The Broken Fade

Prologue

She paced back and forth in her room decorated with posters of her favourite and most adored celebrities, Cher Llyod in her yellow and white striped sleeveless dress with black boots, Justin Bieber in a green varsity jacket, and others from famous boy bands to country singers, with tears glistening as they gently and swiftly rolled down her cheeks.

Outside, the phone was ringing. Her mind kept racing and her heart beat extremely fast. Despite the countless times the phone rang, she insisted herself not to pick it up.

"Da ran da da dum, dum, da ran dum..."  Her cell phone in her pocket suddenly came to life as her ringtone rang and the screen of her IPhone glowed in the darkness. 

Wiping the cheeks from her tears, she stared at her phone's screen. Krissy. Dear, dear Krissy. She must have heard the news as well. Perhaps the whole neighbourhood already knew. Of course, it was such a small town. Just like what happened to Olivia Scotts, the 15 year-old who got pregnant. Within less than an hour, the whole town knew that Olivia bore her boyfriend, good-looking basketball and rugby player, Neil Morrison's baby. 

Her hands shaking from the heart breaking news, she pressed the green telephone on her screen, and placed the phone to her right ear.

There were sirens in the background and the sounds of people yelling and shouting.

"EMMA! OH MY GOD, EMMA!" Krissy screamed through the phone.

Emma gulped, choked back in tears as she tried to control her emotional feelings, as her mind raced, thinking of how she could tell Krissy that she would be fine, that she would cope with the circumstances. But deep, deep within, she wanted to scream, to punch Destiny in the face, but she easily covered the feelings with a heart warming feeling that her childhood friend Krissy Anthony would always be there for her. 

"I'm...I'm," Emma took a deep breath.

"E-Emma! I don't know what to say! I-I-It's going to- everything- w-will be..." Krissy said frantically, there were continuous yells and the sirens of perhaps more than an ambulance, going 'bee-bo-bee-bo' non-stop. 

"A-Alright," Emma continued Krissy's sentence, as she thought of a way to remain calm.

"Think of something else, Emma! Oh for goodness sake, don't cry. I know you're strong!" Emma remained silent and listened to the sounds of footsteps through the phone. The sirens had died down. Perhaps Krissy had walked to a quieter place to talk. Every Saturday night it would be a typical time for Krissy and her boyfriend to meet. Sometimes, they went to dine at the pizzeria, or perhaps catching a last-minute movie at the cinema. Occasionally, a romantic dinner at one of the most expensive Italian restaurants in town. After that, they would have usual heart-to-heart or daily life talks along the sidewalks as Davis, Krissy's boyfriend, walk her home.

Perhaps Krissy had witnessed the...Emma began to have a wild imagination, and more tears welled up in her eyes.

"KRISSY! I NEED YOU!" Emma screamed through the phone. She was now sobbing uncontrollably. 

"Oh my...JUST SHUT UP! CURSE THIS! I'M COMING!" Krissy yelled back and hung up.

The phone outside had stopped ringing by now. Emma placed her hand on her mouth as she cried. A long, hysterical cry. 

Soon, the doorbell rang.

Emma staggered out of her room and opened the door, without placing the latch, because she knew that it was Krissy. And it was. Her curly blonde hair that was tied in a bun had wild strands poking out in all directions. Beads of sweat dampened on her forehead as they trickled down her face. She was barefoot and holding her favourite pair of floral platform slingbacks she recently got from Forever 21. Emma knew that she had picked up her shoes and immediately raced to her house as fast as Usain Bolt ran in 100 metres, or no, perhaps, 200 metres.  

"K-Krissy..." Emma spoke softly in a tired voice as she fell into her best friend's arms. 

"It-will-be-alright!" Krissy assured, giving Emma a warm bear hug.

Emma couldn't stand the blow that struck her heart and left a huge, ruined gap when local sheriff Norman Carter, best high school buddy of her dad, had made a distress call to her, informing her that her parents had died when a lorry drove by a drunken man collided with their Mercedes Benz. 

Davis arrived, covered in sweat, and pressed his lips when he watched Krissy console Emma, her nose redder than a clown's, her eyes redder than a ghost's in horror movies, her face sadder than the sight beggars by the side of the street begging for food and money. His heart felt crushed to see his girlfriend's friend, who was also a good friend to him, so pityful and vulnerable-looking. 

"M-M-Mom, D-Dad..." Emma sobbed as she leaned against Krissy's shoulder.

A pair of glowing lights blared as a grey land rover turned into the driveway. With eyes squinting, Emma could recognise the three other faces of her truest, bestest, greatest, best friends! Cath, Aurel and lastly, Hazel, one of the most well-known and richest girl in town, the driver of her self-owned land rover. 

"EMMA!" Cath screamed as the three girls stumbled out of the car and raced towards their best girlfriend. 

Soon, Emma was surrounded by her four closest friends. Whenever anything happened, their embrace symbolizing the five girls' never ending friendship would warm Emma's heart and slowly, the gap in her heart started to mend and heal. 

"You'll be fine! God be with you!" Aurel patted Emma's soft head reassuringly, tears streaming down her face as well.

The last thing Emma could remember clearly was falling down to the ground as her friends circled around her, screaming her name as many times as she could count. Everything else, had already went black. Pitch black.