𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐒 ❦ ST (O.H)

viii. CABIN IN THE WOOD

She put it down as residual fear from their confrontation, and moved on.

"We think we found them." She explained increadibly briefly, before closing the Family Video store and following the group into Steve's car.

Addie's decent into torment, as real as it was, would have to wait. For now, she was despirate to know how many friends she would mourn today.

OoO

REEFER RICK HAD A boat house far enough out of town to be untraceable to most.

It was old, and held enough spiders to put Emma off ever stepping foot in the place, which was already a hard sell due to the work that had gotten him enough money to buy it. On top of that, in her silent grief she'd failed to make it clear to Eddie how uncomfortable the man made her ( or how scared she was about trespassing in general ). She hated the idea of him enough to vomit when she noticed the obvious signs of drug dealing around the property - not the mention the fear that came with his prison sentence. It was hard to believe she was there; it was hard to believe a lot of things that'd happened to the girl in the last 24 hours.

She thought it best to avoid these thoughts as she sat below the cover of the man's old fishing boat, with Eddie cradled in a ball beside her. It had been around an hour since they returned to their hiding spot for the night; an hour spent without words.

"You come here often?" Emma whispered.

Her voice was surprisingly smooth to Eddie, despite their absence of conversation. Neither had mentioned what they'd seen; neither had the guts to confirm the terrible sights that would be impossible to explain to anybody who knew they'd bared witness. Emma herself hoped to avoid the inevitable for a little bit longer first, before she too became a broken puppet of herself. Only she would remain intact in front of Eddie Munson, who wasn't entirely astute enough to see the mental bones that continued to shatter as the two sat in their solemn tribute to her friend.

Eddie couldn't quite laugh at the break in their silence, but found a lightness in his body the second he heard her speak. It was a lightness he'd long attributed to the girl, who had managed to weed her way through the hatred he held for anything popular.

"More recently." Eddie admitted.

His clothes were creased by his position under the tarp, as was his increasingly matted hair. In comparison Emma was the picture of elegance; she looked at the teenage boy with a softness that told Eddie he didn't have to be ashamed of the fear in his eyes, or the comfort he sought out in Emma. Some time in their hour under the tarp, the two had moved from opposite ends of the boat to the very middle to cry. They cried often together in the day that'd past from the murder.

There was no shame in tears, or the comfort of each other that ensued once their dried sobs lessened.

"My uncle. . . he doesn't understand a lot of things. Sometimes I need a break, so I come here."

Emma nodded, breathing through her mouth to try and take in some less muddled air. Her own hair was matted and frizzy from the tarp above them, but Eddie didn't mind. He's imagined a multitude of situations with the girl over the months he learnt of her true nature ( many which ended with matted hair ), but he never could've imagined the admiration he'd have for her when he saw it. Perhaps it was the shocking events that tainted them both, which opened his eyes so widely to her comfort.

Eddie had spoken to most of the Hellfire Club about his softness for Emma Carlton - particularly as he damned those like Adelade Thompson - but not even he could've expected this. He was itching to tell her everything about him, if only to finally get her to understand why he was so cowardly in his trailer.