The next morning Henry was up and dressed by 6:00AM. School didn't start until 8:10AM and it was only a 15 minute walk away. Regina quietly got up and dressed as well. Regina could hear Henry moving around in his room, she quietly opened her bedroom door; she could see the light shining through the bottom of the door. She saw his shadow head towards the door and the light turn out, Regina quickly closed her door and waited to hear Henry descend the stairs. Once Regina heard his footsteps fade Regina silently made her way down the stairs and hid behind the archway that separates the kitchen from the dining room. She could see Henry packing his lunch, a PB&J sandwich, a apple, and a juice. She saw him open his school bag and place it inside. That all would have seemed normal if only he hadn't pulled out a second backpack from inside his school bag. Regina recognized the backpack, it was Henry's old 2nd grade backpack with batman on it. Regina watched as Henry made two more PB&J sandwiches, took 4 more apples, and 2 juice boxes and 2 bottles of water. Somehow he got all of it to fit inside that tiny backpack. He then looked at the time on the microwave, 6:30AM, zipped up both backpacks and headed towards the backdoor. Once outside he went to the end of the property to the back fence moved one of the loose planks and ducked under into the woods that surrounded the town. Regina jogged to the fence and checked to make sure Henry didn't see her. She got to the fence and saw Henry walking off the designated trails. Regina knew that Henry would sometimes cut through the woods to make it home faster, but she never knew this was the way he went. Regina quickly followed a safe distance behind him and made sure to be constantly hidden behind trees just incase he decided to unexpectedly turn around.
They had been walking for about 10 minutes when Regina realized that they were only about 5 minutes from the high school. Regina saw Henry stop and place his backpack down next to a fallen tree. Henry is still holding the batman backpack while he sits on the fallen tree, he looks around and then calls out, "Emma? Hey Emma its me." Regina thinks oh great not only does he have a secret girlfriend that he meets in the woods, with no supervision, he lied to me about it to. What else is he lying about? He SOO better not be having sex! Regina continues her ranting inner monologue when she is cut short. Regina hears leaves crunching and looks towards the sound, she sees Henry look to his right, away from Regina, and smile. Regina hasn't seen Henry smile like that since they last went horseback riding a few years ago. If this Emma chick can get Henry to smile like that then maybe she isn't so bad. But I still don't like her.
Regina is surprised when a young blonde girl no older than 8 walks out from behind a tree. Regina's heart breaks, this young child looks malnourished and is covered in scrapes and bruises. Oh, God. Henry smiles and says, "Hey Emma" Emma looks at him smiles shyly and walks over to him and sits next to him. Henry unzips the backpack and starts showing her the contents. Emma smiles and Henry hands her one of the apples. Henry looks at Emma and holds up one of the sandwiches, "This one is for later ok, I have school today." Emma nods and Henry puts the sandwich back into the backpack and hands it to Emma. Emma is eating her apple when Henry reaches into his backpack and pulls out a book. Henry shows the book cover to Emma and Emma smiles. Henry begins reading to Emma and Emma listens carefully soaking in every word that is being said. So that's why the books have been going missing. Emma stands and takes the sweatshirt that is around her waist off and puts it on, Regina recognizes the sweatshirt immediately, That was Henry's old youth soccer sweatshirt. I was looking for that for the clothing drive. Oh God I yelled at him and said he was being selfish, that there is a kid out there who would appreciate the sweatshirt, opposed to it just sitting in your closet collecting dust. Maybe Henry was right, I don't listen.
Henry was just about to turn the page when Regina's cell phone alarm goes off. The sound startles Emma, she looks at Henry with wide frightened eyes, drops the last of her apple, grabs the backpack, and runs off. Regina quickly fumbles with the phone and turns the alarm off. When she looks back towards Henry he is looking at her with sadness and a hint on anger in his eyes. Regina softly asks, "Why didn't you tell me?" Henry ignores her, packs up his stuff and walks away from Regina and heads to school. Regina has a frown on her face as she walks out of the woods and back into the house to get ready for work.
Notes: Now you know Henry's Secret. the next few chapters are going to be everyone talking, then after its going to be family life and firsts for Emma. Thanks for reading, please review and follow!