sailors take warning. And she hadn’t taken warning at the red sky at morn, and now she shall be mourned.
