On Emma's Bluff by Sara Elizabeth Rice, edited by davebccanada (comprehension books txt) 📖

"Emma, it's not like that. I didn't want to go out to the car with Joy. She insisted that she needed to talk to me." Now his voice faltered, he wasn't prepared to tell her about Joy's ‘condition’. He still could not believe it. "I wish I could make you understand, but..."

"Stop the car," she suddenly barked at him. He did as he was told.

"Emma, you don't have to be this mad. If you will just give me a chance..."

"I am really not mad," she said smoothly and actually gave him a little smile. He was really confused. "I understand, Bill, I really do."

As soon as he heard her say that he wanted to grab her and hold her to him and cry and tell her everything that was tearing him up inside. But she never gave him a chance. She was out of the car and looking down at him from her open door in just seconds, her face still a soft palette of warmth and understanding.

" I just need to be by myself for a little bit now. I'll walk the rest of the way home." Without waiting for him to answer she cut down the embankment and ducked into the trees. He just sat there for a moment stunned.

Even Emma could not understand the calm that had over taken her. When she had first seen them in the car together she had felt kicked in the stomach, repulsed, and embarrassed. But immediately after this calm had washed over her and the soft gentle voice that had lulled her to sleep earlier that week spoke in her head. "It's all right. It's all happening just like it should." were the words that came to her.

It seemed silly to think of, but they had been so clear. All of a sudden it was as if she had been expecting all evening to find them just like that and that it was all part of some great design, nothing for her to fear, only for her to go along with. Then what hit her was a pity and a strange sadness for Bill. He was so helpless, so out of control. She was the one in control.

She was the one who knew everything would be fine.   If only she could tell him that. But she couldn’t stop and take the time right then to console him. She had to get back to the woods, back to the place that Viola had showed her, where she would find her true self.

Bill was driving. He was back on the road that led to Joy's house. It seemed that he had been driving around for hours, that he was lost in time. No matter how many times he went over the circumstances in his head, there was no satisfying outcome. Now he had given up and was making his way back to Joy's to see what she had to say.

He hoped that she would still be up, but he had no reason to fear because even before her house was in sight he spotted her. She was walking down the side of the road towards him. Her head was tucked down and her arms were wrapped tightly around to ward off the stinging wind. She looked up into his headlight as he neared her and he could see that she had been crying.

He eased the car to a stop and rolled his window down a crack. "You want to get in?"

She bit her lip and nodded yes. She came around to the passenger side and let herself in, but this time she did not move to be closer to him; rather she shrunk herself up into a ball in the passenger seat. "I'm sorry Bill," she bit out the words.

"Joy, it's okay." He couldn't stop himself for reaching over to hold her and she sank against him. He could feel deep breaths that she took and heart racing.

"I want you to make love to me. I want you to make love to me so bad." He wasn't sure if she was crying again or just shaking with passion. "I don't care what it means. I don't care if you don't love me. I just need for you to make love to me."

"Joy?" He had never seen her like this before. Something inside of him really wanted her again. She seemed so different from what she had been like in the past.

She did not move any closer to him, but he found himself halfway across the gearshift pulling her into his lap. She lay against him like a small child. He lifted her face to kiss the soft underside of her chin. She felt so fragile and warm. He felt heat rise in his throat all the way to his ears. "Let's get in the back seat." His voice sounded weak and worn.

With her head tucked down she slipped through the space between the two front seats and curled up across the back seat. He had to get out of the car to join her. She did not move as he knelt on the floorboard beside her.

"Joy, I never meant to hurt you." He spoke to her. "I really never did." She rolled over on to her back and he could see her small round face reflected in the moonlight. She looked so young. He had to support himself precariously to lean over her.

She propped herself up on one elbow to meet his mouth. It felt like something was boiling at the base of his skull. He held her face and explored the corners of her lips. He couldn't remember it ever feeling this good before. She laid her hands on each side of his neck and pulled him toward her breasts. Fumbling, he lifted her sweater and pulled her bra away from her breasts. They were swollen and her nipples erect. He tasted one red nipple and then the other.

He had to lean and rest his head on the back of the seat to get his hands to her hips. She squirmed beneath him. Her hands now washed up and down his chest under his shirt. She lifted up just a bit to allow him to work her pants down over her hips. She smelt musky and hot to him. His hand dipped between her thighs and pressed her legs slightly apart. He inserted first one and then two fingers deep inside of her.

"Oh baby, you are so wet." He almost giggled now and threw his head back to gulp air.

"I want you," was all she said.

He was back up on his knees and tugging down his own pants in an instant. His erection popped free of his pants and swung against his stomach.   "Well you are going to have me." He helped her pull one foot free from her pants and then he crawled up onto the small seat to be between her legs. He watched her face intently as he guided himself inside of her. Then he had to stop. He actually did laugh out loud in a tremor of pleasure.

It was like the most wonderful place in the world to be. Slowly he started his rhythm inside of her. She turned her head to gasp and pull him closer. Her arms came up to clasp behind his neck. He began to work deep inside of her. It was like running and falling and being on fire. He felt himself cumming before he even had a chance to hold back. "Joy, Joy, Joy."

And then she looked at him. It wasn't Joy. The face had changed. Straight from the grave, rotted and moldy, flesh pulled back from the bone, and evil mouth of teeth grinning at him. The hands dropped to encircle his throat.

"I got you now boy, and you aint never gonna use nobody again."

The stink of the words made him gag. And then he saw his own blood spurt from his throat and splash onto the living corpse beneath him.

"No, No, Noooooooooooooo!" Emma woke up screaming, " NOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Is she awake yet," Cindy asked Roy Wilson when he returned to the living room.

"No." He moved to one of the chairs and held on to the back for support.

"What did the doctor say?"

"She's in shock." He seemed winded and had to stop and gasp for breath between each sentence.

"I don't think that I understand." Cindy had watched the dawn rise from the Wilson's tiny living room and still did not comprehend why she had been called there.

"We don't either," Roy admitted. "That why I called you. I was hoping maybe you could tell us what happened at the party last night."

"It was just a boring party at Joy Hutchinson's house." Cindy felt incredibly numb and sleepy. "Umm, I don't really know why Emma was so set on going to it in the first place, but she seemed to be having a good time while she was there. She and Bill left a little after eleven o'clock." She stopped because she realized that maybe she had already said more than she should have. After all she did not know what time Emma had arrived home.

"Don't worry I was aware that she had gone to the party with Bill." His head swung from side to side. "I don't understand why she lied to me about it, but right now that is beside the point."

"Have you called Bill?"

"Yes, his parents say that he has not come home yet." Roy moved around so he could to be closer to Cindy and lowered his voice. "Before she went into those horrible convulsions, she told us he was dead."

"Emma has been really disturbed lately," Cindy forced the words out.   She felt like she was in a dream. "I don't see..."

"Emma tried to strangle her aunt." Roy broke in flatly. " She grabbed her by the throat when Liz went in to see what all the screaming was about and when I came in Emma had Liz by the throat. I don't think she would have let go if I had not..."

"Mr. Wilson, Joy was Bill's old girlfriend. Maybe she said something to Emma that really set her off."

"Emma's not even seventeen years old yet, how could something said at some dumb party..."

"She's had a very rough life."

"I know that Cindy, I have known Emma since she was born. Do you think she has just gone over the edge for some other reason? Is Emma crazy?"

"I don't think she is crazy. I just think she has some problems that it all." Cindy tried to sound confident.

"Then how do I explain that my niece is upstairs in what the doctor calls a catatonic state?"

"I don't know." Cindy rested her head in her hands. "How is Mrs. Wilson?"

"I don't know if I can honestly say." Roy had now moved to the front of the fireplace. "It's very late."

"It's very early." Cindy's old humor seemed intact. "What does the doctor suggest that you do?"

"Wait, wait and see."

"That's a safe enough answer for doctors." Cindy wondered what torment her own parents were going through at home waiting to hear from her. "Do the Simmon's know to call you when they hear from Bill?"

"Yes."

"What about Joy?"

"I guess I must have