Chapter 8
‘Emma’s Story’
Well, as a result of our encounter with the President of Independence city I was feeling mixed emotions. I wasn’t sure how I should feel.
I was a very disappointed at the lack or respect that the President showed towards us. And that his bad tempered attitude reminded me of what caused my home to become…well, I’ll get to that later.
But I was shocked when Jack said those things about me. For a short moment, he made me feel like a leader again.
When he said that I would do whatever it takes to get my friends home, I realized he was right. I felt proud of what I had done for my friends and almost forgot all about what had happened to Anastasia and Nadallia.
But as for the President, I agreed with Jack. I didn’t like him one bit and he’s not worthy enough to lead a holiday world with an attitude like that.
There was something about him that gave me the creeps!
…
Anyway, getting back to the pumpkin subway train.
It was night-time now, and me and Jack went to see if we could get to the train with Mr Maxi
But Mr Maxi wouldn’t let us go into the danger zone. He lives in the abandoned subway and he knows how dangerous the danger zone really is.
“The train and the platform is both in terrible mis-repair. And they is both just like your door in the tree that you tells me about. They both is giving out black smoky smoke.” Mr Maxi explained.
“The I bet that it’s that spirit again.” Said Jack. “It’s trying to stop us from getting back to Halloween Town.”
“Urgh!!!” I moaned and grumped. “I’m so sick of that thing getting in the way!” I complained. “What doest it want with us anyway? Why’s it trying to stop us from getting back to Halloween Town?”
“Oh, I do hope Halloween Town is alright.” Said Jack. “I’d hate to think that the spirit has done anymore damage to my home or my people, and most of all my dear Sally.”
“Well, I think we should find this spirit right now!” I said. “Ooh…I’m gonna make it pay for all that it’s done to me and my friends. And of course you, Jack.”
“Well, you is not going anywhere right now, young lady.” Said Mr Maxi. “It is past you bed time.” Mr Maxi yawned. “Yahhh, And past mine as well. Follow me, I is going to take you to back to your friends now. You would get lost on your own, would you not?”
I took hold of Mr Maxi’s hand as I walked with him and Jack. “You know something, I actually don’t think I would.” I began. “You see, this city is just like my own. The buildings are shaped a little differently, but I came from a city too. The city of New York.”
I began to have a conversation with Jack and Mr Maxi all the way to the Independence Convention Centre. Katie had booked some stay rooms for us all. It’s the same place where Devie and Dashy have been staying the nights ever since they came to this city.
Mr Maxi was allowed in, but only to take us to our rooms and to say good night to Devashree and Dasharath.
At least they could sleep. I couldn’t
Our room was huge. Well, it wasn’t a room, it was a suite.
There was a giant living room with a giant window at the front that replaced the wall. And there were four bedrooms. Two had two beds each and two had one bed each.
Room one where lain Benjamin cuddled up with his Benny Bear and Sarmoo the peaceful sleeper.
Room two was Devashree and Dasharath.
Room four was Jack.
And room three was supposed to be me. But I got up and out of my bed and into the living room. And I’ll tell you why.
You know that giant window I mentioned that replaced the wall?
Well, through that…you could see the entire city…
Independence City at night looks like a neon paradise. The lights of every lit up window. The signs in the main busy cross roads were just like the theatre district in New York.
The city was shining like a neon candle glowing in the night.
It was so beautiful…
It made me cry with sorrow.
Though I do not bear any tears, I certainly sound like I’m crying.
I gazed out at this beautiful city and I grasped the broken charm of me necklace in my hand.
“Emma?”
A quiet voice called me name from behind me.
“Hey, Jack.” I replied as I sighed.
“Emma, what’s wrong? Why are you up at this time?” Jack asked as he came beside me. “And why are you crying?”
“Look at it Jack.” I said. “Isn’t it beautiful? I reminds me of how my home used to be.”
“Used to be? You mean ‘New York’?”
I nodded.
Jack pulled up a chair from a few meters behind me.
“Here.” He said as he placed the chair behind me. “You must be exhausted. Why don’t you sit down and save you energy?”
I did as Jack suggested and sat down.
Jack sat down next to me.
I continued to gaze out at the sight of the city at night.
I sighed.
“Have you ever heard of ‘war’, Jack?” I said.
“I have. But luckily, my world has never had to fight in one.”
Jack could guess what I was about to say next.
“Mine has.” I said. “It was a world war.”
“A ‘world war’? What’s the difference between a war and a world war?”
“A world war is when almost every country in the world is fighting against each other.”
Jack looked concerned. I guess these holiday worlds had always been at piece.
I continued.
“Our world is a lot bigger that Halloween Town, Jack. A lot bigger. You could probably fit millions of towns into the size of Earth, and that’s no exaggeration.” I continued. “Earth is divided into hundreds countries and if some groups of those countries don’t get on or disagree or betray each other, it could start a war. But mind you, Earth is anything be peaceful anyway.”
There was a long pause…
Jack then spoke.
“Did this World War destroy your New York, Emma?” He questioned.
I sighed.
“I guess I would have to tell you sooner of later.”
I made me choice. I was going to tell Jack my story.
…
“New York was city, just like this one. Only this city is a world of its own. New York was a small part of something much bigger, but still, it was a major city. And famous all over the world.
I guess my story begins when I was born.
I was born in the 16th of April, 2152. My dad didn’t really have much to do with me, but my mother loved me to pieces.
My mom was cool. She had style, as if she was still young.
She never let her work get in the way of me. She played with me and my friends as if she was a kid like me. And she never dressed like a mommy-mommy’s little girl. She had her hair in lost of little plats and she had these cool colourful clothes.
There was only one little thing wrong with her. She never called me Emma. She always called me Emily, which is my full name.
I always liked to be called Emma. But only my mom called me Emily.
But she was cool all the same. It’s a shame I can’t really remember her face very much.
You see, when I was only five, something happened.
I was home with my dad. (Well, he never paid much attention to me anyway). And I was waiting for my mom to come home from work.
She was gonna be a little late ‘cause my birthday was coming up and she was gonna buy me a present on her way home from work.
So, I waited.
And waited…
And a few hours after she should have come home, there was a knock at the door.
My dad answered it, thinking it must be my mom.
But it wasn’t.
It was the police.
There’d been an accident…
And it was fatal to the driver…
And my mom was the driver.
The police came to chat with me about what my mom had recently bought.
It was a necklace that they had found. But had been broken in the car crash.
The letters on the necklace were E and M. Em. The other M and A must have broken off and got lost ‘cause the crime investigators never found the other pieces.”
I took of my necklace and gave it to Jack to admire.
E and M and the rest was broken.
“It’s amazing that Sandy Claws was able to find this.” Said Jack.
“More amazing then you might think. Because I’ve been told that it’s almost impossible to take an object from one world into another.” I explained.
Jack smiled at me.
“At least you know your mother’s alright.” He assured me. “At least you know that there is such thing as an after life.”
I smiled slightly. But there was something far worse in my story to come.
“Well, my mom’s death isn’t the end.”
I continued.
“I was left in my dad’s care, and he didn’t care for me one little bit.
In fact, when I was seven, he dropped me off in the care home and never came back.
But it really didn’t matter to me that much. I hated him anyway.
And the care home was the best thing that ever happened to me, because that’s where I met Alex.”
“Ah, he’s the child who looks like you. He’s part machine, is what I mean” Said Jack.
“That’s right. But back on Earth, we were both normal. We weren’t made of titanium, aluminium and stainless steel. We had skin like the others children.
Alex had a similar life to mine.
His mom died young. His dad was away in another part of America on business.
But he’d been in the care home two years before me. And he used to live on the same block as me. And he liked the same music as me. But there was one thing that made him cooler, he could dance.
Alex had been going to street dancing lessons since he was nearly five and since he got money from his dad in Miami he kept going to his street dancing lessons.
I would have given anything to join Alex in his dancing lessons. But I didn’t have the money and my only living relative who did was my granddad and he had dementia and he was in a home under constant observation.
But it didn’t matter, really. Because after Alex found out that I wanted to learn how to street dance he said that he would teach me.
I was thrilled. You must know yourself by your own experience how enjoying dancing is. Right Jack?”
“Of course, is sets you free.” Said Jack. “It makes me feel as if I’m alive. I can imagine that dancing with your friend must have been the best memories you ever had.”
“Yeah. Alex taught me how to be agile. By the time I was thirteen, I could run the roof tops like a stone skimming the water. I had other friends besides Alex, but Alex was by far my best friend.
And Sunday to Thursday, when we were up for school and Miss Phyllis made us go to bed early, I would climb out of my window and up onto the roof. And so would Alex. And we’d go jumping roof tops!
And at school, the only fun part of it was at recess.
Me, Alex and the other kids would have a dancing competition and whoever won that day would be the judge of the next day.
I’ll always remember those times. Alex and I were so happy.
But by the time we both turned fifteen, America was having small conflicts with Russia.
It was all over the news and everytime we got home from school, every boy and girl at the home would sit in the main living room in front of the TV and watch the news.
Day by day, everyone in whole of North and Central America watched, waited and worried as the news grew even worse.
Until one Friday evening, after a long day at school, the President of the U.S.A was on the news. Talking from the Whitehouse in Washington.
What he announced to whole of the United States was something we had been dreading, but now, we had to be brave…
…Our country was at war.”
Jack looked as worried as I looked when I heard the announcement on the news.
“And guess which city was the first to be bombed?…” I continued. “Before we even got a chance to send off our refugees, New York was under attack by an air strike.
I remember looking out of my window in my room. Shocked and haunted at the horror I was witnessing.
And then, Alex suddenly came running into my room after me.
‘Emma!’ He cried as he pulled me away from the window. ‘What are you doin’ in here? Come on!’
He pulled me by the hand and rushed me out of the room.
I found myself running in the corridor along with the other kids and teens who lived in the home.
We raced down the stairs and through the living room and to the back door.
Alex unlocked it and held it open for us all to run out and stamped towards the bunker.
I ran ahead and unlocked the bunker door and counted heads as they went inside.
We were three short. Myself, Alex and Miss Phyllis.
I partially closed the bunker door while I ran for the home.
I called to Alex and told him that our carer was still missing.
We ran upstairs, hoping she was still in her room. But when she wasn’t there, we had very little time left.
And as I went past the landing window, I saw something that shocked me and terrified me.
The last time I looked out of the window of the house I saw the great Empire State Building still standing tall. This time, I watched it fall to pieces as comets of fire plummeted to the ground and burning ash confetti floating down after.
I couldn’t bear it any more.
‘Emma!!!’ Alex cried and once again distracted me from my haunted mesmerisation.
I then began to hear the same thing Alex heard.
‘We’ve gotta go! NOW!’ He yelled.
He pulled me by the hand once again and ran.
I could hear this noise getting louder. It was like a siren or a zooming plane.
It was a bomb plummeting straight for our block.
We raced downstairs without Miss Phyllis and out of the door…
But it was too close…
We weren’t going to make it.
For the safety of everyone else, the people at the bunker door had to slam and seal the door closed before the bomb landed.
If they had waited just a few more seconds with the open door…the air strike would have killed everyone in the bunker. And us as well.
There was no chance of us escaping. And we didn’t. The bomb landed about two blocks away and…and when it blew up…it took us with it.”
Well, I knew I would have to tell Jack sooner or later. And now my story’s been told.
“Have you ever seen the light of a bomb as it’s about to explode in your face, Jack?” I said.
“Of course I haven’t. But I can imagine it must be awful.” Said Jack.
“Well, the light was all I saw. Everything just disappeared after that. And when I saw light again, I was in this mysterious place. I could here a voice in my head, I don’t know who it was or if they were a man or lady, but they explained everything about what had happened to me and that I wasn’t supposed to die. They also told me other things but after the accident I forgot and none of us seem to remember. I waited for the other nine children and after that, we were supposed to go home. But Nadallia changed and she did something that caused us to be scattered.”
I explained and ended.
“Well, the spirit forced her to.” I added.
Jack still looked like my story haunted him.
“Oh, Emma.” He began. “I never guessed that you’re story would be so tragical. But then again, I suppose all of your stories I’ve heard so far have been anything but a happy ending.”
“But there will be a happy ending, Jack.” I said. “I will find my way home and my friends too. And don’t forget what happens when we go home. Everything that wasn’t supposed to happen will be taken back and it’ll be as if it never happened.”
“That’s certainly the determination we want to see.” Said Jack. “Your friends are counting on you, Emma. And when you go back home, your world may not be at war after all.”
“That’s what I’m hoping, Jack. If my world’s still gonna be in ruins when I get back then I don’t want to go home. I could never see New York in that state ever again. The though of it scares me too much.”
“I’ll bet you’re friend Alex feels the same way, too.”
“What? You mean about New York? Or are you trying to say something else?”
“I’m talking about New York. What else would I be talking about?”
“Never mind.” I said.
But Jack pondered on.
“Hmm.” He pondered to himself.
“What?”
“Do you think of Alex as more than just your friend?” Asked Jack.
“What do you mean?”
Jack just gave me a look that I knew meant, ‘You know what I mean’.
“Err…Like I said. Never mind.” I dropped the conversation.
Jack was on the right lines, but I didn’t want to admit it.
I’d said enough for one night.
This city should feel lucky that it never has to worry about war or conflicts.
But as for the President, he’s the kind of people who start wars!
There’s something just don’t like about him, besides his bad temper.
But, I’m sure I’d find out soon enough what the problem was and just what made him so grumpy. Because the next day, we all had another meeting with Katie. (The Vice President, I mean. Not my mom)!
