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Emily Stewart Munson sat alone at the kitchen table in the silent Munson home. The silence of the house was especially compared with the storm raging outside, battering the windows, and the ongoing storm inside Emily's head.
So many thoughts...so many sad thoughts. Thoughts of how happy she'd once been. Thoughts of Alison's cancelled wedding with Chris Hughes. Thoughts of...Hal.....and that horrible night three moths ago. Emily glanced at the wedding picture clutched in her hand, and couldn't control her tears, while her memory drifted back to those pitch black events escalating in that dreadful night....
It had all started on what should have been the most beautiful day in Alison's life. When the judge had reached the part for anyone to raise objections against this marriage...Hal had spoken....and he had spoken in loud and clear words. Devastating Alison and shattering Emily's world.
Hal objected to Alison's marriage to a guy who kept confusing Hal’s wife for his own wife to be....when he'd spoken the words he had looked at Emily with a coldness in his eyes that chilled her to the bone. Then he had stormed out of the house.
When all hell broke loose, Emily just stood there; numb and speechless. She saw how Alison, with the strength of a lioness had lifted the wedding-cake and dropped it over the groom's head. Then she locked herself up in the bathroom and refused to speak to anyone or let them in. She saw Bob and Tom ripping into Chris. She saw Kim sink into her chair and burry her face in her hands. She saw her mother cry.
She hadn't felt the looks shot in her way. All Emily could remember was the way Hal had looked at her. All she could feel was his anger, his pain, when he had his eyes locked on her, speaking the crushing words.
She fled away. She had to get out of that house. Had to get away from everything and everyone there. She couldn't get hoe fast enough. She needed to go home, and talk to Hal....explain to him....but how COULD she possibly explain?....
 By the time Emily arrived at the house, Hal was already packing his bags. She didn’t have to leave, he would. There was also Daniel to think off, he did not want Emily to drag him to some hotel room. No matter how Emily pleaded, begged him to stay, to listen to her explanation, and to say something to her, Hal had not said another word. He’d just looked at her, his eyes filled with anger. Fury, rage even, but most of all, with pain. A pain that was visibly so deep, Emily still cried thinking about it, all those months later….-how could she have done to him what she did?-
While Hal continued packing in an icy silence, Emily tried to tell him how she had felt; how lonely she had been because he had shut down on her, emotionally shut her out. And how she, in this loneliness had turned to Chris. Yes it had been a horrible mistake, but she stressed it over and over again, she had never slept with him.
It this point she got Hal’s first reaction he told her he didn’t care whether she did or did not sleep with Chris Hughes, to him it was still an act of betrayal, and, like he told her from this start, THIS was the one thing he would not accept. Not again. Not after Barbara….
The mentioning of Barbara’s name made Emily furious. How could he possibly compare her to that witch?! The witch, she later found out, who had informed Hal about her and Chris. No doubt her latest vindictive act.
But no matter how Emily talked and talked, pleaded and begged him for forgiveness, she could not get Hal to stay. He did ask her is cheating on him was the best thing she could think of, after the year he endured, a year in which he arrested his own son for murder and had him committed to a psych ward. A year in which he thought he’d lost his best friend. A year in which he almost lost his youngest son…”This was the best reaction you cold think of?”, he had pointedly asked her before he walked out the door…
In the days and weeks that followed Emily fought for what was left of her connection to Hal. But if she had felt he became a stranger to her the months before if she’d felt he pushed her away and shut her out then…..the man she encountered now she did not know at all. The warm gaze that used to be in his eyes each time he looked at her, had vanished. At had been replaced with a cold, hateful look that still made her shiffer thinking about it.
There was nothing left to talk about, he had told her over and over again. She crossed the one line he told her Never to cross….and she knew he would not forgive her…their marriage was over…
Thinking things couldn’t get any worse, that was exactly what happened. Rick Decker escaped form the psych ward. And Emily was one of the people he had one major bone to pick with. One evening Rick had grabbed Emily, knocked her unconscious and had disappeared with her. The first thing Emily was aware of consciously was that she was locked up in the cabin in a yacht,. It didn’t take her long to realize the yacht was leaving a for her unknown and set course for an evenly unknown bay.
Not knowing where she was, or what to do, Emily had been convinced her final hour had struck. Who would come looking for her? Who would help her?
But when despair reached its highest level rescue did come, in the form of the man she thought would hate her forever. Hal had managed to trace Emily’s whereabouts and saved her from a certain dead.
After taking Decker out, and finding Emily in the cabin, Emily had seen no more anger or hate in is eyes. Just relieve and while she could nothing more then cry and hug him, he told her they would work it out. If anything Emily’s last disappearance made Hal realize he loved her despite everything.
Leaving her temporarily prison Hal became restless. Decker was no longer where he left him. He had put the protesting Emily in a rubber boat, while he went looking for Decker, who could not be far. Where could he go on a yacht? Jack had been in the rubber boat taking charge of the getaway and he had not seen the doctor jump over board.
Jack would put Emily on shore and return to the yacht to assist Hal. He did not like the idea, but Hal had insisted Emily’s safety was their first priority. And so Jack had steered the boat to shore, while Emily must have looked back to the yacht a million times, while her stomach turned into a knot.
And then…disaster struck. While Emily set foot a shore, the yacht behind them exploded….a devastating bang, that still woke Emily up at night.
The next time Emily remembers was Jack telling her she’d passed out. He then, with a choking voice informed her that they had searched all night, but…..while Emily screamed and cried a devastated Jack told her they had to accept Hal did not survive the blast….he was gone….
And even though Parker insisted that, like Jack, his father was not dead, and a body was not found. The awful truth sank in….Hal was really gone……
Three months ago…
A persistent knocking on the door brought Emily back to the present. She slowly got up to open the door and Chris immediately barged in. “Where’s Alison?”, he demanded to know.
Emily cleared her throat. Ï have no idea. What makes you think you would find her here?”. True…Hal’s death had brought Alison and Emily closer together again, but they still had a long, long way to go.
Ï need to talk to her. It’s important”’, she heard Chris’s voiced from afar.
Emily sighed, “Chris, Alison’s made it very clear she doesn’t want to have anything to do with you. Just…..let go”.
Ï can’t. I love her”, only now Chris saw the framed photograph still clutched in Emily’s hand. And when are YOU going to let go, Emily?”, he asked.
Emily didn’t respond.
“He’s gone, Emily. The sooner you accept that…the better. You need to move on”.
And what exactly is it yyou would like me to ‘accept’?! Accept that my husband got killed saving me, after I broke his heart?!”, Emily snapped.
“You can’t blame yourself for—“
“”I can! I can blame myself and I do blame myself! And don’t you tell me what to do!”
“We didn’t do anything wrong, Emily”, Chris tried..
“Really?! Emily turned to face him. “You really feel that way?! What we ‘did’ Chris, was break the hearts of people we were supposed to love! Maybe you don’t see it that way but I sure as hell do! I will never understand what made me behave the way I did. How I could ever even risk loosing all because of----throw everything I loved away for…for….I broke his heart, Chris! I will never forget the way he looked at me, ever! And still…despite all that, he saved me. He found me and saved me…after what I did to him….and he was killed because of it…..because of me! Now tell me…how am I supposed to …’move on’ from that, huh? You tell me that!””
“I’m sure Chris is more than willing to help you moving on”, sounded the voice of Aaron Snyder in the open doorway…
“What the hell are You doing here?!”, Chris snapped.
"I could ask you the same question. Haven’t you caused enough damage around here already?...a busted marriage? A cancelled wedding…a death… Why don’t you just get lost and stay lost. If you had one ounce of intelligence in you, you could see you’re upsetting here just be being here!”
"And why don’t you just mind your own business!”, Chris walked over to Aaron.
Aaron scoffed, or what? What is our big bad doctor in lust gonna do when someone tells him he’s nothing but an immature spoiled brat who can’t seem to keep his pants up?!”
Chris lunged at Aaron but was stopped by Emily who jumped between them. “Knock it off! I think you better go, Chris”.
Chris blinked in surprise.
"I mean it”, Emily repeated. “Go. Now. Leave!”.
“Not before he tells me where Alison is!”.
“not that it’s any of your business, she’s at Al’s….with Will”.
Emily couldn’t help but notice the slight smile on Aaron’s face while speaking those last words.
”With Will?! Are you out of your mind?! She shouldn’t spent so much time with him!”
“And who the hell do you think you are you can still make decisions like that for her?!”, Aaron spat back.
Emily looked from Aaron to Chris anxious about both their next reactions or actions. "All right, Chris, you know where Alison is, now…go!”"And stay the hell away from Alison!”, Aaron added.
Chris shot him a furious look. “You know what I don’t understand? IF you love Alison as much as you claim to do….then why the hell do you let her hang out with Will Munson! Especially after everything that went down?!”
”because I, unlike other people, don’t tell Alison who she can and cannot be friends with! And yes, I DO love her. I love her enough to see Will makes her happy. Happier than I’ve seen her in a long time. I much rather would be that person myself but…if Will is the one making Alison happy….I love her enough…to accept that!”.
“Yeach. Right!”, Chris scoffed.
"All right!”, Emily rose her voice. “Now, before you leave, would you like to explain to me why you have so much trouble with Will?”
“The kid is sick!”, Chris snapped.
”Sicker than the guy who suffers from this uncontrollable urge to dangle his dinky toy everywhere?’”, Aaron wondered in a casual tone of voice.
"You just keep pushing me, Aaron”, Chris yelled.
"Oh, I’m really scared now, Chris”, Aaron replied, rolling his eyes.
“That’s enough damn it”, Emily shoved Chris to the door. Alison is fine. Now…go home!”.
“You…you just don’t get it…do you?! Will HATES you, Emily! He holds you responsible for Hal’s death!”
"IF he does…I can’t say that a blame him”, Emily replied in a soft tone of voice.
"Are you insane!?”, Chris called out. “Don’t you see what’s happening here? The calls you’ve been receiving the last couple of weeks…the break inn….I heard Margo say you have this feeling someone is following you---“
"oh, let me guess. That’s….that’s all Will’s work?!”
“Yes! He wants to get back at you. And he won’t hesitate using Alison to do just that. You know….you keep on ignoring all this and you could just very well end up the same way Rose D'Angelo did!”
Emily shook her head and sighed; “Go home Chris”, she shoved him out and closed the door.
“That guy has got some serious issues”, she heard Aaron say.
“He’s had a hard time”, Emily replied.
“Yeach…and who’s fault what that be?!....i…I’m sorry….it’s just…..Alison is very worried about you. She really is. I…I just wanted to see if you’re okay”.
Emily managed to smile. Ï’m fine. Thank you.
Aaron nodded and headed for the door. Äre you sure you’re gonna be okay here, all by yourself?”, he asked, turning around one more time.
I’m a big girl”, I’ll be fine. Besides, Jack or Margo will drop by a little later. So…don’t you worry about me”.
Aaron nodded and left.
Two minutes later there was a knock on the door. “Now what?! I swear, if this is you again Chris, I’ll—“, Emily opened the door. But it wasn’t Chris….a tall figure, wearing a ski mask stood in the doorway. Emily screamed and tried to close the door. But the figure pushed the door open and approached her alarmingly fast…
She felt his hands close around her throat. He was breathing heavily but never spoke a word. Emily caped for air, while the room started to spin….she could feel the life being squeezed out of her, she would loose consciousness…..but just before she passed out a shadow appeared from behind and grabbed her attacker with two strong arms. Pulling him away from Emily and not the ski mask figure out.
Emily sank breathless to the floor. She saw her saviour approach her and look down on her , “This can’t be”…she murmured when she saw the face before everything went black…..
TO BE CONTINUED....
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