“Emma?” Erik paused to see that Emma hadn’t moved, he frowned. Something was wrong. “Emma, are you listening?” he called again and she looked at him and smiled.
“Sorry,” she said. “I thought I heard someone call my name.” yet his expression hadn’t changed. “You wanted to speak to me about something?”
“Right, it’s about this morning.” he paused and looked at her. “Did you eat?”
She made a face at him that was less than amused. For the love of… “That’s it?”
He folded his arms across his chest and gave her a stern stare. “It is.”
“Erik,” she folded her arms across her chest in turn. “I told you time and time again; you don’t have to worry about my eating habits. I’ve gotten much better since middle school. You don’t have to baby me all the time.”
“I know but…” he moved closer and rested his hand along her face as he looked down at her. “I worry for you Emma; you have to understand that.”
“And I do…”
Erik Hildebrand had become her legal guardian when she was a child. He always acted like a protective older sibling even before then. But with her eating habits, it was no wonder he worried. For a long time, she struggled to eat, not because she didn’t want to eat, but because certain foods just made her ill and would often cause her to faint due to lack of nutrition.
Even the doctors weren’t exactly sure what was wrong with her for there weren’t apparent allergies or intolerances to any kind. It was like the food just didn’t agree with her body, as if it were wrong for her to eat it.
Yet the older she got, the less and less it happened to the point she was at now where she could eat almost anything without issues.
She gasped his hand with hers. “Honestly Erik, you don’t have to go this far anymore. You have enough on your plate, you and Noah both.” she smiled at him. “I can take care of myself, but I know I can rely on you if I need to.”
He smiled in turn and hugged her in response. “You know I always will be Emma.”
She smiled hugging him back. “Same to you, brother.”
From the second floor’s window, another student with curly blond hair with a braid across the top of her head, her light brown eyes watched on in anger. “Why?” she said gritting her teeth. “Why does he always treat her differently?”
“Want us to do something to her?” one of the girls in the group asked with a coy smile. “We can if you want Miss. Chardonnay.”
“You do that and Adam will hate you.” the three girls turned with angry stares to see Natalie looking at them with a calm stare directed toward the blonde. “You’re aware Erik’s married, right? To a man. Besides; you have your precious Adam, don’t you? You should leave it at that Clarice.”
Clarice Chardonnay, a girl one year younger than Natalie and part of the student council, narrowed her gaze on the girl who stood staring at her with a type of confidence that would surprise the others since Natalie always seemed to have such a relaxed attitude in life. “Then if you know that why haven’t you said anything?”
She leaned near the windows and folded her arms across her chest. “Because I know better, that’s why. You want to know why those two are so close?” she looked out the window where Erik and Emma as they talked unaware that they were being watched, she gripped her wrist where her sweatband lay. “They’ve known each other for a very long time. They’ve both dealt with the same circumstances.”
“What do you mean?” Clarice demanded as she looked on with a frown.
Natalie laughed haughtily in a low breath. “As if any of you could understand even if I told you. I think you have more important matters to deal with. Megumi from the Student Council is looking for you including Adam, it’s probably best to go before a certain someone gets their claws in him.”
“What?” she grits her teeth only to turn around and leave quickly with her two lackeys in tow. “Next time we meet you’d better explain yourself!” and dashed off while Natalie held a half-smirk that soon vanished as she looked back at the two and began to recall something that very few people knew of.
The place that Emma and Erik grew up in for many years of her childhood.
* * *
Erik always looked out for Emma, since neither one had parents. Either abandoned or taken from this world by some tragedy or another and dumped at the orphanage. Erik was like many children without those to call mother and father. Yet he never seemed to care about such things. He looked out for many of the children in the orphanage but was always especially fond of Emma, acting like an older brother.
He was six years older than her and was always protective of her, as though he needed to keep her safe from something sinister. Natalie could only guess some of the reasons behind it, but much was shrouded in mystery. When she first saw Emma and Erik, they were standing in a field of wildflowers near the orphanage they called home.
Erik wore a white button-up shirt and tanned slacks as he led a young Emma by the hand who was wearing a simple cotton white dress that made her red hair stand out even more, swinging their arms gingerly as she talked about a world in her dreams and a woman that kept visiting her at night. The look of concern on his face, when she had, was clear for all to see.
Yet there was another thing that Natalie would find surprising, for whatever reason, neither child, Erik or Emma, would ever get adopted, even though many families had been interested, but nothing ever came of it. It was strange.
Natalie’s mother always came to support the orphanage as a volunteer cook and would often bring Natalie with her to play with the other children. During these constant visits, Natalie befriended Emma. Yet for some reason unknown to Natalie, right after Erik turned seventeen, he took Emma and left the orphanage without another word to anyone. With not even so much as a goodbye to those who had taken care of him. It was rather unheard of for him to act that way.
Then one day she saw them. Emma and Erik walking down the street of the shopping district of the city before heading into a nearby apartment building. That night Natalie had snuck away from her home to the apartment building to see her friend. It had been raining hard, but it was something Natalie was determined to do as she wore her poncho for the rain and rain boots.
When she reached the building where she had last seen them, however, she saw Erik.
He was standing there in the rain as if he was waiting for her as if he had known that she would come that evening. He greeted her with a sad smile even when he was soaked to the bone, but instead of inviting her inside he took her hand and began to walk her back home.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Natalie asked about Emma, and Erik responded that Emma was fine and that she would be attending the same school as Natalie soon so she didn’t have to worry anymore. However, when Natalie asked him why he suddenly left the orphanage with Emma his expression changed as he stopped walking.
The rain had drowned out any noise from nearby cars or people, even still Natalie looked up at Erik and saw how his body seemed to shake, not from the cold of the rain but from anger.
His stance had become rigid as his deep blue eyes darkened as if he was thinking of someone in particular that he hated to the core. She had never seen such calm anger from him before, Erik always had this boyish smile and seeing him like this was almost scary.
“There’s a shadow in that place, a dark and evil shadow,” Erik told her finally as they began to walk once more. “I’m doing all I can to make sure that shadow never gets a hold of her. That place isn’t safe for her, not anymore.” He stopped again when they reached her house and went down on his knees and grasped her small shoulders, his eyes looking at her almost pleadingly. “Please Natalie, no matter what happens you need to trust me and be there for Emma. Because you are one of the true friends that she will ever have in this world.”
She couldn’t answer, even as he hugged her tightly. It was like he was begging from the depths of his heart.
And like he had promised, Emma had indeed started going to the same school as Natalie. Though Emma didn’t seem all too aware of this fact, probably because Erik didn’t want her to know, even back at that age Natalie knew that something at the orphanage was the cause but because she had Emma back, and she was happy Natalie never perused it.
* * *
“I should head to class now,” Emma said to Erik when he finally let go of her. “Thank you for always worrying about me. But you have your job as a teacher to think of too. If Noah heard you were slacking, you wouldn’t hear the end of it.”
“I know,” He rested his forehead against hers. “But I’ve made a promise to do what I can to keep you safe. As long as you are in this world I will always be by your side.”
She smiled at him when he moved away the two waved goodbye but not before Erik told her to eat to which she responded. “I will!”
“Don’t forget to study either; I’ll see you after school.” He said with a wave of his hand before heading off on his own.
Emma remained where she was with a smile before hitting herself in the face with both hands to rid herself of that feeling to get herself back together before heading to class. “All right,” she said to herself before heading off to class.
As Emma ran off to her first class within the shadows of the school a cloaked observer watched her from the shadows before vanishing back into the darkness unseen by those around the school grounds.
* * *
During lunch, Emma sat along the roof, barefoot and cross-legged as she stared up at the blue sky, those words from before echoed in her mind but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why. She felt like she knew what those words meant or that she heard of them before.
Her gaze went to the ring that she wore on her right ring finger. Rose Guard, why do I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before… maybe when I was a kid?
She lay down on her side, her gaze locked on her ring as she let out a breath before pressing it to her lips.
“You look to be in deep thought.” a girl’s voice came from the roof’s door access. Emma craned her head to look to the door and saw a girl her age with long strawberry-blonde hair that looked almost pale pink in a certain light that brought a complementary look to her blue-green eyes. She came over and crouched down to her level. “Something on your mind Emma?”
“Hello Lacus,” Emma said with a slight smile to her. “I guess you could say that.”
The girl sat down where she was. “Want to talk about it?”
Emma looked back to the sky. “Not much to talk about.” She looked back at the girl. “I’m surprised you’re here today; did something happen at the recording studio?”
“Something came up and it’s on hold for rescheduling.” She said with a dismissive hand gesture. “It figures too, after all that hard work into getting it ready they cancel at the last minute. It’s so annoying.”
“But that’s normal, isn’t it?” Emma asked. “You are in the music business after all.”
Lacus smiled. “It is, but I can still complain about it.”
The girl was Lacus Rosary, an idol that was known throughout the world under the stage name Amaranth Rosen, even in Emma’s class everyone would go nuts over Lacus’s songs. Natalie wasn’t in the same homeroom class as Emma but Natalie always joked about how hectic things are when Lacus attends class.
Though Lacus was very down to earth, so many were understanding when she wanted to be left alone. Much of which she had always asked for during lunch so she could practice on the roof during this time.
“Want me to leave so you can practice?”
Lacus smiled a bit. “You can stay, you look tired actually.” She eyed Emma. “Have you been having trouble sleeping?”
“No not really,” Emma said as she stared at the sky. “But I have been having strange dreams recently.”
“What’s it about?”
“You’ll get bored if I tell you,” Emma warned.
Lacus shrugged. “But that’s what it’s like with all dreams that are strange when someone tries to explain them to someone else.”
“Yeah, but this is different from normal strange.” She said as she rested her arms over her eyes. “It felt… real. Familiar.”
“All right start explaining.” Emma tilted her head to Lacus, lifting her arm to see the girl lying on her side across from her. “Well? Come on, start talking.”
“Okay then,” she said before returning her gaze to look at the clouds. “In the dream I get the most, I’m in this dark forest. The trees are white like birch trees but they’re so tall and big that they cover the light from the sun and I’m wandering through this place before I reach an opening of sunlight. Going through I’m suddenly surrounded by white walls of stone that seem to go on forever and what looks to be some tower beyond it. It’s so tall I can’t even see the top. Then from above, red flower petals fall as if raining from the sky. I don’t know why but; seeing those petals fall made me feel sad and… lonely. Then the ground beneath my feet, many vines with thorns erupt from underneath, they wrap around my ankles and then I’m sucked into the ground with these thorns grasping at my body as I’m pulled into darkness and then I wake up…”
“Wow, that’s interesting and a bit scary. No wonder you’re having trouble sleeping. Any idea what it could mean?”
“That’s just it, I keep thinking about it over and over but nothing comes to mind.”
“But you said it felt familiar, have you ever been in a forest or this supposed tower might be from?”
Emma thought about it for a moment. “Well, where I used to live there was a forest nearby, but the trees weren’t the size of giants and there wasn’t any kind of place that had walls of stone. Or a tower.”
Lacus looked at her with a questioning gaze. “Where did you live before?”
Emma looked at her with slight realization. “Oh, right. I guess not many people know about it. Then again, it never comes up often.”
She frowned. “And what would that be?”
“That I’m an orphan,” Emma said as she sat up.
“What?” Lacus followed suit with a look of shock on her face. “Oh, Emma I’m so sorry, how old were you when your parents died?”
“From the beginning, I suppose,” Emma admitted as she rested her arms on top of her knees. “I never had parents, only the church where I grew up for a time and the people who took care of us. Though I guess if I were to call any one of them my family it’d be Erik.”
She tilted her head slightly. “You mean the teacher?”
“Yup, one day he just packed up and left taking me with him and adopting me as his sister. Erik doesn’t talk about it much about what caused him to leave, something… happened with Father Jankins. But I can’t remember.” She shook her head trying to get rid of that thought. “Erik always looked out for me, so in a way, I have always seen him as my family.”
Emma would have said more but felt arms wrap around her shoulders as Lacus hugged her. “It must have been hard.”
“It’s not that bad,” Emma told her with a slight smile. “Sure, I never grew up with parents but that doesn’t change who I am or who you are. Besides, I have this.” She held up her hand where the ring lay on the ring finger of her right hand. “This was something I had when I arrived there, I think it might be from my parents, at least that’s what I was told.”
“By who?” Lacus asked as she stared at the ring.
“I’m not sure, I never knew her name,” she said while looking at the ring with a wistful smile. “But she’d always come to visit me while I lived in the orphanage. She’d tell me this story about a Princess, but it always had a sad ending...”
“Really?” Just then the bell rang. “Looks like we have to go back to class,” Lacus said with an annoyed tone as she moved away. “Drat, and here I was hoping to hear more.”
Emma laughed. “Maybe next time you could tell me your weird dream.”
The two girls got up and left the school roof, though as Emma followed her vision suddenly became blurry causing her to stop and grasp the door, she shook her head to remove the dizzying feeling. First her strange dreams and now this.
Which was strange, she had been eating fine. She shouldn’t feel dizzy.
“You going to be okay?” Lacus called out from partway down the stairs.
“I’m all right.” She said continuing and passing her. “When your rehearsal starts up again, I wish you all the best Lacus.”
She smiled. But it seemed almost sad. “Thanks, good luck with fencing practice too.”
“Will do.” but as she headed down the stairs her smile faded. Her gaze fell to the ring on her finger. Then shook her head, trying to remove whatever feelings clouded her mind. Unaware that something big was about to change her life.