Chapter Twenty-Two: Alternate Ending: Emma
Emma appeared like an angel
Emma fell like rain
Into my lap like a heart attack, like lightning from her name
I'm running dry of bad excuses
Don't want to lie or seem intrusive
But time hasn't told me anything, and neither has she
"I'm here to see my wife," I told the receptionist, flowers in hand.
"Sure Mr. James," the woman said. I was joined by Brooklyn, Jay, and the kids. Danica walked freely without holding my hand. She was four years old.
"How is she?" I asked, praying for a different answer than I always got.
"The same," the woman said sadly, shaking her head.
A poinsettia in poison rain
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with one silver bullet and two vicodin
With two vicodin
"Emma, you have visitors," the nurse, who had joined us outside the door, told her.
"Who is it?" she asked, as if she couldn't see us.
"Your husband, daughter, and friends."
"Oh, of course. How are you Oliver?" she asked, stepping up to me and kissing me on the lips. It was the same old kiss. But it wasn't the same old Emma.
Emma woke up in darkness, suitcase already packed
Note on the bed stand signed in blood, "Sincerely, never coming back."
A nightmare on my street the day she arrived
A nightmarish household in which she died, because it made her feel at home
Somehow made me feel at home
"Where's Mom and Dad? And Isaiah? Are they late?" she asked. It was the same question she asked every day.
Isaiah is…was… our son. He was born exactly nine months after our honeymoon. On his first birthday, Emma's parents brought him on a trip. They were in an accident on the highway. All three of them died instantly.
Emma blamed herself. We both decided to go to therapy. I worked through it and I'm as stable as I'll ever be. Emma stopped going after one time. And now she's here.
A poinsettia in poison rain
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with one wooden stake through the heart and two vicodin
I answered her the same way I always did. It's not that I don't want her to know the truth. She knows it; she just doesn't accept it.
"Yeah Em, they're running a little late. Don't worry, they'll be here."
I handed her the roses and she smiled, breathing deeply, inhaling their scent.
"They're beautiful," she remarked, as always.
"So are you."
A poinsettia in poison rain
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with one silver bullet and two vicodin
We watched the sun fall crown on a city that sleeps in a world upside down
A slow ticket straight out of town
You went out with a bang when you took with you all my dreams underground
With you all my dreams underground
A/N: There you have it: the alternate ending. The song is "Emma" by Alkaline Trio and they own it. Review and thanks for reading! So, it either ended with them getting married a year later, or it extended even farther to this. Let me know which one you liked better. And I've decided that I will be doing another story aside from my Marco one...it involves three of my favorite couples that are featured in "This Heart Beats For You."