The stone steps to the university had never felt this long. Each step was an accomplishment within its self. Emmy didn't even know if the professor would even be there. She hoped he would be there.
Maybe he had quit?
Maybe he's on another adventure?
Maybe he dead?
She didn't want to think of these different questions, especially the last one. For she knew, in some childish way, that the professor could never die.
She was quarter way up the steps now. Someone passed Emmy, which made her realise how quiet the university was. When she was Layton's assistant there was always students about, even after the last class.
This made her think of the student that had just passed. It was a young girl, possibly in her first year dressed in black.
Maybe I should have asked her why it was so quiet?
Now half way up the steps, dread set in. For Emmy had not spoken to Layton since she quit being his assistant. She had always planned to go back, but never had the courage. After several years of doing her own thing, she remembered the professor, but didn't get in contact with him. Now she regretted it.
What if the professor hates me now?
What about Luke?
Surely Luke's old enough to be Layton's assistant, so why would he need me?
Only a quarter to go till the top. Emmy started to remember how she used to bolt up and down these steps every morning to try to be early to work. She was always a bit late, but the professor never minded. She remembered how once her scooter broke down in the rain and the professor actually went out and found her in the streets. She was trying to fix her bike, but the professor just took it to a garage and brought her back to the warmth of work. She loved and enjoyed the professors company. She didn't know if she liked the thrill of adventures more, or the quietness of being in the office together.
Emmy was now at the top of the steps, her new source of energy from remembering the past had given her confidence. She strode through the doors to the university and proceeded to the corridor where the professors office used to be.
Emmy could see his office at the end of the corridor and she could see the door wide open. Her confidence left her. Quietness seeped through her.
Where is everyone?
Emmy approached the door. She looked in to see a group of people all clothed in black. She saw the girl who passed her earlier crying on the shoulders of a young man she was thought she recognised. No one had noticed Emmy yet, but the young man had looked up at that point and saw her.
'Emmy?'
Emmy stood there scared no one was listening to her or the man. Then something clicked. She knew this man, but when he was a boy. The boy shifted with the crying girl still on him. Emmy saw what was in the middle of the room. It was a coffin.
Several slow paces took Emmy to the wooden box in the middle of the crowd of mourning people. One glance in and she saw him. The only man who had ever given her a chance. The man she thought she loved. The professor.
Tears started to drip down her face as she bent down and kissed the silent man on the forehead. A lifetime of regrets faced Emmy as whispered quietly, knowing her answer...
'Am I too late?'