Scars and Nightmares: Chapter Twelve

Scars and Nightmares: Chapter Twelve

Characters belong to SM, story still all mine.

JPOV

Emmett came back in not that much later after Dr. Swan left my room. He still looked incredibly upset, every single time he looked at me he had tears in his eyes. Shit, I couldn't take this. I felt bad enough, he didn't need to feel bad too. There wasn't anything I could do to help him, it wasn't like I was in here because I was strong, because I could help anyone.

Turning the shitty TV on I flipped through the channels for something to do more than actually wanting to watch it. I needed a distraction from the noise of the hospital and the silence emanating from Emmett.

Seeing a picture flash across the screen I stopped my clicks. The picture was of a small boy with brown hair and green eyes, his eyes reminded me of Edward's. It was the eyes that made me pause on that station.

Turning up the sound I listened to the breaking news as the news anchor said that that boy had been taken early this morning while he was waiting on the bus for school. No one knew he was missing until he didn't show up for class. His parents were contacted as they didn't call him in as being sick, they didn't know where he was. The last time they'd seen him he was at the bus stop.

The parents were crying and hysterical, begging for the their son to be found, to be released. That had to be what our parents had to have looked like when we went missing. Only when we had been taken you had to wait twenty-four hours to report even a child missing. Now with the Amber Alert effectively in place you didn't have to wait that long. Sometimes you'd find the kid somewhere and they had no idea you were looking for them, they were just playing. But, there were always those cases that you found the child just that much sooner, just that much closer from being harmed, abused or killed. If that alert saved only one child from the trauma that Edward or I had been through it was well worth it.

The longer I listened to the news the more panicked I became. A child was out there that needed help, he wouldn't be the only one. I couldn't do anything about it in here, but Emmett could and yet here he was trying to help me when I didn't want to be helped. He should help someone it wasn't too late for. Edward and I's era of innocence was long gone, taken too early on, taken forcibly, but it might not be too late for some of them.

“Emmett?” I tried to get his attention. He acted like he didn't hear me. “Emmett?” I shouted at him shaking his shoulder.

Looking up at me in startlement he said “What?”

“You need to go back to work.” I commanded him, not asking him.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Whitlock? I'm staying right here until I know you are better.” He stated. No, he wasn't. Not for me. I wasn't worth it, but the other children were.

“You are not. You are going back to work, now.” I argued.

“Why the fuck would I do that? Just yesterday you tried to kill yourself.” He shot back at me.

“You are going. Look at the news.” I said pointing at the TV. His head swiveled around so he could see it.

When he turned back to me all the color had drained from his face. He couldn't speak, he just stared at me. “Emmett, you've got to go. You can't save me or Edward anymore, but you can save other kids.” I pleaded with him to go, to understand. He probably wouldn't have anything to do with the case that was on the news, but there were always other ones, always. Unfortunately.

“But who's going to watch you?” He asked in bewilderment.

“I can.” Said a bright, irritatingly chirpy voice. I couldn't see who the voice belonged to.