"So, how's school these days?" Kate asked as she handed Emma some fruit to put in a basket.
Emma shrugged.
Kate smiled. "Am I bothering you?"
Emma quickly shook her head.
"So, Emma… what happened?" Kate asked.
Emma turned to her and inclined her head.
"Why can't you talk?" Kate asked.
Emma looked down.
"You don't have to tell me… sorry, it wasn't any of my business…"
Emma put her hand on Kate's shoulder and shook her head, she pulled out hr notebook and wrote down. Everyone asks, it's ok. She looked up at Kate to make sure that she was reading it. My mom's boyfriend. Emma finished.
"Your mom's boyfriend did it to you?" Kate asked shocked.
Emma nodded.
"What did he do?" Kate asked.
Emma bit her lip and shook her head.
"Ok, sorry" Kate said. "Let's get these back to the beach, ok?"
----
"Thank you Kate, Emma" Jack said as he took the fruit from her.
Emma nodded and smiled, then walked off to her spot on the beach.
"Thanks for taking her Kate, I hate watching her everyday, she just sits there..." Jack said.
"I know..." Kate said as she put her hands in her pockets.
"Are you ok?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "Thanks for the concern" she said quickly then walked away.
----
"Hey!" Walt said as he walked up to Emma. "Wanna race?"
Emma stared at him.
"Hello? Race? Wanna race? Like to that palm tree and back?"
Emma bit her lip, then nodded her head.
"Great!" Walt said. "Ok, on your mark... get set... go!" he shouted. And off they went, Walt was in the lead with Emma a couple steps behind him, Walt tagged the tree first and started danceing. "Oh yeah!" he shouted.
Emma smiled, she started walking away.
"Hey! Wanna race again?" Walt asked.
Emma turned back and shook her head.
----
Jack walked up to Emma the next morning.
"Hello," he said as he sat next to her. "How are you?" he asked.
Emma shrugged.
"Ok... wanna help me deliever food?" Jack asked.
Emma shook her head.
Jack smiled. "Ok, well here's some fruit" he said as he handed her a couple pieces. Emma watched him leave, even though he was nothing like her mom's boyfriend, she didn't trust men...
"Hey," Kate said.
Emma looked up at her and smiled.
"Wanna help me gather wood? Walt and Micheal are helping too" she said.
Emma nodded her head and slowly stood up.
"Good," Kate said. "They're waiting for us..."
----
They had armfuls of food as they walked back to the beach.
Emma was hot and sweaty, all of the sudden, she got her pants stuck on a bush, and they ripped up her left leg, she dropped all the wood and stared down at her leg.
Kate looked back behind her at Emma, she looked at her leg and dropped all the wood in her arms. "Oh my God" she muttered.
Emma looked up at her and held her breath.
"Dad!" Walt shouted. "Look at Emma's leg! It's metal!"
Emma squeezed her eyes shut, that was the only thing she didn't want people to know about, her prosthetic leg, tears fell down her face. Why did they have to find out about it?
"Oh my god, you don't have a leg..." Micheal said.
Emma wanted to shout, she knew she didn't havea real leg.
Kate just stood there, staring at it.
Emma bit her lip, she hated to cry in front of people, she jerked her pants out of the bush and ran into the jungle...
----
So? How'd you like it?