ORPHIC [STEVE HARRINGTON]

EIGHT

The following evening, Emmy rushed down her stairs with a matching workout set she had gotten from the store. She scrunched her face up in disgust as the metallic pink work out outfit hugged her in all the right spots, basically putting her out on display. She mentally thanked her father who moved to a pretty seculded neighborhood that didn't consists of creeps.

Emmy grabbed her walkman that was sitting on the kitchen island and she made her way outside, locking the door behind her. Tommy was at work, while Kimmy was out with her friends shopping. Sam had dropped Henry off at Mike's while he went out with Julie Sinclair to see a movie.

Emmy hopped off her front porch and placed her walkman headset over her ears and began running. Creeping Death by Metallica began playing as Emmy ran with her hands by her chest, keeping herself steady. 

Ever since the attack of the Demogorgan the previous year, Emmy had been trying to work out more. She never really told her father or her brother about this, especially since her Father would reprimand her on giving her leg some time to heal.

After some time running, Emmy was now five blocks away from home and she saw the hill that was up above, knowing she would have to push herself hard to get over it. She looked up at the sky, seeing the clouds that were now taking over the blue and she grimaced, wondering if she should have checked the weather reports before she left.

She clenched her fists hard, feeling the pain of running up the hill in her leg and she could feel the beads of sweat that was starting to form at her hair line. She furrowed her eyebrows inwards as she continued to push herself. She made it to the top of the small hill and smiled to herself as she achieved her own personal goal and she made her way steadily down the hill. She could hear a lawn mower in the distance and she looked up, seeing Billy Hargrove mowing his lawn, shirtless. 

Emmy's eyes widened slightly as she internally scolded herself for not looking away as he made eye contact with her as she jogged lightly. Her cheeks reddened as she continued her pace, knowing that if she had sped up or turned around it would look bad on her part.

She continued her jog, lightly running past Billy's mailbox and seconds later, the lawn mower stopped and Billy spoke.

"Hart!" He yelled as Emmy almost passed by him. Emmy slowed her running and took off her headset and looked at him.

"Billy, hey!" She said fully turning to him and he smirked, walking up to her and he spoke.

"Getting a workout in, huh?" He said, looking down at her outfit and Emmy let out a small smile and spoke.

"Yeah." She said, laughing a bit. "Just been getting into shape a bit." She said and he nodded and spoke looking into her eyes.

"Let me know if you need help with that. Cardio's more of my thing." He said suggestively causing Emmy's eyes to widened slightly and Billy gave her a toothy smile and he laughed and spoke.

"I'm kidding, Emerson." He said and Emmy let out a forced laugh and a few drops of rain fell from the sky, causing Billy to look up.

"You need a ride home?" Billy asked, as the drizzle came down in fat blobs and Emmy shook her head and spoke.

"No, it's okay, seriously, thank you though." She said and Billy gave her an uncertain nod and she spoke, looking at him, before turning.

"I uh, I hope your first day of school goes great. If you need anything, let me know." She said and Billy grinned and nodded, his blonde curles moving along with him.

"Thanks, Emerson." He said and she gave him a small nod and turned, making her way back to her home.

Emmy rushed to her front porch, her hair soaking wet. Her mascara was running down her face while some pieces of her hair stuck to her arms. The coldness in the air caused her goosebumps to make their appearance as she rushed to the door with heavy breathing. 

She looked down at her gold door knob that had their 'H' engraved into it, seeing that the door was cracked a bit open. Her heart dropped as she remembered her locking it and she breathed out slowly and opened the door, and walked inside, closing the door softly so that it didn't make any noise. She went into the drawer right next to their coat rack and she grabbed the spare gun her father always kept their and she grabbed it, gripping the hand grip tight enough to the point where her knuckles turned white.

She held the gun down by her right thigh and began tip toeing through the large Hart house. The thunder boomed in the distance as the rain hit the ceiling window and Emmy breathed in deep, scared of who or what might be in the house.

Emmy walked to her kitchen, seeing no sign of someone in the house, she breathed out softly and a thud came from the upstairs bedroom, causing Emmy's gaze to whip towards the stairs and she walked up the stairs slowly, careful to avoid the creeky stairs that she knew would make sound and she walked into the hallway.

The gun was still lowered down by her thigh and a shuffling noise came from Kimmy's room and Emmy walked slowly to Kimmy's bedroom and opened the door with the gun now raised in front of her face like her father held it, and their stood Officer Callahan in Kimmy's bedroom with his work pants on only as he had a towel wrapped around his neck. Emmy's eyes widened as she stared at the man and a voice could be heard

"We should probably go before-" Kimmy said coming out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body, looking over at Emmy who lowered her hands that held the gun as she   stood at the door with wide eyes.

"Emmy?" Kimmy said, looking at Emmy with wide eyes and Officer Callahan turned towards Emmy, who stood in the door, dripping wet with a gun in her hands.

"What the hell are you doing with a gun in your hands?!" Kimmy asked looking at her little sister and Emmy blinked and spoke, looking at Callahan.

"I thought someone broke in, Kimmy!" She yelled and Kimmy grimaced 

"I'm just gonna-" Callahan said as he walked up to Emmy, grabbing the gun from her hands and clicked off the safety.

Emmy looked at the two and then rushed out of Kimmy's room, slamming the door behind her and rushed to her own room, locking it behind her as she leaned against the door, trying to calm her heart beat down. She breathed out softly, as adrenaline was coursing through her veins and she balled her hands into fists, trying to stop the shaking.