Salted Caramel Coffee (COMPLETED!)

Chapter Twelve} $üffø€åt¡ñg

I have to see her again.

I know what Black told me, but I have to see if it's true. Bipolar? She didn't seem bipolar. Then again, I've never met a bipolar person before, so I wouldn't exactly know what they're like.

Blaze is one of the only people in this world I can trust right now, and I'm not ready to let that go just yet. Someone is lying- Black or Blaze- and I want to find out who.

It's June 8th, three days since Black picked me up from Mario's on June 5th. I haven't been allowed to leave the house since. She's worried I'll bolt if she lets me go, and we only have one day left until I'm able to come home. I'm living for tomorrow, my only thoughts being about what I'll do when I get back to my house. I miss Jess and (although I'd never admit it to him) Carmen.

There is only one person that I'm not excited to see.

My mother.

It is for that reason that my jaw snaps shut, the muscles in my face clenching with emotions I can't even explain when I see her call. I let the phone ring one, two, three, four, five, six times before answering. I take a huge deep breath in, hit answer and put on a smile. I have absolutely no idea why I did that- I know she can't see me.

"Hey, Mom." I breathe, still holding my breath.

"Emma?" My mother says, her voice muted by rustling into the mic. "How are you?"

"I'm alright, Mom." I say skeptically. She never calls me just to see if I'm alright. There always has to be a reason. "Why did you call?"

The rustling in the mic continues, and I hear someone talking in the back. A man. "Um, change of plans, love." It could be Carmen. "I'm going to have to pick you up a bit later than we planned."

My stomach drops, the air suddenly sucked from my lungs. "What?" I manage.

"I'm sorry, but something came up. I'm going to have to pick you up in another five days or so." I can tell she's distracted, but I don't know by what.

I fight back tears that prick at my vision, threatening to spill over. "So what, you're just going to leave me here?" I whisper. "With this girl I don't even know?" I drop my voice even lower. "You have no idea what it's like here, mom. You can't leave me."

Don't you dare cry. Crying is for the weak, and you aren't weak. STOP IT!

"I'm sorry, Emma. There's nothing I can do."

My ass.

"Mom-" I sputter, but she cuts me off.

"-I'm sorry, I have to go." Dial tone.

The second she hangs up, I let out a huge sob, hot tears pouring down the sides of my face. I wipe them away immediately, willing myself to stop. Another week in this house? I'll kill myself. I'm sick of being cooped up. I'm sick of being confined to this twenty square foot house, everything I do monitored and spot checked. And I know that what Blaze told me about Black isn't true, but I still get paranoid, you know?

I wipe my tears away with a towel, making sure that my face isn't even a little bit red before clambering downstairs. My hood is pulled over my head, my hands stuffed in my pockets.

"Surprise," I mumble, walking up to Black and sitting next to her on the couch, "I'm staying here an extra five days."

"Fun." She says, taking a sip of coffee.

I nod, leaning back onto the cushions.

She was not sad, nor was she happy, for she had lost all sense of emotion. She didn't look up from her- book was incredible. The escape from reality was just the thing he needed to calm himself- down beneath the fiery pits of hell, there's a river of- blood is just a fancy word for connection. What's yours is mine, and what's mine belongs to- you and I are completely different people, did you know that? We may be connected, but your passion may not be mine, and what you believe is my passion may not be so. But if you would just listen to me for one- second chances are for people who deserve them, not for people who want them. Nobody here- we are, about one millimeter away from insanity. All I need is space.

     "So I was thinking," I start cautiously, squirming in my seat. "Maybe I could go out today."

     Black freezes, her coffee mug positioned right below her lip. "You mean, alone?" I nod, praying she'll agree. "Absolutely not. There's no way."

"Please!" I beg, turning toward her. "I'll just walk around a bit! If I'm not back in exactly three hours, you can call my mother and tell her to find me and send me to The Graveyard."

I have no intentions of running away. I don't want to! All I want is to find Blaze and confirm that she was lying. It's the only way I'll stay sane this week.

Black purses her lips, sighing. "What would you even do for three hours. Seems like a lot of time to be doing nothing." She says, setting her coffee down on the table in front of her.

"Fine then, two hours. I just need to get out of here for a bit." I'm totally desperate. I need more than anything to escape this hellhole that Black considers a home. Air. That's all I want- fresh air.

"Alright," Black sighs, "But if you aren't in this house by eleven twenty seven exactly, I'm calling your mother." She swallows hard, looking me directly in the eye. "And the police."

I bite my lip, my eyebrows knotting together. "Okay."

***

     My feet slap on the pavement, the sound of shoes against concrete filling my ears. It's unnaturally cold for June- way too cold to be summer. I don't mind it though. It means I can wear my hoodie without getting too hot.

     It's nine fifty three, and I'm lost completely in my thoughts as I walk around the city that I don't know. I certainly don't know the place well enough to be going anywhere by foot, which is something that Black stupidly didn't think about.

     It feels nice to get out of that suffocating excuse of a home for once. In the few minutes before I left, it was as if the walls were closing in on me, getting a tiny bit closer to squashing me with every passing second. The moment I stepped outside, it was like a huge weight that had been crushing me was lifted off my chest. I just need some space is all.

     I stare at the floor as I walk, watching the pavement whiz by beneath my feet. It fascinates me, distracting me from everything around me. Maybe a little too much.

     I gracefully smash into someone in front of me, causing me to fall right into them. They catch me by the hand right before I hit the ground, saving me from a nasty hit to the head. My face goes completely red with embarrassment as I try and fail to stand up.

     "I'm really sorry," I sputter, finally managing to regain balance. "Are you al-"

     I freeze when I see who it is, every word that was on the tip of my tongue now disintegrating into my throat. Oh my God.

"Emma?" I nearly fall over again. "I thought I'd never see you again."

***

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Wow this really had like no content in it, huh? Well I still worked really hard on it, so I hope you like it. And (drumroll please) there was no swearing this chapter! Just for you dad😂 well, let me know what you though, predictions, and anything else!

-Shayna