One Call Away

Chapter 3

The next day I decided to go out for a walk. I'd stayed in Storybrooke longer than I'd expected, so I figured I may as well walk around and see what else there was. Considering I hadn't had any encounters with Mayor Mills or her son for the past couple of days, what could go wrong? I'd gotten just down the block from Granny's when I saw Henry standing at the bus stop. He saw me immediately. "Emma!" he said, waving his hand. "Over here!" Reluctantly, I looked around and quickly walked over to him. "Kid, you gotta stop this," I said. He gave me an annoyed glare. "I have a name." "Fine," I sighed."Henry, you gotta stop this." He shrugged. "Actually I don't," he said slyly. "You can't ignore me forever." He looked down the street for his bus. "We live in the same town." "Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said. "Let's get one thing straight right now- I do not live here." He smirked at me over his shoulder. "Okay, sure you don't." Before I had time to put him in his place with a smart remark, I heard the click-clacking of sensible high-heeled shoes coming down the pavement. I didn't even have to turn around to know who was approaching. "Henry what are you doing?" I sighed. Regina. She sashayed over to Henry and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders. He winced. "Miss Swan, what must I do to get you to stay away?" she demanded. I shrugged. "I don't know. What can you do?" Just then, the bus pulled up and Henry began to quickly rush off. Regina caught her son by the strap of his backpack. "Have a good day," she said, smiling. As soon as he'd gotten on the bus, she turned back to me, her face painted with a dozen different shades of anger. "Where were we?" she growled. "Oh, that's right. You were just doubting my authority in this town." "Regina, I never said-" She held up her hand, silencing me. "Enough. Now Miss Swan, if you want to do things the easy way you'll leave me and my son alone. If you'd rather do things the hard way, well-" She chuckled, seemingly only to herself, and then fixated her eyes on mine with a glare that could kill. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

I had then determined that Regina Mills was not only evil, but a psychopath. You have no idea what I'm capable of. Who says things like that? Weirdo. I stood by the docks where boats came in and out, watching the sun set. Once it was nearly dark, I decided to go back to my hotel. As I turned around, I bumped smack into someone, almost knocking us both down. When I regained my balance, I saw who I'd rammed into. It was a petite woman, who currently looked very startled, with black, pixie cut hair, and an interesting taste in fashion. Her floral pleated skirt and pink cardigan sweater made her look like she'd come straight out of the 1960's. "I am so sorry," she began apologizing. "I should've looked where I was going. Sometimes I'm just so clumsy and I-" "Hey. It's fine," I assured her, not really wanting to hear any more of her ramblings. "It was my fault-" I reached down to pick up a book she'd dropped. The name on the right corner said Mary Margaret Blanchard. "-Mary Margaret." She smiled as she took her book back, then stared at me. "What?" I asked cautiously. She shook her head and looked down insecurely. "Oh, no, it's just that I haven't seen you around here before." She laughed to herself. "Nobody ever comes or goes in Storybrooke." I nodded. "So I've noticed." "Everyone seems to have a fixated routine around here," Mary Margaret went on, staring off at the horizon as that last bit of daylight faded away. "Well, that is until a couple of days ago." I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?" She shook her head and stared down at the ground again. "It might be silly, but it just seems like things are changing around here." I was beginning to wonder about the state of mind of this Mary Margaret Blanchard, as well. I looked back down at the book she was clutching. It was an algebra book. "So, algebra," I said, breaking the dim silence and motioning towards the book. "You a teacher? I mean, assuming people in this town don't go around reading textbooks for fun." Mary Margaret grinned. "I am, in fact," she said. "Have been for as long as I can remember." It got quiet again until the strangest thing happened: in the darkness, a small blue bird flitted over in our direction. Swiftly, Mary Margaret held out her index finger, and the bird obediently perched on it. "Wow," I said. "That's kinda cool. It reminds me of-" "Snow White?" she asked, unamused. "If you were going to say Snow White, please don't." I was a bit puzzled. "Uh, yeah I was...but I won't. If you don't mind my asking, why would that offend you so much?" Mary Margaret gave a wiggle of her finger and the bird flew off. "It really doesn't," she said, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. "It just that...one of my students has this obsession with fairytales." She seemed to be looking around to make sure no one was listening. "I don't know if I should really be telling you this but...he has this theory about everyone in town." She sighed and held tighter to her book, shaking her head. "He thinks we're all lost fairytale characters who've lost our memories." She shook her head again. "Nobody ever discourages him from it, thought. He's had a hard life plus he's in therapy, so everyone kind of learns to live with it." I raised my eyebrows. "Kid sounds like a real nutcase," I said. "Who is it?" Mary Margaret looked cautiously around again. "His name is Henry. Henry Mills. But you didn't hear anything from me." I felt myself step back a bit. This town was officially crazy.? "What's wrong?" she asked me. "Do you know him?" I regained my focus and shook my head. "Uh, no," I lied. "But um, I actually have to get back to my hotel, so, ah, it was nice meeting you." Mary Margaret smiled pleasantly. "Nice to meet you too." As I walked away, I heard her voice behind me. "Wait! I never got your name!" she called. I turned around. "Don't worry," I called back. "You won't need it." The way my stay had been going, I planned to get out of this town as soon as possible.