The Story of Emm
By Emily N. Daniel
Emm was a young woman, one still trying to find her way in this complicated world of ours. She had very few friends as she had pushed most away with her less-than-cheerful demeanor. She was depressed because she had tried so very hard to make a life for herself, but one tumor and a car wreck later and she was back under her parents' roof. She felt more miserable and more alone than she had ever felt in her life.
On this particular day, she was walking under a sky with clouds as grey as her mood. She stared down at the equally grey sidewalk, with its grey concrete and grey pebbles embedded in its grey cement. In other words, things were rather grey that day. However, one thing that wasn't grey was the unusually large hole that appeared to have been burrowed into the side of a grassy hill. 'That must have been one rather large rabbit...that was probably grey,' Emm thought bitterly as she started to walk past it. Still, something about that hole had caught her attention. Something about that hole was gnawing at her thoughts, beckoning her to turn around and come back to it. She obliged and soon she was at the very entrance of the very hole that was not near as grey as everything else around it. No, it was very dark and very black and it was impossible to see where it ended if it even ended at all. Her curiosity got the best of her as she entered, not knowing where this hole might lead her but not completely caring either.
Emm crawled deeper and deeper into the very dark and very black hole. Her fingernails became clotted with dirt and her brow was soon covered with beads of sweat. 'When is this hole ever going to end?' Emm thought to herself, slightly in a panic. The air had become stuffy and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. Still, she continued on, but it was not long before she found herself gasping for breath. She also couldn't help but notice that the hole seemed to be narrowing the further she went in. Fearing she might become stuck, Emm considered turning around but the need to find out where the hole led kept her going....that is until she finally passed out from the lack of oxygen.
Emm moaned as a light began to shine brighter and brighter in her face. Suddenly she felt a pair of arms lift her up from underneath and pull her out of the hole. Whoever it was, that person tried to set her on her feet. However, Emm's legs gave way and she collapsed upon the ground, which happened to be so frosty and so cold that it instantly shocked her back to her senses. She scrambled up and opened her eyes wide. This was not where she had been before. Nothing was grey. Everything was white and frozen. She looked around her and found that it had been a bear that had pulled her up. This bear was surrounded by many smaller, furry creatures.
"Where am I? What's going on?!" Emm began to panic.
"Relax, you're safe now," the bear tried to reassure her.
"Safe? SAFE?! How can I be safe when I've obviously gone insane?!" Emm cried, "I mean, you're a bear and you're TALKING!"
"In the land of Edani, all the creatures have the gift of speech," the bear explained calmly.
"Edani?! What the hell?" Emm stood there in shock, for many years ago she had dreamed up a land where only she could go. It was a land where there were no cares, no worries, no pressure or stress. It was her safe haven and she had christened it Edani, a combination of her first and last name. However, now that she was here, she felt anything but safe.
"This can't possibly be Edani," Emm looked around, "It is winter and the land that I dreamed of would never have weather so bitter and cruel!"
"That is why you have been summoned here," the bear further explained, "You are the creator of this land, so you are the only one who can save it! You must be the one to defeat the evil Snow Queen!"
"But, why me?" Emm moaned, "I have put up with enough in my life already! I just want everyone to leave me alone."
"Strange how those words come from someone who complains about being lonely all the time," the bear look at her and grinned.
"How did you...what are you....Damn it! This is really starting to freak me out!" Emm was ready to make a run for it, but the bear and several of the taller woodland creatures took a hold of her, raising her high above their heads. "What are you doing?" she cried.
"There's no need for stewing!" the creatures replied.
"I swear, put me down!" she told them severely.
"When you lose the frown!" the creatures said dearly.
"Hey, what's with the rhyming?" she asked as she wondered.
"Just seemed like good timing," they answered then pondered.
Finally, they set her down. The bear, who by now Emm realized was the leader of the group, just looked at her and sighed. "I know this seems a tad insane, but this world exists inside your brain."
"Again with the rhyming!" Emm snapped.
"Sorry," the bear apologized then went on, "We are desperate. We have lived in this environment for far too long. It's always winter...."
"But never Christmas?" Emm snorted, reminded of a certain book she was quite fond of.
"No, actually, it's always Christmas. We can't get that jolly fat man off our backs, but even he's not that jolly anymore. Emm, you must do something! You are the one letting this Snow Queen rule as you've done nothing to prevent her takeover. It's like you've stopped caring."
Emm just stared down at the ground, "Maybe I have....but you're right. I shall go and try to stop this Snow Queen....if it'll get you off MY back." The last part she mumbled to herself as she turned and started her journey towards the Snow Castle, where the Snow Queen resided.
Emm trudged through the forest towards the castle, the snow crunching beneath her feet. It was so very cold and she was not wearing a coat. She wasn't even wearing boots, so her feet were very wet and starting to freeze.
Looking for a place to rest and perhaps thaw out a bit, Emm came upon a tree with a rather large hole in the side of it. 'This seems familiar,' she thought, but went inside anyway. It was surprisingly warm inside the tree and she sighed as some feeling started to come back in her toes.
Suddenly a whimper came out from the darkness. Emm stood frozen, though it was a different kind of frozen than she had been when outside walking. Whatever was inside the tree with her whimpered again. She snapped out of it and called out, "Who is making that noise? I demand you come out of hiding!"
The whimpering soon turned to cries and Emm followed them until she came close enough to see who was sobbing so terribly. It was a small rabbit, no bigger than her hand. "Oh, dear rabbit, why are you crying?" she asked.
The rabbit let out another loud sob and said, "The evil Snow Queen....she made the food go away. My momma....she left me here to seek some out. She's been gone for two days! I fear she is dead!"
"Oh, you poor thing," Emm sighed and took the small rabbit into her hands, "I fear this may be my fault, but I shall make it up to you. I shall watch over you until we can find your dear mother. However, dear rabbit, I must ask you to be brave, for I am on a mission to face the Snow Queen herself."
"You are to face the Snow Queen?" the rabbit looked up at her, tears still falling softly down his furry cheeks, "But she is ever so powerful!"
"I know, but I have no choice," Emm petted him and placed him inside her shirt pocket, "I must right what I have wronged. Can you be brave for me, dear little rabbit?"
"Yes, I shall be brave, for you and for mother!" the rabbit snuggled closer to Emm's chest as they set out of the tree to continue on towards the dreaded Snow Castle, which was still so very far in the distance.
"Brrr, how much longer until we get to the castle?" the little rabbit asked as he shivered inside of Emm's shirt pocket.
"We're getting closer," Emm sighed as she struggled against the blowing wind, which was ghastly cold. They continued on until they came up to a sign, a sign that warned of great danger.
"What's the sign say?" the little rabbit, who could not read, asked.
"It is warning us of great danger," Emm explained, "So I suppose there could be danger ahead, though there is no way to be sure..."
"But you just said...."
"SILENCE, little rabbit, I need to think!" Emm pondered for several precious moments before slowly entering the most-likely-but-not-for-certain dangerous area. For many minutes, there was no danger of any sort, but soon they came upon a meadow. The meadow was filled with many flowers, many seemingly non-threatening flowers.
"Why, those flowers look rather non-threatening, if I do say so myself!" Emm exclaimed merrily. However, unlike the impression one got upon first glance, the flowers were anything but non-threatening. In fact, they were rather threatening of one's life for they contained a powerful weapon of mass destruction.
"Emm, I don't feel so good," the little rabbit whined.
"Oh, you've just watched The Wizard of Oz too many times," Emm huffed and continued on her way. Still, the little rabbit had good reason to feel ill for he was not referring to the physical condition such as that which Dorothy and her animal companions suffered, but one of a more mental kind that made one's hairs stand on end. The little rabbit felt a presence and an evil one at that.
"Emm, I feel a presence," the little rabbit piped up, "and I don't think it's all that kind, no sir!"
"That's ma'am to you," Emm scolded, "You know, you're getting less cute and more annoying by the......OH MY GAWD!" A rabid wolverine jumped out of the supposed non-threatening flowers and tore at Emm's shirt until the pocket ripped and the little rabbit went tumbling down into the beast's open jaw. "Nooooooooooooooo!" Emm screamed as she watched her little animal companion get ripped to shreds. She could feel the blood splattering upon her skin and could hear the bones splintering in the wolverine's mouth. Still, none of that was as horrible as the final shriek the poor defenseless rabbit emitted before being sent to that great rabbit hutch in the sky. "Nooooooooo!"
"Yesssssssssss, Emm, you need to wake up!" the little rabbit nipped at Emm's fingers until she finally awoke.
"Huh? What's going on? What happened?" Emm sat up and looked around. They were still in that very same flower field, but her animal companion was still alive and there was no wolverine in sight. "Oh, man, those flowers did put me to sleep after all!"
"No, Emm, you tripped on your shoelace and hit your head on that rock!" Emm looked and saw that, indeed, there was a rock inches from where her head had been.
"Oh, well then...I suppose we ought to get up and get going. Come, little rabbit, for we shall reach the castle by sundown!" Emm laughed and helped her long-eared friend back into her shirt pocket before setting out once again towards the Snow Castle to face the evil Snow Queen.
"Here it is, the Snow Castle," Emm said, craning her neck and taking in the sight. It was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The entire structure was made of ice that was the darkest of blues, the type of blue the sky becomes before it's finally taken over by blackness of night. Perhaps this was the same situation. Perhaps this castle was soon to turn black as well.
"What are you thinking about, Emm?" the little rabbit asked her.
"The sky," she answered, turning her attention back to the mission, "Well, this is it, dear little one. Are you ready to enter?"
"Yes, I am if you are, Miss Emm," the little rabbit looked up at her from her shirt pocket and gave her a smile.
"Miss Emm? Since when did you start calling me Miss Emm?" she asked him.
"Miss Emm, you have taken me under your wing, sheltered me from danger, and are soon to face a demon queen," the little rabbit explained, "I call you Miss Emm out of respect."
Emm smiled at this. "Thank you, dear rabbit. That means a lot to me. May I say I feel the same respect for you as this would have been a very lonely trip without you by my side? So, think we can take on this Snow Queen?"
"I am only too sure of it, Miss Emm," the rabbit replied. Together, the two of them walked up to the doors. However, before Emm could even touch them, the deadly-blue ice doors cracked open before them, opening wide to reveal a hallway that extended into the castle further than either of them could see. Nervous but trying to stay brave for her little friend, Emm entered and continued on into the darkness, not knowing exactly what they would find.
The footsteps echoed off the walls as Emm and the little rabbit wandered further into the castle. Finally, they came upon a massive set of doors. "This must be where the throne room is...and the Snow Queen," Emm said. As the two entered, the room seemed even darker than the hall, but then suddenly there was a burst of light and the room was lit up so that it was hard to see at first.
Once her eyes adjusted to the intense light of the icy chamber, Emm looked around. "Miss Emm, where is the Snow Queen?" the small rabbit asked.
"I don't know..." That's when Emm saw the most amazing thing. The Snow Queen appeared before her, lips curled in a nasty grin. However, the truly amazing part of it all was her pale skin, her curly brown hair, and grey-blue eyes which were small yet piercing. Indeed, this person looked exactly like Emm herself.
"At a loss for words, Emm?" the Snow Queen sneered, "Well, I am not surprised. You were never quick to catch on."
"How do you know? You don't know me!" Emm cried.
"I know you better than you know yourself. I know your every thought, your every move, your every moment of life...I was there." The Snow Queen's grin turned nastier still. "I even know what you're here for."
"Yeah, I'm here to end your reign of terror upon Edani! You've done nothing but hurt them and make them suffer horribly!" Emm glared, growing angrier by the minute.
"As I said, you were never one to catch on quickly," the Snow Queen replied maliciously, "You say I am the one who has brought misery to this land, the land of your creation, the land that exists in your mind....but have you not wondered exactly why we look the same?" With that, the Snow Queen cackled and kept cackling. Emm's head suddenly felt fit to burst and she sank to her knees, clutching her head in her hands.
"Miss Emm! Stop it! I'm scared!" the small rabbit cried, "Why are you talking to yourself? Why are you cackling so horribly?"
But Emm could not stop cackling; for it was then she realized that it was she who was the dreaded Snow Queen.
"Catch on finally?" The words echoed loudly in Emm's brain as she continued to cackle on and on. "You and I are one in the same. What was once pure is now tarnished. You've let your spirit grow weak and your heart cold, so now Edani suffers your pain too. This is all your own doing."
"No, you're wrong!" Emm screamed. The cackling ceased as she finally came to her senses. "I did not mean for this to happen! This isn't my fault!"
"You make everyone suffer, not just yourself. You can't even hold a simple conversation without spewing out words of self-pity. It's no wonder you have no friends."
"I have friends...just not a lot of close ones..."
"Who would want to be close to such a depressing soul?"
"They didn't give me a chance! I don't open up right away!"
"You seem pretty open when it comes to pissing and moaning about everything that's wrong with your life."
"Stop it! STOP IT! I know I'm not Little Miss Sunshine, but I'm not a bad person!"
"It's a cold, lonely world....but only to those who let it be...."
"I don't mean to...I don't mean to...Please, I just need help."
"Sometimes help is not as far away as it seems."
"What do you mean?"
"You will see...." Those were the last words Emm heard before promptly passing out.
"She's coming around! Just breathe deeply, hon. It's going to be okay."
Emm slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on a stretcher and an oxygen mask had been strapped onto her face. Unable to speak, she just stared at the medic with wide, scared eyes.
"Just keep breathing and stay calm. We found you inside that hole. You were buried when it collapsed, but you didn't get too far inside. You still had a foot sticking out. Thank God or else you would never have been found in time! You are very lucky to be alive!" Emm pondered this as she was loaded into the ambulance, still slightly confused about all that was going on.
Once again, Emm was strolling around the area where she had been buried just weeks before. She thought back to all that had happened, figuring that her adventure in Edani had been nothing more than a dream but still she found herself wondering if everything was okay there. Even if it was an imaginary world, it was hers and they were connected nonetheless.
Suddenly, something extraordinary happened. A little brown rabbit hopped out from behind a tree and came scampering up to her, stopping before her and standing very still. It stared up at her with his big brown eyes until Emm finally found the courage to pick him up into her hands and bring him up to her face. "Is it you, my dear little friend?" Strangely, the little rabbit seemed to wink at her before jumping from her hands straight to the ground below without harm and disappearing behind the tree again. Search as she might, Emm could not find the little rabbit again, but somehow she felt as if her question had been answered. Everything was going to be fine...just fine.