The Girl With a Broken Heart💔

Moving On

Emma's POV
NYC
Present Day

"Oh, Crap! Emma, shit, Emma, listen!"

His words echoed as I ran down the empty corridor. Frantic breathes synced with ocean of tears flew freely down my burning cheeks.

"Emma! Emma, wait, please stop." He followed me. He was closing in, so I brisked up my pace. Every step forward dug a deep hole in my aching heart.

He tried to catch me, but before he could, I entered an almost closing elevator. As the door closed between us, I finally looked straight in his eyes.

The blaring alarm clock got me out of yet another reverie, or was it a bad dream? Honestly, I wasn't sure anymore.

This had become a regular drill since days now. My subconscious mind kept playing tricks, and made me revisit the events of that day, troubling my soul to bear and accept things that had caused immense pain in the first place. No matter how hard I tried to make peace with the truth, I failed every single time.

The days dawned the same, the birds flocked the same, the world voyaged the same, yet something had changed. Maybe not on the outside, but within. Every passing minute of my life in the past month felt unfamiliar. I didn't feel the same anymore.

I saw the clock and realised I was running late. I rushed through my morning routine and got ready; and without wasting another precious second, I headed downstairs. The moment I entered the living room, I heard my parents talking softly.

"Is she down yet?"

"Not yet, she should be here soon. I have prepared her breakfast."

"Today is important. It's her first outing outside this house in months."

"Yes, I am so worried about her Taylor. I thought I would never be able to see her smile again."

"Don't worry, Samantha. She is stronger than you think. I trust our daughter; she will get through this."

Guilt washed over me as the distress in their voice reflected how disappointed they must have felt, watching their grown up daughter break like a fragile doll.

Now when I looked back, it all seemed worthless.
I heaved a deep sigh and mustered all my strength before I stepped in their room.

"Mom, I am leaving, I am horribly behind schedule", I dashed into their room and without making further conversation, I turned to step out of the house. I felt ashamed to confront them after all these days.
I walked past them, and almost instantly heard them call my name from behind.

"Emma, wait. Just eat a little, your food is ready and served."

"Later, Mom. I will call you once I reach," I tried to control my trembling voice as I slammed the front door and ran into the cab that had been waiting for me for the last eight minutes to be precise.

"I am sorry I am late, can you please take me to this address here", I passed on a visiting card with my destination address to the cab driver while adjusting my blue pencil skirt before settling in the back seat of the cab. I took one final look at my reflection in my phone's front camera, and once satisfied, I threw it back into my cluttered purse.

While on the way, I recalled how this was a dream come true for me. I worked really hard to reach here. My grades were always on point, and morals virtuous and high, basis enough for landing me a prestigious scholarship to study corporate law in a reputed ivy college. Luckily in my last semester, I got hired as a Junior Associate Attorney at S&M, one of the fore-running law firms in the United States, headquartered in the heart of Manhattan.