Ch. 2
A few days after the fire, the city officials looked into her history and uncovered the location of her only living aunt and uncle, Cecil and Marie Collins, in McKee, Kentucky, contacted them, and apprised them of the situation. Cecil and Marie offered to adopt her, and the arrangements were made. Emmy was to move to Kentucky within the month.
Emmy lived with her best friend, Sarah Reeves, while she, Sarah, Josh, and other friends of the family searched through the charred, ruined remains of Emmy's house for any useable items before Emmy had to leave. That time was emotionally wracking for Emmy; she was leaving behind everything and everyone she had ever known to move to a place she had never heard of.
July twenty-seventh arrived, and Cecil came to take Emmy to McKee. Evening light painted everything orange-gold, lending a dreamlike quality to everything it touched.
"Remember to e-mail me," Sarah said as she and Josh helped pack Emmy's few remaining belongings into the back of Cecil's van. Her voice quivered, and tears started flowing down her face as she looked at Emmy, remembering every last detail of her; this was likely the last time they would see each other.
Emmy smiled through her own tears and enveloped her best friend in a bear hug. "I will."
"Emmy, I can't breathe," Sarah croaked. Emmy released her and, smiling sadly, turned to Josh.
They stared at each other, and then Josh finally broke the silence.
"Write me when you can, Emmy," he said, smiling at her. "I'll want to know everything that happens to you on your trip," Josh added jokingly, easing the melancholy mood that hung in the air around the three friends.
Emmy's smile brightened somewhat. "Thanks, Josh, I'll write. I'll write everyone when I get access to a computer or find lined paper and a pencil." She hugged him then, and didn't let go for a few minutes.
"Come on, Emmy, let's go," Cecil called from the driver's seat. Emmy hugged both her friends one last time, then climbed into the passenger seat and closed the car door. She turned and looked out the window at her two friends, waving until they disappeared from view.
The trip from San Francisco to McKee was uneventful. They stayed the night at a small motel in Salt Lake City, Utah, traveled to Columbia, Missouri where they spent the following night, then traveled the rest of the way to McKee.
McKee was a small town with around 800 people. The center of the town was comprised mostly of shops, grocery stores, and schools, while the bulk of the population was spread over the wooded hills that surrounded McKee.
Oh my heck, Emmy thought as they drove through town on July twenty-ninth. I've never seen a town this small before; I didn't think a town this size even existed! As she stared, she saw one movie theatre, a few game shops, and a snack shop. People walked alongside the street, intent on getting to their destinations. What do they do for fun around here? she wondered, uneasy at the prospect of living in what she saw as a small, potentially boring place.
They turned onto a small side street and stopped at a stop sign. 'Indian Springs Drive,' the street sign read. Emmy stared at it, thinking, I am definitely not in California anymore. Cecil turned onto Indian Springs Drive and continued until he saw 'Cherokee Drive' written on a similar street sign a few hundred yards down the road.
"We're almost there," he told Emmy. Cecil looked over at his niece. Emmy was looking out the passenger window, her face turned away from him.
Cecil smiled to himself, supposing that Emmy liked McKee, turned onto Cherokee Drive and pulled to a stop in front of a light blue, medium-sized two-story house with a large maple tree in the front yard.
Emmy stared at the house. Looks nice enough, I suppose. She got out of the car, unpacked her things from the van with Cecil's help, and took them into the front room.
"I'll show you your room," Cecil said as he crossed to a set of stairs with thick, white carpet. Emmy followed him and soon found herself in a quaint little room. A plain bed rested against the left hand wall and a small, cream-colored dresser sat beside the foot of the bed; a window was directly opposite the bed, displaying a serene forest of majestic maple, oak and yellow-orange poplar trees.
"Feel free to arrange the room; it's yours now, after all," Cecil told her.
Emmy nodded. "Thanks, Uncle." She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.
Cecil left soon after helping her bring the rest of her luggage up to her room, promising that Marie would be home around six o'clock that evening, leaving Emmy with about three hours to herself.
Emmy surveyed her room with a heavy heart. It was much smaller than her room in San Francisco had been, with off-white walls and the same white carpet as the stairs. There was no closet, and she doubted that she would be able to fit all her clothes inside that tiny dresser. I might as well get started, she thought with a heavy sigh. Clothes first…
To her surprise she was able to fit all her clothes into the dresser; she left the bed where it was, figuring that moving it anywhere else would make the room seem even smaller than it was. Her few remaining accessories were placed on top of the dresser and her quilt was tossed on the bed. I'll fix it later, she thought.
Emmy looked around, hardly able to believe that she was done unpacking. I could have sworn I had more belongings than that! Maybe they're still in the back of Uncle Cecil's van… No, we got everything out… perhaps I had less than I thought.
Emmy plopped down on her bed and stared at her new room for a few minutes. "I do not feel like writing," she said to herself. "I think I'm going to sleep." After all the stress I've had, I need it, she added. Emmy lay down, pulled the blanket over head, and waited for sleep to come.