Bright - Chapter Five - The Fight

Emma loses a Friend.

Chapter Five - The Fight

 

Danny watched Emma and Ryan fade away into the maze as Kiera walked up behind him. He could hear the two other guys off in the distance, yelling and jumping out, trying to scare each other.

 

“I’m cold.” Kiera pouted.

 

Danny looked down at her. She had brought this upon herself, and she had probably known what she was doing when she did it. Danny slipped off his red plaid shirt and opened it for her to slip her arms into. She smiled and didn’t hesitate. She flicked her red curly hair over her shoulders and bunched up the top of the shirt at the collar under her chin.

 

Danny stood there a while, hands in his pockets, not saying a word. He was hoping he could just wait out the rest of the evening, without having to partake in the activities. He hadn’t felt very good during the car ride. And he hadn’t exactly enjoyed watching Emma walk into the darkness of the cornfield with a guy’s arm wrapped around her. He had also wondered how ‘far’ Emma and Ryan had ‘evolved’ in their relationship. But he pushed that thought aside, feeling nauseas again.

 

Kiera grabbed his bare arm with her small hand and tried to lead Danny into the maze with a smile. Danny resisted a bit, but she pulled harder and he followed. When they entered the maze, Kiera pulled him over to the right. They walked slowly and they had still been pretty silent when Kiera finally said “Are you gay?”

 

Danny’s head whipped to the side and he looked at her with wide eyes.

 

“What?”

 

“I’m just trying to figure you out. I only ever see you hanging out with girls, but you never date them. You don’t play sports. You don’t really talk much, and you just look like a guy with a secret.”

 

“Well, I do hang out with guys. Owen. He’s a guy... And no. I’m not gay.”

 

“Okay.” She said quickly and reached up, planting her lips on his.

 

Danny froze, not sure what to do about the situation. He thought for a split second to push her away, but he changed his mind. Her lips were soft and warm and tasted like synthetic cherry. It felt nice, so he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him.

 

 

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Emma was lying on her back. It wasn’t the most romantic setting, but she had gotten used to Ryan trying to suck her face off anytime that they had a moment alone together. He wasn’t the best kisser, but he was definitely passionate. She giggled as he moved his lips down, caressing her neck. She knew that there was a slim chance of someone finding them. The maze was big, and very well constructed. She and Ryan had walked into a few circles before finding a dead end, which was when he smiled at her and quickly pulled her down to the ground playfully.

 

His hands were moving their way down her body, and he tried, as usual to cup her breasts, but she lightly moved his hand away. She wanted to take her time. She also took pride in the fact that she was one of the only virgins in her school. The next town over was known as the teen pregnancy capital. She wasn’t religious, and she didn’t judge other girls who were no longer virgins, she just didn’t like the idea of giving everything away at random. She had big plans for how it would happen. But she needed to be properly courted first.

 

Ryan was being persistent this time, he kept trying and Emma was becoming a little annoyed that he wasn’t respecting her decision.

 

“Ryan…” She whispered. He didn’t seem to care, he kept trying.

 

“Ryan stop.” She whispered, pushing him back a little.

 

“What?” He looked at her confused and out of breath.

 

Emma gave him a wicked look and quickly pushed him off of her. She got up and started walking toward the direction that they had entered.

 

“Emma.” Ryan stood up quickly.

 

“Emma I’m sorry.” He ran up to her and grabbed her, stopping her from leaving. Emma stopped, arms crossed and looked down as he turned her to face him. He searched her face for a sign of empathy.

 

“I’m a pig. I’m sorry, okay?” He said sincerely. Emma could tell from his voice that he meant it. She had witnessed the power that male hormones had, a few times. She looked up at him with forgiving eyes.

 

“Okay.” She smiled, and he smiled back.

 

Just as Ryan wrapped her up in his large, warm embrace, they both heard a loud scream.

 

“What was that?” Emma said. She and Ryan had heard Mike and Tim yelling and scaring each other for the last half hour, but this sounded different. This sounded like someone was very badly hurt.

 

Ryan grabbed Emma’s hand tightly and led her down the path. Emma stopped him. She heard the screams coming from the right, deeper inside the maze, and she didn’t want to wait too long to find out who had gotten hurt. She walked into the corn stalks, rushing, following the direction of the screams.

 

“Emma?” Ryan said, watching her walk into the wall of corn. He quickly joined her.

 

“HELP! SOMEONE!” Tim screamed, with great terror in his voice. Emma and Ryan both recognized it. They pushed the corn stalks away from their faces and ran faster.

 

They finally reached a dark opening and Emma saw someone with a flashlight over to her left. She and Ryan ran up, and saw when they approached, Tim was cradling Mike’s unconscious head in his lap. Emma slowed down when she saw Mike’s left arm. It was ripped open, right through the sweater and right to the bone. Emma covered her mouth.

 

“Oh my god!” Emma said.

 

Tim’s eyes looked wild.

 

“Dude what the hell happened!” Ryan yelled.

 

“I don’t know dude!” Tim’s voice was shaking, his hands were shaking too. He was covered in blood, but he was doing a pretty good job of trying to take care of the situation.

 

Emma knelt down next to him, when Danny and Kiera came running over.

 

“Oh my god!” Kiera turned and buried her head in Danny’s chest. He held her, looking down at the situation.

 

“What happened?” Danny whispered.

 

“Is he alive?” Emma asked.

 

“I don’t know, I think so. He’s breathing. I just… I… I heard him scream, and when I found him he was… he was just laying here.” Tim said.

 

“We need something to stop the bleeding. I need a belt. And a shirt… or something.” Emma instructed. Danny quickly grabbed his plaid shirt off of Kiera’s back and removed his belt, handing them to Emma. Emma was pretty good in a crisis. She hadn’t seen many wounded, bloody people before, but her mom was a nurse and she learned a lot from her when dealing with emergencies.

 

Emma tightened Danny’s belt on Mike’s arm, just above his elbow, trying not to look too closely at the wound. It was the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. The stark white of his bone stood out so much in the darkness of him.

 

“Someone should go and get help.” Emma said, squinting her eyes as she placed the shirt over the wound. She was afraid that any touch could cause Mike severe pain. But he didn’t rouse.

 

“I’ll go.” Ryan said and took off in the direction of the glowing smoke of the fire pit.

 

Emma took a breath.

 

“Should we move him?” She looked at Tim and Danny when she asked. The two boys looked at each other, uncertain.

 

“Well yeah, maybe… if whatever did this is still out here somewhere.” Tim’s voice was starting to calm down. He began to feel relief that his friend was in fact alive and that now he wasn’t alone to deal with the situation.

 

Danny didn’t answer, he just knelt down to where Emma was sitting and grabbed onto both of Mike’s ankles. Tim responded by lightly placing Mike’s head down on the ground and readying himself by grabbing Mike from under his shoulders.

 

“One, Two, THREE.” They both said in unison and lifted. They were both strong, but Mike was a strong, black athlete, so it wasn’t an easy task.

 

Kiera was of no help. She remained quiet, cupping her hands around the side of her face as she followed the group. Emma grabbed Tim’s cellphone that was lighting up the damp grass and proceeded to lead them out of the maze.

 

 

#   #   #

 

 

“You guys did a great job.” The female paramedic said.

 

They were all exhausted and happy to see Mike on a stretcher in the ambulance. The paramedic was cleaning up bits of bloody gauze and removing her blue gloves.

 

“Is he going to be okay?” Emma asked. Ryan had his arms wrapped around her, consoling her. Tim was sitting next to Mike in the back of the ambulance, holding his best friend’s hand.

 

“Well, it looks like there was some severe tissue damage, and he will most likely need a skin graft. But other than that, he should be fine. He’s lost quite a bit of blood, which is most likely why he was unconscious when you found him.” She said.

 

“F**k.” Ryan whispered. And Emma knew why. Mike was a star athlete. Hockey scouts had been approaching him since he was thirteen. He was a left-handed player and his nick name was “the Hammer”. Because of his iconic slapshot. From what the paramedic had just told them, Mike’s chance at playing in the NHL was most likely gone for good.

 

The paramedic was asking Ryan if he had Mike’s parent’s contact information, when Emma heard Kiera laugh in the distance. She looked over at the two figures standing by the fire pit. Danny had his arms wrapped around Kiera and Kiera’s arms were wrapped around his neck. Danny was smiling down at her and kissing her. What the hell? Emma thought.

 

 

#   #   #

 

 

The ride home was pretty quiet. Tim had gone with Mike in the ambulance, Keira had fallen asleep in the backseat, and Ryan was busy in his head, worrying about his friend. Danny watched out the window, while Emma scowled at Danny’s oblivious face in the rear-view mirror. She couldn’t believe the events of the evening.

 

The ceiling light turned on when Danny opened his door. They were in Emma’s driveway, Ryan intended to drop both of them off, then drive Kiera home, and quickly meet Mike’s mom at the hospital. Emma was furious with Danny. She went to open her own door, when Ryan stopped her, grabbing her arm and motioning for a kiss good-bye. Emma looked at him, unsure of what he wanted at first. She tried to swallow her anger and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ryan told her that he would send her a Facebook message when he got home, updating her on Mike’s situation.

 

Emma hopped out of the car, and Danny stood, waiting to talk to her.

 

Emma didn’t look at Danny, she simply turned, starting toward her front door. Ryan backed out of the driveway.

 

“Well that was an awkward kiss… yeesh, trouble in paradise?” 

 

Emma continued walking away from him, not saying a word.

 

“Em?” Danny asked, trying to keep up to her. She wasn’t slowing down, so he lightly grabbed her arm, realizing that she was upset.

 

“Don’t touch me!” She barked at him and continued walking to her front door.

 

“Whoa! What did I do?” Danny froze, and backed up as he said this. He was completely shocked by her response.

 

“You’re an a*****e!” She turned quickly to face him.

 

“What? How am I an a*****e?” 

 

“Mike got attacked and you didn’t even care. We were all really worried and you and Keira thought it would be appropriate to go off and make-out!”

 

“I did care. I gave him my shirt AND my belt. But then the ambulance got there, what was I supposed to do? He’s not MY friend.”

 

“Wow… you are so selfish.” She said to him with pure distaste.

 

“Selfish?... Look, I know that you’ve been hanging around those guys a lot, so your judgment is getting a little cloudy, but THEY are the a******s Em. Not me.”

 

Emma couldn’t believe his arrogance.

 

“Really? So, what about Kiera? I thought you couldn’t stand her? And now you’re kissing her?”

 

“Sure, why not. It seemed like a fun idea at the time.”

 

“Do you even hear yourself?”

 

“Hey! At least I’m being honest about what I’m doing.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

Danny tilted his head at Emma in disbelief. She couldn’t be this un-self aware he thought.

 

“Come on, Em… You only started dating Ryan because he’s the captain of the hockey team, and he’s popular and being with him makes you look good.”

 

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Emma’s eyes widened.

 

“You know it’s true. You don’t have anything in common with the guy.”

 

“Yeah, you know what? You’re right! Ryan and I are not nearly as compatible as you and Keira. And hey! If she wants to know what her future looks like with a selfish a*****e, you can just introduce her to Daddy.”

 

Emma knew, once the words had escaped her mouth, that she had hit Danny where it really hurt. Danny’s eyes looked glossy and his nostrils flared. He didn’t say anything. He stared into her eyes with such rage. Emma’s face began to feel warm, but she continued to stand her ground, staring right back at him.

 

Danny inched slightly closer to her and said with a heartbreaking softness; “F**k you.” And walked home.

 

Emma walked into her house and felt suddenly weak. She collapsed on the inside of the door, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

 

 

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Author's Note

This is just the "Bones" of what this chapter will be, I just wanted thoughts/opinions on the events and emotions. But anything anyone has to offer is welcome! Thank you :D

Reviews

[emipoemi]

You say "bones" and "skeleton" of chapters, but I'm reading near perfection (there's muscle and nerves running through this too!). You have no spelling/grammar errors this time, and it all flows stupendously! I'm still not digging the Emma = third person when it's her POV, and this chapter does go to her POV a couple of times then switches to Danny's. Like I said, it's a nice touch to have two types of narration, but keep it simply Emma = first; Danny = third, OR both = first; both = third. Because to be honest, readers would be thrown off guard a bit to read that Emma also has a third person narration. What you can do, is when you have a break in the narrative - to keep some very cool imagery and narration - if and when you switch POVs, switch the narration accordingly. That's allowed. Play with it, see what magic you come up with. Well done! getting good....and very interesting!

[J.L.Q.]

Yes, I think I have decided to go with 3rd person for all. You're right. And with 3rd person for all, I am able to give a wider explanation of what multiple characters are feeling/thinking, without it always being inside Emma's head. :)

[J.L.Q.]

And thank you! I feel like it is definitely getting easier as I go. And all of the things you have mentioned in earlier comments have definitely stuck in my brain so thank you so much!

[emipoemi]

You're so welcome :) Just doing my part....

[emipoemi]

(I'm telling you, this story wanted you to write it, and due to your excitement and passion for it, of course it's getting easier. You're allowing the Muse to guide you. Keep at it!)