Maybe After Tomorrow (Hatchetfield)

Chapter 6

After Ted and the professor had gone to the office to keep working, Emma went down to get breakfast. She poured the cereal and milk into the bowl, grabbed a spoon, got a cup of coffee and then turned around, nearly dropping everything.
"Jesus, Becky, you scared me!" she said, laughing.
"Oh, sorry. How are you this morning?"
"Fine."
Becky raised an eyebrow skeptically. We hadn't known one another for that long, but she was strangely perceptive when it came to my feelings.
"Okay, still really worried."
"Okay. Why don't you come to the living room and we can watch TV for a bit whilst we eat breakfast?"
"Okay."
After Becky had gotten herself a bagel, they walked through and Becky put on a cheesy 90s sitcom that they both simultaneously hated and couldn't seem to stop laughing at.
"Hey," Tom said as he sat down next to Becky a few minutes later, making Emma tense.
"Hey, what are you doing up?"
"Could ask you both the same question. It's still pretty early."
"I couldn't get back to sleep. Emma was already up when I got here."
Emma smiled awkwardly at Tom before looking down in an attempt to avoid eye contact.
"Emma, how come you're up so early?" Tom asked, his eyes prying.
"Got to sleep early," she mumbled.
"And why can you still not look me in the eye?"
"Tom-"
"I've told you I'm not mad about yesterday."
Emma looked up, "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What happened yesterday?" Becky asked, more worried than prying.
"We just had a bit of an... argument," Tom said, "While we were at the mall."
"Oh."
Emma flinched as she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.
"Who's that?" Becky asked.
Emma looked at the screen, "No number. I don't know."
She clicked the answer button, standing up and walking over to the other side of the room, faced away from Tom and Becky.
"Hello?"
Silence.
"Hello?"
"E-Em- No! No, don-"
"Paul! Are you-"
But the phone had already cut off before she had gotten a chance to speak.
"No!" She broke down crying, almost instantly feeling Becky's arms around her, hugging her and holding her up. She guided her over to the couch and they sat, Becky's arms still around Emma as she sobbed.
"Emma, what happened? Are you all right?"
"It was Paul," she said.
"Are you sure?" Tom asked.
"It sounded just like them. But he screamed 'no' and then got cut off! What if he's in some sort of danger?"
"I'm sure he'll be okay, Emma, don't worry. You don't even know if that was them," Becky said.
"But what if-"
"Try not to think-"
"I have to go."
Emma stood up, still crying, and ran up to her room. She sat on her bed, pulling her knees to her chest and trying as hard as she could to talk herself out of her next action.
She wiped the tears from her face with the end of her sleeve, moved the blanket from the edge of her bed and grabbed the box, standing up to run into the en-suite.
"Emma?"
She froze when she heard Becky's voice.
"What's that?"
Emma tried to put the box in her pocket before realising she had none. Typical women's clothes.
"It's just a tampon."
"Do you think I'm stupid? They don't come in boxes. Not singular ones."
Figuring it was useless trying to lie her way out, Emma just turned round, gripped the box in a way that hid the label and cried into Becky's shoulder.
They sat down on the bed and, after a couple of minutes, Emma stopped crying and distanced herself from Becky.
"You're not gonna let this go if I don't tell you what it is, are you?"
"No, probably not."
Becky smiled as Emma reluctantly handed her the box and looked away, but her expression soon dropped and her hand flew up over her mouth as she read the label.

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