10 Chilly Tale of a Summer Break - Part 4 (2/2)

”Aleta…” She said, holding her hand to the girl, but this time Aleta was the one who retracted.

”What did I…?” She said, looking at Emma at the ground.

”It's fine,” Emma said, still holding her hand to Emma. ”Help me get up. Let's talk.”

”Why did you look so scared?”

”I,” Emma looked at Aleta in silence, trying to avoid the subject. ”I, huh, had a nightmare last night. That was all.”

”You were trying to choke me. But that's fine. It's just a nightmare. Aleta, about that kiss…”

But Aleta retracted again.

”I, I,” without another word, she ran away.

Emma didn't move. She put her fingers on her lips remembering the wet sensation of Aleta's soft lips. First the kiss, then her reaction. Emma was confused.

Soon it would be dark, so she stood up and decided to get back home. She could talk with Aleta once she got there. First, she needed to take the slippers they left behind in the stream.

***

When Emma arrived at the inn with her towel wrapped around her, she found her grandmother at the entrance. She told Emma that Aleta was at the bath, and Emma should take one too. Emma agreed and walked inside the building, but before she could get farther on, her grandma spoke to her.

”By the way, your mother is coming to get you tomorrow.”

Emma stopped and turned around. She gave her grandma a baffled look.

”Why?” She asked.

”I called her. We think it's better if you don't stay here any longer.”

”What? Why? Did I do something wrong?”

”It's not about you, my dear. But I don't feel like I have the right to tell you. Ask Aleta later, if she wants to talk.”

Emma moved inside perplexed. In front of her room, she glanced at Aleta's door and considered knocking. She decided to take a bath first, to calm down. Inside, she realized Aleta had taken her things with her, meaning she didn't plan to spend the night there again.

After taking a bath and having dinner, where Aleta didn't show up, Emma walked to her friend's room. She knocked on the door and waited for it to open. Only a small gap was visible and Aleta put her face in front of it.

”What is it?” Aleta said with a cold voice.

”Will you tell me what's going on?” Emma asked, with animosity in her voice.

”I-I'm sorry. But I don't want to see you again.”

”Why?!” Emma said with a heated voice, slapping the side of the door. Aleta flinched.

”I'm sorry,” Aleta said again and closed the door.

”Dammit!” Emma shouted, kicking the door.

She wasn't angry at Aleta. She was frustrated. She waited in front of the door, deciding if she should try again. She didn't want to go home while things were like that. After some minutes waiting, Emma heard mumblings coming from inside Aleta's room. She couldn't understand what was being said, but it was like Aleta was talking to someone.

Suddenly, she heard a shout coming from inside, clearly belonging to Aleta.

”I said to leave her alone!”

Emma wondered if she should knock on the door again. Still, she would probably get the same answer. She got back to her room. Something was wrong there and she wanted to find out before her mother went to get her in the next day.

Emma sat on the bed trying to organize her thoughts. She hated school and didn't want to ever work, but she wasn't dumb. When she put her mind into it, she could solve any problem.

She reached for the bag again and found the ring. That was the first hint. No way that ring was kept in that room through all those years without being found. Someone probably had brought it to her. For what purposes, she didn't know.

Emma tried to identify other important hints. Aleta herself was one. More than once, the girl had shown some weird behavior. She remembered what the boy in the city had said about her. And now Aleta was talking to herself at her room. Also the kiss, which she still could feel on her lips.

”She's a nice girl, though,” Emma thought. She didn't want to believe Aleta was doing anything bad on purpose.

The other hint, Bud. The voice she heard on the phone. She was almost certain that wasn't Aleta's voice. Then she heard it again from Aleta's own mouth on that nightmare.

Was it even a nightmare?

Then there was the letter. Just a love declaration without a sender. The letter and the ring were the only tangible pieces of evidence Emma had.

The ring…

She looked at the ring again. Of course, she couldn't find out who wrote the letter unless she compared the handwriting with everyone in the inn, which she had no time for. If that ring was really her mother's ring, though, she had a lead. A weak lead, but it was something.

She took the phone and dialed her mother's number. Luckily, it didn't take too long until she picked it up.

”Hello, mom.”

”Emma, is that you? Your grandma called me earlier, what is going on? Why do you need to come back now?”

Emma looked at the ring. She didn't know how to bring up the subject. Her mother probably wouldn't recognize it without a photo, and her cell phone had no signal to send one. The stronger hint she could bring up related to that case was the name she heard before.

”Mom, I know this might sound weird, but I really need to know. Do you know someone or something called Bud?”

No answer came from the other line. Emma thought she could hear her mother's breath but she wasn't saying anything.

”Mom?”

”Oh, sorry, dear. You got me by surprise there. Bud, yeah I know the name. Where did you hear that?”

”Someone, well, brought it up. Who or what is it?”

”Yeah, you see. Bud is actually me.”

”What?”

”Darling, can we talk about this tomorrow?”

”No!” Emma almost shouted at the receiver. ”Please, trust me, mom. I need to know it now. Is there something important about this name?”

Another silence, but this time Rosa started to talk again without Emma needing to call her.

”I never told you any of this and it's really a story I don't want to remember, but there was another girl living with us when I was a kid. In fact, I shared the very room you're staying with her. Her situation was like of that girl, Aleta was it? She was just some girl mom took to raise because she was having problems with her family. She was ten years old the first time we met. The same age as me. So she was like my sister. Well, now that I think about it, that probably wasn't really what our relationship was like. Her name was Sherry.”

Emma felt like someone was watching her and turned behind, but there was nothing. For some reason, that talk was unsettling for her.

”And what does this Sherry girl has to do with the name Bud?”

”That's how she used to call me. She was the only one. You know, my name is based on the word rose. So, the bud of a rose. She found it smart, so she started to call me that. It was kind of special to us since she was the only one who called me like that.”

”She was your age, so she should be an adult now, right?” said Emma, thinking about the adult women she knew were staying at the inn. ”Have you heard about her recently? Maybe she's still around.”

”No, that's impossible,” Another silence on the other side. Feeling her mother was feeling troubled, Emma waited. ”That girl, she died in an accident a little after I moved away. She drowned in the river.”

”Oh, that's... I see. Sorry, mom,” Emma said. She looked at the ring on her hand and wondered if she should tell her mother about it. She decided against it. It wasn't the kind of thing she should tell by phone. ”I didn't want to bring sad memories.”

”No, it's okay. It was a long time ago. She was a nice girl, but a little,” another silence. ”Well, we can talk more tomorrow, okay?”

Emma resisted to tell her not to come. She didn't want to go away yet, both because she wanted to understand what was going on and because she wanted to fix her relationship with Aleta. That would be impossible while she was being avoided.

Emma said goodbye to her mother and put the phone on the base.

KNOCK

She heard a knock on the door. Emma turned to it. She looked at her cell phone and it was already 10 PM. Looking at the shadow below the door, she realized whoever it was, they hadn't gone away yet.

She breathed deeply, building up the courage. Walking towards the door, she slowly opened it. Aleta's face was on the other side, giving a smile at her. Her expression was a little weird. Too relaxed for the girl who was so nervous just hours before.

”I need to show you something. Can you come with me?” Aleta said and moved away.