The sun shone threw Emma's pale yellow lace curtains. She stretched and yawned, realising she had fallen asleep on the sofa in her underwear. She sat up quickly, giving a little gasp when she remembered what had happened last night. She felt dirty and awful and guilty; all these horrible feelings were overwhelming her. She wanted to leave Ohio, leave everything behind. But she couldn't do that, that would be cowardly. She decided to just blame all of last night's actions on herself, even Carl's death. She had never experienced the death of a loved one before; it felt quite surreal to her, she couldn't quite get to grips with the fact that Carl was actually gone.
On the floor by the door were bits of the broken house phone, reminding Emma of the phone call. She looked at her hands which shook uncontrollably. She went up to the bathroom, the house eerily quiet. She tiptoed quietly along the corridor, avoiding looking into the guest room. She locked the bathroom door and began running the taps, filling the bath tub with warm, soapy water. She took off her underwear, tears already streaming down her face. She got into the bath after turning the shower on and sat, wrapping her pale, cold arms around her legs which she clutched tightly to her chest. She rested her head on her knees, the cold water from the shower splashing her head.
"Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, everything will be okay..." she repeated these 4 simple, short, meaningless words over and over in her head, the bath getting more and more filled. Slowly, she laid down, the water almost reaching her mouth and nose. "I hope drowning really is like going to sleep," she thought to herself.
Emma sat in the waiting room of the dentist, the same nervous feeling she always got even though she knew her teeth were perfect. Opposite of her was an old man who kept coughing and sneezing, not putting his hand over his mouth. Emma shuddered at the thought of touching anything his germ-infested hands may have got hold of. A couple walked through the door, a toddler in tow. They headed towards the seat to Emma's left. Emma stiffened, not wanting to look rude by moving. Luckily, at that moment, her name was called to see the dentist. She worried that her new dentist wasn't going to be good.
She walked into the white, clean room, the smell of mouth wash hitting her straight away. A dark, handsome man with a sparkling white smile was standing by the chair.
"You must be Emma Pillsbury. Hi, I'm your new dentist. I'm Dr. Howell but you can call me Carl," he said, grinning.
Emma stammered, her mind turning to jelly. It only did this when Will Schuester spoke to her, "Uhm... hi... Dr. Ca- no sorry, Dr. Howell. Hello," she said, discreetly wiping down the shiny plastic cover on the chair.
Carl looked at her suspiciously, "It is clean, Miss. Pillsbury!" he said, cheerfully. Emma's cheeks reddened.
"Um, I know, I know, just... yep um," she said, laying on the chair that was moving backwards. Carl checked her teeth, counting her teeth.
"Everything seems perfect, Emma. You really have a perfect smile," he said, putting the instruments in the disinfectant as Emma got up and put on some hand sanitizer.
"Thank you, so I'll come back in six months for my next check-up?" she asked, putting the mini bottle of gel back in her hand bag.
Carl laughed, "You're keen! But yeah, six months,"
"Thank you, bye, Carl." she said, smiling as she struggled to open the door with her elbow. Carl saw she was struggling and helped her open it.
Emma was half way down the corridor when Carl came out of the door holding Emma's packet of wipes.
"Miss. Pillsbury! Wait! You dropped these on your way out!" he said, running to give them back to her.
Emma smiled and laughed, quite embarrassed, "Oh, sorry, sorry, thank you. It means a lot, thank you," she said, putting them in her bag.
Carl coughed anxiously, about to turn around and go back, "Hey... Emma? I know we've just met and um... this is gonna sound totally crazy but... would you like to go for a meal sometime?"
Emma looked taken aback; men didn't often ask her out on dates. At least not unless they wanted to try it on with her or if they were just going to stand her up. "W-with you?" she asked, wary of his actions.
He laughed, showing off his pearly white teeth yet again, "No, no, not me, my twin brother," he said, sarcastically. Emma felt her cheeks redden again and laughed awkwardly.
"No, actually, you and me, Emma, tonight at Breadstix? I'm new here and I've never been there but I heard that it's the only resturant around here. They do pasta; you like pasta? It will be good for me to get to know one of my regulars," he said.
"Well... um... I don't know what to say," Emma said.
"You say yes, we go for a meal, I take you home... voila! It's a date?" he said, making it obvious to Emma that she couldn't deny it.
"Okay, okay, tonight?" she laughed, getting out her diary.
"Yep, okay, 6.30 sharp? Meet me there? Okay, I have to get back to work, bye Miss. P, it's nice to meet you. See you tonight," he said, walking back to the dentist room. Emma stood still, staring after him, her heart beating quickly.
"Emma? Emma? Where are you? Emma- Emma what the hell? What have you done? Emma?" Will crashed the bathroom door down, discovering water spilling over the edges of the bath, Emma laying under the pouring, now cold water.
She spluttered, coughing and choking as Will pulled her out. She grabbed hold of his shirt, shaking and crying. He kissed her cheek and hugged her, sinking to the floor, the pair of them rocking gently against eachother on the cold, wet bathroom floor.
Will got a towel out of the airing cupboard and wrapped it around Emma's pale shoulders. She stood in the bathroom, shivering, her hair dripping water over her chest. Will helped her walk to her room and he helped get her pyjamas on and put her into her bed while he cleaned up the bathroom.
He walked past the guest room, looking through the door which was half open, remembering all what happened last night. The duvet cover lay scrumpled, half on the floor, rose petals everywhere, the curtains still drawn. He sighed, taking the duvet cover off of the duvet and shoving it under his arm to put in the washing machine.
After he cleaned the house, he sat in Emma's living room, feeling awkward and out of place. Emma stood at the door way, still shivering. She came and sat next to Will on the sofa.
"You cleaned my house, thank didn't have to, you know, but, thank you," she said, putting her hand supportively on Will's knee. He patted Emma's head, brushing the soft red hair out of her eyes.
"I'm taking you to the hospital later, so you can... um... say goodbye to Carl. Then I'll take you home, make you dinner and then I'll sleep on the sofa. Unless you want me to go home, I don't mind. I love you, Em," he said, kissing her forehead. This time, Emma didn't resist. Instead, she kissed her fingers and put them to his lips, mouthing "I love you, too" because the words hurt her too much to say aloud.
Will and Emma walked into the hospital, the smell making Emma feel nauseuos. Will spoke to the receptionist to save Emma's tears. The receptionist showed them to a room where a doctor took them to see the body. Will waited outside; leaving Emma to say good bye in private.
Emma stood over Carl, looking at his face. It felt strange, really strange, how only a day ago, his face had been alive, his eyes actually lit up. Now, all there seemed to be was a pale, grey-coloured face with dead, dull eyes. Emma cried, trying to let out silent sobs as the doctor stood by the door watching her.
"I'm so, so sorry, Carl. I loved... no, I love you. I do. I always will. We were only together for a short time, but we had... so many good times. And I'm so sorry. I don't ever want to tell you what I did the night you... passed away in here. I hope wherever you are now, you are happy. I love you, Carl. Goodbye," the tears rolled down her face and she asked the doctor if she could leave. He opened the door for her, leading her out to Will who was anxiously waiting. He put his arms around her, letting her get yet another one of his t-shirts damp from tears.
"There, there, Em. Let it all out, come on, sweetheart, let's go back to yours', okay?" he said, putting an arm protectively round her waist. She shook against him, though the air around them wasn't cold at all.
Emma looked up at the sky on the way out of the hospital, the sky already starting to get dark. She saw a twinkling star and wished in her mind; "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might; let everything turn out alright," she closed her eyes to make the wish come true and got into Will's car. He got in beside her and put on the radio. Every Day Is A Winding Road sounded out through the car, making the hairs on Emma's neck stand on end. She closed her eyes and blocked out the sound until the car pulled into her drive. Will helped her out and took her into the house and closed the door, shutting out the dark, cold night.