When Emma Falls in Love (Taylor Swift x OC)

The Cold

AN: This chapter talks about not eating, not sleeping, and alludes at a history of child abuse. Also this is a rollercoaster so I'm just going to apologize in advance.

January 8, 2016

Sixteen - Emma

Emma was laying in a hammock outside her mothers house, trying to let the cold wind run through her brain and make all her thoughts stop. The hammock was swinging back and forth. She laid there with her eyes closed and her head hanging off the side. The wind was making her ears go numb but she didn't bother to put on a hat or earmuffs.

"Emma, would you come back inside? It's cold, you're going to get yourself sick." Her mother was yelling at her from the back door but it sounded so fuzzy. Her favorite thing about the cold had always been its ability to muffle the noise that surrounded her. She wanted to scream. If she wasn't in a neighborhood she could have screamed, right then and there. She hadn't spoken in days. Not to her mother or father, not on the phone, not when she was alone in the comfort of the freezing temperatures.

She looked towards the back door to see if her mother was still there, but she wasn't. She had no doubt gone inside to give Emma some space. It wasn't real space, just an illusion of something she knew Emma wanted. Emma had gotten back to London a few days ago. She had listened to her mothers explanation and listened to all of the excuses for allowing her father back.

'Emma, he needs a surgery. Emma, he's just staying until he's recovered. Emma, all those decades of smoking did absolutely nothing to cause his lung cancer, you can't blame him for that.' But she could, and she did. Her personal favorite had to be 'Emma, we're all he has left.' Of course they were all he had left, the man had spent his entire life trying to make everyone around him miserable.

She didn't care about her fathers surgery or his health. She knew it sounded bad, but she honestly didn't. Her life would be no different if he lived or died. She wanted to go back to New York, to leave him here to be alone like he had done to her so many times, but she couldn't do that to her mother. She needed Emma more than he did.

The first night she came back she stayed in a hotel, not being able to deal with them for more than a few hours at a time. The second night her mother had begged her to come back and to give him a chance. She did, but she ended up sleeping on the roof opposed to inside where she could hear him talk and move. It was uncomfortable and cold, she didn't actually sleep, yet she refused to go back inside. Emma hadn't really slept much, or at all, since the first day of being back in London.

Today was the day Taylor was supposed to come to London but Emma didn't want to see her. She didn't want to do anything that would require her to move from the hammock. Taylor had texted her and asked how she was doing, but she didn't respond. Taylor had called twice but Emma let it go to voicemail.

Emma knew she should answer the phone, Taylor was probably worried, but she still couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't know what to say that wouldn't make her sound like a complete dick. She had tried to type out a response many times but it always ended with her deleting the message and putting her phone back in her pocket.

There was someone walking through the thin layer of snow towards her. It obviously wasn't her father, he wasn't well enough to walk and didn't care enough about to do so even if he could. She still couldn't figure out why he wanted her here.

Someone threw a blanket over her. Her mother. She didn't have to open her eyes to know it was her mother.

"Your mom said you haven't been sleeping." It wasn't her mother, it was Taylor. Taylor's soft voice comforted her but she still refused to open her eyes.