The Girl Next Door

Part Thirteen

Her sneakers squeak against the cheap linoleum flooring, echoing down the hall and evaporating all other sounds from existence. Her heart rate is beating alarmingly fast as she struggles to keep up with her parents rushing through the brightly lit hospital. Her green eyes are in a trance, locking onto the back of her dad's gym shoes and her mom's flats as they scurry through the ice cold halls. Her glossy eyes are glued to the floor below, mindlessly counting the squares to distract herself from thinking about the reality.

One tile, two tiles, three tiles, four....

"Thank you so much for coming," she hears Regina's sister choke out, but she can't find it in her heart to look at her, not yet at least, so she wiggles her toes inside her shoes and continues counting.

Five tiles, six tiles....

"Of course, sweetie," her mother sniffles as she pulls Zelena into a loving hug and because her eyes are infatuated with the cheap flooring, she watches as the Zelena's boots stumble forward toward her mother's flats while they embrace one another.

"Emma, please you need to see her," Zelena cries over Mary Margret's comforting shoulder, but she still can't bear to even glance in her direction at her. "She needs you."

Emma fold her arms protectively across her chest and begs to anybody that maybe listening for those stupid, thick tears that are threatening to tumble, to just go away. She doesn't want to face this crisis, she refuses to admit this is her reality and she would give anything right now to go back to a time when they were little and didn't have to deal with such a tragic event.

She places both her hands around her mouth to make sure her voice will be heard. She peers up at the ginormous house, that must be a million feet tall in her eyes and giggles to herself.

"Gina! Gina! Gina!" She hollers up at the tall tower and waits for her best friend to emerge. The girl with jet-black hair presses her nose to the screen against her window and smiles. "Can you come out and play?"

"Emma! Get back here young lady!" She hears her mom yell in her angry voice. "See David, this is why we need to build a fence. We can't have our daughter bothering our friends like this."

Emma dashes back over to her mommy and climbs into her lap with a grin that takes up her entire face. "Mommy, can Gina come out and play?"

"It's RE-gina baby, and how about we ring the doorbell. You can't just shout at her bedroom window whenever you feel like it," her mommy tells her as she plays with the ends of her mother's hair.

She nods mindlessly, not truly paying attention even though her mom is using her serious voice, and she smiles from ear to ear because she can't wait to see Gina.

Her mommy places her bare feet on the grass and then stands up from her chair. She wraps her warm hand around Emma's and walks her to Gina's front door. She's so excited to see her friend that she cannot contain her wiggling and dancing next to her mother.

"Emma," Gina's mommy bends over so she can lightly tap her nose dusted with adorable freckles. "Regina is upstairs, go on up," she smiles encouragingly and steps aside for Emma to enter.

She smiles and takes off running up the stairs that take forever to climb in her mind. Gina's door is closed for the first time ever, so she knocks, but her friend doesn't answer. She lies down on the floor, her palms resting against the fluffy carpet as she peeks under the door.

"Gina, I know you're in there! I can see the light on!"

That's when her friend yanks the door wide open and giggles at her for lying on the floor.