The door to Mrs. Stuart's household swung open after the first series of insistent bangs. The action led to the bright lit house being filled with a gust of cold wind and mist from the heavy rain, together with a few pieces of dried leaves that were being carried around in the storm.
 

In the hallway stood a middle aged lady, an umbrella in hand, and adorning a yellow raincoat that was clearly too small for her plus size body. Her jaw dropped open upon laying her eyes on her niece's disheveled form, completely at a loss for words.

Emily pulled back a snort and squeezed her eyelids shut. Her eyeballs were irritated from the cold wind and heavy rain droplets that hit her face as she ran. She could still hear her heartbeat racing. A few minutes ago, she was convinced that the bloody organ would jump out of her ribcage and she would have had to vomit it out onto the terrain.

Jordan, Emily's cousin was a few steps behind, dressed in a similar manner as Mrs. Stuart and carrying an old silver flashlight in hand. Emily could not help but wonder where on earth were they going to look for her if her body was lying somewhere under an old shipment container, organs lying about and all. A stray dog was most likely to beat them to it, chew a bit if this and a bit of that, probably her eyeballs first.
  

"Good Lord!'' Her aunt cried out in shock. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?'' Emily was mentally prepared for the scolding, only that it was supposed to be about her tardiness which had stretched hours into her near death encounter. "Get in!'' Mrs. Stuart was saving the scolding for later. In the moment, she had to perform the parental duty of making sure Emily was okay and out from the cold.

"Why do you have that?'' Jordan queried over Mrs. Stuart's shoulders. The three of them glanced down at the crude tool that Emily held tightly. Emily turned to scan their porch for any signs of being followed by the killer before stepping into the house. She then threw the heavy wood spiked with iron nails by the door steps before slowly pushing the door shut.

The little warmth in the house sent a series of reactions on Emily's body in form of hard ugly goosebumps. She reached out to the wall to her left and leant on it to relieve her aching feet. Her heartbeat was faint, too faint that Emily was scared she would loose it. Her leg muscles ached from exhaustion that even her breathing was slow and shalow.

Mrs. Stuart dropped her umbrella and quickly reached out to Emily's form, tugging on her jeans to take them off.

"I need a blanket.'' She ordered reaching for Emily's upper garments. "For Christ's sake Jordan. Get me a blanket!'' The wet clothes were thrown aside, right next to a small muddy pool was collecting on the brown carpet beneath Emily's feet which under normal circumstances, it would send her spiraling. With help, Emily was able to free her ankles from the wet lump of her mummy jeans.

A few minutes later, when she was wrapped under a dozen blankets and sat in front of the heater generating body heat, Emily was able to overhear a call between her aunt and the police chief. She always knew her aunt to be a paranoid person and the fact that she was underway in signing a missing person's report did not surprise Emily.

"Here you go.'' Jordan offered her a fifth mug of coffee. Emily mumbled a thanks and took a sip. Her teeth were no longer chittering and the hot drink helped in keeping her body temperature to a desirable degree.

Aside from the occasional body shivers which she couldn't tell were from the cold or the shock, Emily was recovering well. Her heartbeat was stronger now, and she took a moment to appreciate the organ for all of the times she took it for granted. All in all, she was glad to be warm and not using her feet soles as track shoes.
  
 
"Wanna smoke?'' Jordan whispered. Like cogs in a machine, they both turned to look over at Mrs. Stuart who was now smiling on the phone. Emily downed her cup of coffee and shook off a few of the blankets to lessen the load.

"Going to bed honey?'' Mrs. Stuart called out for them across the open plan kitchen. Emily nodded. "Avoid applying pressure on your forehead, alright?''

"No one sleeps like that.'' Jordan responded on her behalf as he lead the way upstairs to his room.
  
 
Jordan's bedroom was similar to Emily's; everything from the unfolded pile of clothes, half filled glasses of water around every surface, the headboard-less spring bed and the lime green wallpaper was all copy and paste. The only difference arose from the type of mess present. Emily thought her mess was 'clean' while Jordan's was pure filth. The clothes were dirty and the floor was dusty and sandy. If she was keen enough, Emily thought, she would be able to pinpoint a cockroach.

He threw Emily his SpongeBob bathrobe which she used to line the space between the door and the floor. After his window was opened and they were comfortable amidst a pile of socks on his bed, Emily lit the blunt and took two deep puffs.

"Shit.'' Jordan laughed out an air of smoke. He took another deep puff out of the smoldering blunt before handing it back to Emily. "You know ma was calling everyone from church.'' Emily smirked. "Shit we thought you were dead or something.''

"It hasn't even been twelve hours.'' Emily stated. "For all it's worth I could have been at a guy's place or something.'' Emily fell back on the bed. "Your family is crazy.''

"Then why were you not answering my texts?'' Jordan queried. Emily waved her palm in dismissal.

"Maybe I was getting some good head.'' Jordan scrunched his face in disgust. "Some really good head.'' Emily let out a light chuckle.

"You don't have a boyfriend.''

"You don't know that.''

"Where were you then?'' Jordan's tone had dropped. Emily picked a hint of curiosity as well as care in his words. It felt weird.

Even though the two of them had shared living space for almost two years, never had they sat down together and talked about anything. It was always the random words during dinner table or the weekends when they were left alone in the house. On occasion, enmity arose from having to share a bathroom and Emily's own bipolar disorder. Socializing with highschoolers and teenagers at that, was never Emily's strong forte.
  
  
"This Eddy's stuff?'' Emily asked. She was avoiding the question and he knew it. To her relief, Jordan chose to drop the subject.

"Yeah.'' Jordan smiled down at the last bit of the smoldering blunt they were sharing between them. "Clean stuff.'' He walked back to his table to turn on his cheap Bluetooth speaker. "Some Kendrick?''

The speaker always had a way of ruining good songs. Emily thought it was all noise and no bass. Jordan would increase the volume in retaliation. Even his mother had lost the case. Today however, she did not mind. Her brain felt dry and the atoms between the bed and her body were barely touching. With effort, Emily thought she could lift her frame off the bed and suspend in the air.

Emily hummed a response and allowed her eyelids to flutter close. A tiny smile was tugging at the end of her lips. She reflected on the day.

Maybe it wasn't that bad. She thought. People die all the time. My brother is dead...

"Eddy's the man.'' She voiced amid strained laughter. Jordan joined her in pointless laughter and unintelligent remarks for the better part of the night.

Through Jordan's windows, Emily could see that the rain had ceased to a light drizzle. A few insects were flying around the neighbors security light. Emily wondered how it was being an insect; being able to flap their little wings around, no brain to process anything complex but the fact that it had rained and they had to come out. She chuckled to herself at the paradox of a silent and peaceful night when hours before, she was almost death's new conquest.

She wondered what it was like to be dead.

At half past midnight, when Kendrick Lamar's voice was rapping something about being alright, Emily left to cry in the secret of her own bedroom.

***

The following day, Emily was woken up at around noon by a call from Mr. Greene. To receive it, she had to thumb her way through her phone's array of notifications that fueled her anger even more. When she finally answered, a low and gruffy voice came from the other side of the line.

"Are you still asleep?'' He asked after the first hello.

"Yeah, no, I'm awake now.''

"Are the muscle pains back?'' Emily noted the the scuffle of papers or whatever background noise he was creating had come to a halt.
 
Emily hummed in response.

"I still got that massage oil...'' The line went quiet for a while after Mr. Greene's offer. Emily groaned out loud. She was not in a headspace to accommodate anyone at the moment.

Emily took a bite on the inside of her left cheek. They were newly healed and plump to her liking. It was an ugly habit she had picked up in highschool as a result of her extreme anxiety. May it get across that the illness was undiagnosed but still, she didn't need someone in a lab coat to tell her something was wrong. That was how self-aware Emily was.

Her room was almost dark except for the stream of light that peered from above her loosely fit curtains. Her forehead, armpits as well as her neck were moist from precipitation. Using her left hand, she ripped off the cluster of Pac Man bandages decorating her forehead.

She felt her sleeping socks on her feet and hated the fact that she went to bed with them in the first place. Overall, she felt sick.

  
"Fuck I stink.'' Emily responded. She hoisted herself from her creaky bed and walked to the window. It was nothing a nice cold shower couldn't fix, but only if she could expunge her interior world off the filth she felt too. She heard faint laughter coming from downstairs.

"Do you really?''

"Hmm.'' She tore a way a larger fleshy piece and started to work down by mincing it with her left upper and lower jaw canines. "Plus my head hurts and,'' Emily paused to peel away the dark blue curtains. Her street looked the same. Same mail boxes, same people with flannels and tote bags, same dog noises... Nothing felt out of place yet she still dreaded being outside the confines of her aunt's house. "I don't really feel like going outside.''

"Yeah?'' Mr. Greene sighed. "Well you don't have to come up with an excuse. Like we agreed, yes or no. No explanation.''

"I know.''

"Good.'' Mr. Greene said, "did I tell you about Peaches?'' Emily smiled a little. She went on to hear about the man's cat for another half hour before she hang up to go brush her teeth and rid her mouth off the foul breath.

Just after, she met Officer Burns making his way to the bathroom.
  

"Oh!'' He exclaimed. "I was just here to check on you.'' His arms raised up in the air then fell down to his sides in a hopeless manner. The large rusty silver watch that clung to his right wrist swung up and down.

Lie. Emily thought to herself.

"How are you doing?'' His mouth twitched in an odd fashion. "Better I see.'' Emily shrugged and stepped aside for him to make his way to the bathroom. He looked pressed and as much as she enjoyed making people uncomfortable, pee-wet underwear was her number two enemy.

Emily wondered if officer Burns was her aunt's frequent visitor when Jordan and her were out of the house and in school.

Then came Tuesday and Wednesday, which she slept just as much as she did on Sunday night, same as Thursday and so did she on Friday.

If it weren't for Jordan and his bothersome nature, Emily would have starved to death inside her room. She wondered how time managed to fly by so fast.
 

Her heartbeat hiked when she realized that the weekend was here and she had to get out of the house whether she liked it or not.

 
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