Doubled Pain

Chapter 16

The sun shone brightly in her closed eyes, yet instead of squeezing them tighter shut, Emma's eyes fluttered open.

She looked around and remembered being in the car. Immediately, she turned around to look at her kids who were waking up as well.

"Oh, God, kids.. are you alright?" She questioned as she inspected her children one by one. She herself wasn't hurt at all.

"Mom, what just happened?" Henry asked confused as he stared out the window. "Where's the rain?" He questioned.

Emma looked out the front window. "I don't know, I think we've been stuck here for a while, without anyone seeing us," Emma muttered and furrowed her eyebrows.

"But some people did come by to fix our car?" Eva sarcastically asked and unfastened her seatbelt.

Emma looked at the windows and saw that, in fact, everything was repaired. She followed her daughter's example and got out of the car.

"Mom, where are we?" Eva questioned as her siblings got out of the car as well.

"We're in Storybrooke," Emma replied, but she didn't believe it herself.

Despite everything looking the same, this was definitely not Storybrooke. The sky was too blue, the flowers on the side of the street too colorful, the grass too green.

And it smelled amazing.

"You're dead," a familiar voice sounded behind Emma, and the family immediately turned around.

"Grandpa?" Lola's voice cracked as she recognized the old man that looked so peaceful. The three children stepped closer to him in disbelief, before he spread his arms and embraced them.

"What happened?" Eva questioned and looked confused around.

Henry gestured with his head behind him and cleared his throat. "Why don't you follow me?" He suggested and the four of them started walking.

Emma couldn't believe what she was seeing.

This must be a dream, she kept telling herself. I'm in a car accident in a coma, and now I've ended up in this dream.

But she still hurried to her kids and their grandfather. Her children were looking around amazed as Henry Mills told them several things about the town.

They entered a building that, in regular Storybrooke, was the Town Hall. Henry led them to, what appeared to be, his office and sat down on a chair, opposite the couch where the family took place.

"You have ended up here because you died," Henry Mills said blankly. "To be honest, this world isn't much different from your previous one. It's like.. a next level, or so," Henry explained.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her children, who seemed confused, but not angry or sad.

"There isn't much to tell, really. One of the fun things is to figure everything out in your own," Henry Mills said with a wink and flashed them a smile. "I know I shouldn't be, but I'm glad I get to see you all," he said softly.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked, but the family sitting opposite him, was still contemplating all the information they'd received and couldn't mutter a word. "Well.. if you do, you know where to find me," he said and stood up.

Eva, Lola and Henry stood up as well. "Where do we live now?" They asked and Henry Mills snapped his finger.

"I always forget to tell everyone that. You can choose where you live. You can either live in your old home or create a new one," he said and Emma swallowed.