Chapter Text
Emma opened her door to enter her house after a long day of classes, just like usual. Her boyfriend, Louie, greeted her with excitement whilst he asked her how her day was, just like he always does. “It was okay,” she replied “I’m glad to be back home with you. I missed you.” Louie admits to missing her too, and he reached out for a hug, which Emma gave. Whilst still hugging her, Louie silently wondered if he was enough for her.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, “I’ll get it”, Emma said. When she opened the door, she saw a guy about Louie’s age staring at her with confusion, as if he was at the wrong house.“Can I help you?” Emma asked him, but he just kept staring back at her, Louie was staring to wonder what took his girlfriend so long, so he stood up from the couch to check. Louie seemed to spark something in the guy, because he spoke the second he saw Louie. “Uhmm… are you Emma?” he asked Emma, who told him that she was indeed Emma. “So I have something for you then.” He said as he handed her a carefully folded piece of paper. Immediately after handing her the paper, he left without saying anything. “Strange lad,” Louie said, despite knowing him from high school. He was Louie’s best friend for several years during high school, but left one day without saying a word.
Emma didn’t have the guts to look at the piece of paper, so she carefully laid it in a drawer. She was up all night, curious about who the guy was, what was up with the paper and so much more. It kept her eyes peeled open all night, it was almost like her brain didn’t want her to sleep. Eventually, she fell asleep but not before hours of laying awake next to her boyfriend, who was loudly snoring and probably dreaming about rainbow kittens or winning unlimited pizza for the rest of his life.
The next day, Louie woke up before Emma, and he was as curious as ever about the piece of paper, so he carefully examined it. Once he folded it open, his eyes met the text written on the piece of paper in a neat handwriting. It read: “Emma, meet me in the park, 10 AM sharp, June 25th.” Louie did not recognise the handwriting, but he sure was jealous of how neat and beautiful it was. During his time at middle school, his teachers would squint whenever attempting to read his handwriting, as if squinting would make his handwriting neat enough to read. Eventually, he improved his handwriting and teachers stopped squinting when looking at something he wrote. His handwriting still wasn’t perfect, but it was readable.
Just like her boyfriend, Emma looked at the piece of paper the strange guy delivered to her, however she noticed that it was in the second drawer, not the first drawer where she put it. She concluded that somebody must have inspected it before her. “Louie!!” she yelled to get his attention. Before getting a reply back, she shouted: “I know you looked at the paper!!” Emma did not hear a reply but she did hear the front door shut, typical Louie, always avoiding confrontations.
She carefully folded the note open, not wanting to damage it. She read the text with great caution, not wanting to miss any details. After reading the text several times, she looked at her phone. The date said June 24th, the day before a stranger wanted to meet up with Emma at the park. She eyed her phone again, because it lit up and made a ping sound, meaning she got a notification. It was a text from her friend, Katrina. It said: “hey girl can u come to the park tmrw?! gotta show u smth.” Emma thought it was just a crazy coincidence and turned her phone off. She went to university like usual, but she was late because her bus showed up 15 minutes late without any explanation. As she was waiting for the bus, she started to worry, as there might be something wrong with the bus driver, as he is usually always on time. Emma was acquainted with her bus driver, and they regularly checked up on each other.
Once he did arrive, he apologised and said he was writing a letter and forgot the time.
At university, her professor announced a short essay that was due tomorrow, “great,” Emma mumbled under her breath. “It will be quite a short essay so I believe every one of you will be able to finish it tonight, I want it mailed to me before classes the day after tomorrow.” She had to meet up with mystery person and she was planning on confronting Louie, as he had been acting quite strange the past few days.
Once Emma came home, she didn’t tell her boyfriend how her day was, instead she confronted him. “I know you looked at the piece of paper, don’t try to hide it.” Emma said in her calmest voice to assure that Louie won’t run away like always. “Fine babe you caught me, I was so curious, I won’t look at your stuff ever again, promise.” He said to satisfy his girlfriend. “Gotta go to bed, I have to be up early tomorrow.” Louie said immediately after, and he left without a word.
Around the same time as yesterday, Emma heard a knock on the door, she almost didn’t get up, until she realised something: her bus driver wanted to meet her and he was late this morning because he had been writing her a letter. It still didn’t sit right with her though. Why didn’t the boy just put the letter in the mailbox? Why did the bus driver want to meet her? It made no sense in her head. She stood up to open the door, only to see nobody and no letter. Her mind shot to the conclusion that a little kid was ding-dong ditching, and she went back to watching television.
The night came and went before Emma realised it. She had been binge watching this new show all night long. When her boyfriend came to the living room, he showed a look of concern. “Babe, you’ve seriously been watching telly all night? I know you’re better than this.” He said. Emma didn’t reply verbally but she rolled her eyes to express annoyance. She called in sick to meet the mystery guy.
She arrived at the park at 10 am sharp. She was walking to a bench when an elder woman approached her whilst asking her if she was Emma. “I am, why?” She replied back. The elder woman introduced herself as Alexandra and told Emma that she needed to come with her. Emma obeyed as she wondered why this woman wanted to see Emma so badly. Whilst following the elder woman, Emma got scared by her friend tapping her shoulder. “Told you I would be here,” Katrina said. Emma explained the whole situation and told her to wait and that she’d be back soon. Katrina understood and sat down at a park bench nearby. “Oh dearie, excuse me, my knees peaked in the seventies,” the old woman said, who was walking slowly. Emma told her to take her time.
Once they arrived at the location, Emma saw two heavily armed men. Her face expressed a look of panic before fleeing, but the men started chasing her. “Lady, don’t run away, get in our truck.” One of the men said, Emma didn’t want to obey, but the other man forced her to get in the truck.