Bury a Friend | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 18 | Undrunk |

Emma wakes up the next morning cold, with a pounding headache, a burning in her throat, and a kitten asleep on her. To some extend, she accomplished her goal of blacking out. The kitten does a small stretch before hopping off her chest. At some point in the night, Emma had made her way into a ball on the center of her bed.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she lets out a small noise that borders between a groan and a sob. Her head hurts so fucking bad. She makes her way to the bathroom, hissing at the freezing tile below her feet and squinting until she splashes her face with cold water. She needs to shower, and it takes some pep-talking, but she finally turns the water on. She looks at herself in the mirror as the water heats up.

Her neck and collarbones are littered with bite marks and hickeys. She puts her face in her hands and lets out a small scream of self-hatred. The removal of her bra only warrants more bit back yells of anger. The grand finale, however, is when she removes her underwear to suddenly remember truly the most shameful part of the night.

"You dumb fucking whore," she shakes her head at herself then steps into the water. She scrubs every square inch of her body a minimum of three times and stays under the spraying water until her head hurts too bad to stand.

She throws on sweats and a high neck hoody to take baby steps to the kitchen for a cup of water. She hears the front door screech open and her heart stops. There's no way of covering up how clearly hungover she is. Her mind races with the sound of Kay's footsteps moving towards the kitchen. "Oh my God," Kay says and Emma clinches ready for hell to fall down on her. "I'm so glad to see you," the older woman wraps her arms around her daughter. Emma is stunned for a moment before returning the gesture.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Kay lets her go finally. "They found another girl, not too far from here. They brought her in this morning and it scared the hell out of me. I'm always worried it's going to be you."

"Where did they find her?"

"At the creek bed down behind the park. The thing dragged her all the way from the street." Emma's breath catches in her throat as her mom keeps talking. It really could have been her this time.

"Who- Uh, who was it?" She tries to stay calm and relaxed.

"A Jane Doe. No ID found," her mom sighs and steps back. She slowly does a one over on her daughter but chooses to ignore it. She's just glad she's safe. "No one at the hospital recognized her so it's possible she's from out of town."

"I'm sure we'll find out today." Their conversation is interrupted by a small thump sound coming down the stairs. Kay turns to see the small kitten struggling down each step, falling every time.

"Emma," she sighs, annoyed.

"It was out in the cold," she shrugs. "Look how cute it is." Kay agrees that it's cute, but there's no way they can keep it. "I'll take care of it," Emma promises. She rushes over to pick it up to show her mom. How could anyone say no to that tiny spotted face? Kay finally raises a hand to pet it.

"You can't take it to college with you."

"I know, but remember, we talked about getting you a cat! This one just came to us." Kay closes her eyes and lets out a long-drawn sigh.

"Okay," she indulges her daughter. How could she say no when this is the happiest she'd seen her in a while? "But you're taking care of it." Emma agrees and starts thinking of names.

Despite the excitement, it's still the early hours of the morning after a long night. She cradles the kitten and locks her bedroom door behind her. She cuddles into the blankets, this time on her floor and closes her eyes. She can still the sound of her mother downstairs shuffling around and the birds chirping in the first daylight of the new year.