The Peanut Butter and Jelly Corporation

8

You must never return home
The bike tires screeched as Emma came to a halt in front of her house. The afternoon sun was beginning to set, casting her long shadow against the pristine, white walkway to their front door. Her father's Bentley stood at the driveway. Emma tossed the bike aside and ran to the door.
When she left Battlement at the entrance to the highway, he told her to bike down the road and go north.
"Do not go home, Emma," he said.
Then, he turned his bike back towards the path they came from, back towards the lake. Emma watched him bike away. The wind carried a hint of the foulness that had risen from underneath the lake. His brother's body was somewhere underneath it now, along with the monster. She had offered him nothing in return. Not even a thank you. Emma whirled and decided to go home.
The front door was unlocked. Emma sighed and slumped against the staircase that greeted her. Her entire body ached from biking for miles and her mouth dry and parched. Her face felt puffy, broken, and dry blood caked around her nostrils. But Emma wanted nothing more than a cold glass of water and a nice warm bath.
"Dad?" she called out, hearing voices talking in his office. But her mouth was too parched. Her voice scratched at her throat and came out barely a whisper. Emma rose, buoyed by the thought of telling him all about Seamus. Her father will know the truth about Seamus, about the entire neighborhood and their cult. They'll tell the police, the world. If the monster hadn't gotten to Seamus first, she'll make sure he'll get what is due. She coughed and walked down the hallway. "Dad?"
He couldn't hear her. Emma shuffled to his office. The door was open and the voices grew louder.
"It's not my fault you lost her"
"The creature is dying. We need to give it something before the sun sets"
"I gave you my daughter. I held up my part of the deal. This is your problem, Larkin"
Emma stopped at the door. Her father stood in the middle of the room. Across him sat Seamus, his nose broken and his right hand bandaged. He looked up as her father turned. Her father grinned, as he did whenever a business deal went his way.
"Emma, darling, you're just in time"