The Monster Within

Chapter 61

"Damn it, Emma, why the hell didn't you tell me about all this?" David screams out.

The blonde feels immense guilt while sitting in her hospital bed. She's doing her best to fight the tears that are attempting to come to the surface of her eyes. She knows that she screwed up big time. She wishes beyond all measure that she'd said something about Arthur King's threatening letter. She was in law enforcement and she should have trusted that they would have helped her. She also knew the legal consequences of withholding information from the police, something that could have finally caught the monster and ended all of their sufferings. Instead, she kept this a secret and ended up putting her daughter and boyfriend in grave danger and her son and her best friend ended up in the line of fire too. Guilt boils up inside of her; if she had just said something, everything would have been different.

Emma sighs heavily and just nods, taking the harsh words from David. Even though she'd escaped him, Arthur King still had a way to control and manipulate her life. It killed her that she couldn't escape him or his influence.

"I know David... I'm sorry..."

"Sorry isn't going to help save Sophie and Killian!" he barks angrily, pacing the linoleum floor to the point where he was more than likely going to wear a hole in it. "How could you be so stupid?!"

"Bring your voice down David," Elsa says. "I know you're angry, but this is still a hospital."

The platinum blonde sits next to her friend in bed, holding Emma's hand and attempting to comfort her. She had decided to stay to be the support, and at this moment, the voice of reason. Even in the direst of situations, Elsa always kept a level head. Her calm and rational demeanour is very much needed at this moment as both her companions were anything but passive.

"I... I was just scared David," Emma whispers. "He threatened Henry and Killian if I called the police or told anyone."

"Yeah well, he's working his way through that list of threats, isn't he?" the lieutenant of police mutters sarcastically.

"I just wasn't thinking," the blonde continues.

"You're supposed to be to trust us, Emma," he points. "You work for the police department; you know we could have helped you."

"I do trust you, but I just felt that it was better if I kept it a secret."

"Well that backfired didn't it?" he snaps.

He can't even stand to look at her anymore and exits the room in a huff.

Emma feels utterly ashamed and just lets the tears fall freely now. Even after all this time and all the people that she loves and trusts, she still thinks that she had to do things on her own. Ever since she was young, she'd felt that the world was against her and that no one would help. It didn't help that she was left on the side of the road by her parents not long after she was born, or the adoptive family who sent her back after they had their own kid, but Emma had always assumed that she had to take of herself because no one in world wanted or would do that. It was a pattern that was slowly broken over time, after she met Neal, had Henry, made friends with Regina, David, Mary Margret, Elsa... Killian. They had been trying to let her know that she could trust them and that they would be there when she needed them... It felt that old habits die hard in this case and everything has just become a bigger mess than before. A mess that she and everyone else have to clean up.

"I'll go talk to him," Elsa says, getting up to follow the angry officer. "He just needs some time to cool down. Try and get a little rest."

"I don't know if that's possible anymore," Emma mutters. She lays back on the pillow, tears still spilling down her face and she doesn't bother trying to wipe them away. She gazes up at the ceiling and the florescent lights. She can't imagine what's happening to Killian and Sophie at this moment. Had Arthur left their daughter on the side of the road? Had he left the country? Had he... killed Killian and dumped him somewhere?