Snow Day

Chapter 3: Strangers and The 'Meeting'

"Emma! Emma! Emma, Where are you?" Riley heard someone call from overhead. She didn't turn to look up though—assuming her ears were just too cold and hearing things, she took out her white and black ear muffs. Putting them on, she continued to skate, ending with a triple Lutz.

"Emma! Emma!" she heard again. This time however she looked toward the sound to see someone—someone flying in the sky? Thinking she was hallucinating, she shook her head violently and skated back to her bench. "Emma! Emma!" the stranger called again, as Riley began to un-tie her skates hurriedly.

Standing up gathering her things, she prepared to walk back to her house, walking faster and faster as she heard the continuous shouts from overhead.

"Emma, Emma wait! Where are you going?" she heard a man's voice shout. "Emma, Emma wait--- don't go!" The stranger's voice got louder and louder until... Oof; she bumped into someone. Dusting herself off and muttering, she prepared to run again when... "Emma, are you okay?"

"Fine" Riley muttered.

"Aren't you going to look at me, Emma?"

Back in headquarters Joy and the others were trying to figure out what to say in response.

"Eh, who is this stranger calling Emma?" Disgust scoffed, "and why?"

"Stranger" Fear panicked. "Let's get outta here! Strangers usually lead to danger".

"What?" Anger snorted.

"Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" Fear chanted.

"Let's just run back to mom and dad" Sadness suggested, "They'll protect us".

"Guys, guys calm done—there's no reason to panic" Joy replied, trying to calm all the other emotions. "Besides I've got this," she said, pressing a button on the control panel.

"Emma? Who the heck is Emma... and who are you?" Riley spoke, raising her head up slowly.

Jack stood there in surprise for the face he saw didn't match that of his sister's. "Hmmm... E—Em—Emma?"

"Umm no, I'm sorry but my name's not Emma, it's Riley".

"Oh..." A disappointed look crossed the young man's face.

"Who's Emma anyway?"

"Emma? Why she's my sister... or—she was"

"Was?"

"Yup, I saved her way back when..."

"Cool... how?"

"Well, I'd taken her out one winter's day to teach her to ice skate near a pond that had frozen over".

"Oh... I love stating too" Riley shows him her skates.

"Yes, anyway... I guess the ice wasn't all that solid and it began to crack not soon after we set foot on it; my sister ended up surviving though".

Riley was really curious now, it was clear that any sense of fear she had towards the mysterious stranger had been wiped clean away. "How?"

"Well, long before I found this odd-shaped stick... it looked to me like something a shepherd would use so I kept it—luckily I had it with me that day... using it I talked her through the rescue saying that we were going to play a game... a game of hopscotch... we played it every day and I figured it would come in handy right then... anyway once I got close enough I used the shepherd's stick to scoop her up and get her to safety" he cut off looking rather sad. "That—that was the last time I ever saw her face though".

"Oh, how sad... I'm sorry"

"It's okay" he replied sadly.

"What about you?" Riley whispered, "Didn't you survive—well, I mean of course you survived otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me".