It feels so strange how every time I try to escape from everything, someone always shows up and finds my traces.
As if there's a force ensuring that I shouldn't face everything alone and bear this heavy burden without any help.
***
On the way to Aunt Bertha's house, fate seemed to decide to make our steps pause at Mary's house.
It was as if the flow of time directed us to stop briefly there, where Mary, George, and Billy were gathered.
Edward and I dismounted from the horse. A smile appeared on Edward's face, perhaps eager to chat with his friend, but I couldn't express the same, as George would be angry with me later.
George suddenly approached me with an emotional face, just as I expected. "Where is she?"
Edward restrained George before he could touch me.
Anger flared in his eyes. This time George's sharp gaze truly scared me. "Who?" I asked with tension and astonishment.
"Do not act like you do not know!" George snapped.
"Just say who?" I asked irritably.
"EMMA!!!" George shouted.
Edward forced George to look at him by holding both of his shoulders. "What happened to Emma?" Edward asked, furrowing his brow.
"I do not know," George said sternly. Then he turned to me. "Ask her."
Edward looked at me. Now all eyes were on me, as if they were waiting for me to say something they wanted to hear. "I—I don't know what you're talking about," I said, equally confused as they were.
George growled, "Oh, do not lie."
"She's with me," Edward interjected. "Since morning."
"With you?" Mary was surprised. Her face looked like it had been filled with tears and still kept flowing.
"Yes," Edward replied shortly.
"She did not come home last night because Emma's bed is still neatly arranged, and the only one with her is..." George pointed at me and said, "Her."
Surprise flashed in Edward's eyes. "Emma is missing?"
Not only Edward was surprised, but my breath also became heavier hearing the news. "What? Emma—how?"
"I know you did something to her," George accused me firmly.
"I— I took her to the front of her house, and..." I choked on my lie.
Oh my God... I shouldn't have left her alone. What have I done?
"And I... left," I continued with a sigh.
"You lying bitch!" Billy snapped.
"I'm not lying," I defended myself to Billy with tears streaming down.
"Then why did you leave the next day when Emma disappeared?" Billy asked defensively. "Is it just a coincidence?"
At that moment, I didn't know what to say. My mind was still shocked and processing what I had done.
Mixed feelings stirred within me, creating an emotional chaos that was difficult to express in words.
I felt like I was in a storm of thoughts, where everything felt so complicated and hard to understand.
This time, I couldn't find a perfect lie to cover up my lies, so I said, "I took Emma to her house; she couldn't have disappeared."
"You're dodging the question," Billy sneered. "Why did you leave when Emma disappeared?"
YOU ARE READING
Ephemeral Echoes
Romance(COMPLETE) Rachel, a newcomer to London, hopes to live a normal life. However, strange events began to occur to her every day, until one day she was suddenly thrown into 1827 and trapped in a completely different era from the one she knew. However...
