The Perfect Emma

Chapter Three

Emma Mabel

"He knows this stuff, Lily," Emma complained at the end of the day. Lily sat on top of one of her student's desks while Emma began to wipe off the whiteboard with an eraser. "It's so... frustrating. Every single moment I call on Isaac he knows the answer." Emma explained. She stopped wiping and turned around to stare at Lily. "He just doesn't do any of his homework. He doesn't even try on any quizzes or tests." Emma let out a sigh and glanced towards Lily, a frown on her lips. "I feel like something is happening at home."

Lily nodded her head as she leaned back. She rested her palms on the surface of the desk and frowned. "Probably. Maybe." She shrugged her shoulders slightly. "You should call his parents - see if something is going on."

Emma made a face as she placed the eraser on the whiteboard holder. She let out a groan and rubbed her temple. "I mean I could," Emma said. "But I don't want to." Technically - teachers and parents should be working together. It was a teamwork to help their child develop and grow into intelligent and well-rounded adults in the future. However, not all parents saw it that way. In fact, some parents hate to see anything negative happening to their child. If they do, they generally blame the teachers.

"Emma," Lily scolded. Emma waved her hand in the air.

"I know." She murmured. "I'll call them tomorrow after school. Today we're lesson planning and then I have a date with Arthur tonight." Emma explained.

"Ooh," Lily leaned forward, intrigued. "Where?"

"The Chopping Pearl."

"Yum," Lily said with a grin.

"Exactly. So, let's get planning so I can go have my delicious dinner." Emma said with a smile. She moved over to sit across from Lily at a student's desk. The two then immediately began to start talking - half of the time about school and half of the time about gossip.

Eventually, Emma and Lily wrapped up what they were working on. Working later than intended, the two friends gave each other their goodbyes. Emma, who was an hour early for dinner, merely decided to head to the Chopping Pearl early. Waiting around wouldn't be an issue and she didn't mind going on a quick walk before dinner - especially since Los Angeles is a beautiful town.

Therefore, with her car parked, Emma stuck her hands in her pocket and began to walk. She hummed and let her long, blonde hair flow in the wind as she strolled. When she first moved to Los Angeles with Arthur, alleyways used to scare her a lot. She would do everything she could to avoid walking by or through any alleys. However, as time went on, Emma began to recognize how irrational the fear was. The only scary things in alleys happen in movies - not in the actual streets. The police were much more diligent about letting something like that happen.

At least, that's what she thought. Emma happened to glance to the side. She saw a hand, flopped out onto the ground. At first, Em brushed it off as another homeless man or woman, sleeping wherever they could. However, curiosity pushed Emma to take a step closer. A part of her wanted to give some money to the person, despite the fact that teachers didn't earn all that much excess money to begin with.

Except... the person's eyes were open - and glazed over.

Emma gasped and held her hand up to her eyes as she looked over towards a dead woman on the ground. Remaining a significant distance away, Emma noted that the person had short, brown hair. She merely laid in a dress awkwardly on the ground, her arm flopped out to the side behind a trashcan.

Shakily, Em reached her hand towards her purse. She kept her eyes on the woman with wide eyes, glancing back and forth down the alley briefly, before pressing '9-1-1' into her phone. Emma held the phone against her ear and heard a woman answer.

"911. What is your emergency?"

"I-I..." Emma started. She could feel her hands shaking in fear. "I'm at the corner of eighth street and university in an alley. I f-found a woman. I t-think she's dead."

"Alright, miss. Dispatch is on their way. Can you tell from where you're standing if she's breathing?"

"N-No." Emma's entire body began to shake. She pulled her arms into her chest, practically trying to make herself as small as possible. Em's long, blonde hair began to blow in the wind as she turned her head away from the body. She couldn't stand looking at the blood from her mouth and those eyes. "S-she's not breathing."

"What's your name?"

"Emma," Emma whispered her name quietly into the phone.

"Alright Emma, here's what I need you to do." The operator spoke. "I need you to step out from the alleyway and I want you to stand on the sidewalk. Officers are going to be there real soon, Emma. Everything will be okay. You're doing great, Emma."

Nodding her head, despite the fact that the woman on the other end of the line couldn't hear her, Emma began to step over towards the sidewalk. She held her arms against her chest as she merely stood there, shaking. "O-okay." Emma murmured into the phone. "I'm standing on the sidewalk."

"Good, Emma." In the background, Emma could hear sirens slowly approaching. Normally, Emma brushed off anytime she heard sirens. However, this time, the sirens were coming to her. It was an odd feeling. She was never on the receiving end.

Until now.

It seemed that today was a day full of things changing.

Eventually, the officers pulled up. It was clear that this wasn't their first rodeo. An officer stepped over to Emma as the rest began to block off the alleyway. Emma merely stood shaking with her hand over her mouth. Eventually, when instructed, she hung up the phone with the woman that had been coaxing her through everything.

Inspecting the alleyway first, the police briefly questioned Emma on what she had seen. Emma, merely gave them the God honest truth. She was walking by waiting for a date with her husband in now less than an hour when she saw someone that she thought was homeless. She approached and, well, she wasn't homeless.

"It's a short-haired brunette," A different officer murmured quietly to the officer that had been interrogating Emma. The officer immediately frowned and sighed.

"Another one?" He asked sadly, shaking his head.

"A... Another?" Emma questioned, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. "What do you mean? There's more?"

The two officers glanced toward each other. Eventually, one of them reached out their hand and placed it against Emma's shoulder. "Take a deep breath, miss..."

"Emma," She whispered her name again quietly for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Miss Emma." He said, nodding his head. "It's an ongoing investigation. There will be a few detectives here in a bit - they might take you down to the station for questioning or they might question you here. I'm not sure - whatever they decide. My name is Rob. If you need anything at all, let me know. Alright?"

Emma merely nodded her head. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the wall - an area that wasn't blocked off with rope. Slowly, Emma slid herself down onto the sidewalk. She merely hugged her arms against her chest and was glad that she wasn't wearing a dress right now so she was able to sit on the ground.

A part of Emma knew that she should likely call her husband Arthur and tell him that she found a dead body. That, or at least she was going to be late. Instead, Emma merely remained still. She wasn't scared necessarily - because she didn't feel that any of the officers were going to harm her. However, she was shocked.

It wasn't every day that you just stumble across a dead body.