School had finally finished, and today Emma tried her best like any other day to avoid Luna's obnoxious gang. But it never turned out the way she wanted.
Except for today.
Emma had not encountered Luna and her gang at all. Why had they not searched for her yet?
"Maybe Luna doesn't come here anymore."
The thought of that had put a smile on Emma's face.
Turns out good days can be more than a one-time thing.
"Seriously I can't believe that happened to Luna, it's literally so insane." A group of girls gossiping appeared behind Emma.
Hearing Luna's name Emma grew tense, she was about to leave school, but she couldn't help herself. If her ears are functioning like ears, then she definitely heard them say something happened to Luna.
"What actually happened to her?" Emma suddenly interrupted the conversation of the gossiping girls.
"No way. You don't know, I thought you and Luna were like, besties or something." The girl that Emma first heard before talked. "She died; Luna was found on a sidewalk just now. They say she looked like an elephant had sat on her."
"It's unfortunate to see her go, I still remember bumping into her when I was at my lowest. I still can't believe she moved to the side so that I could get off the floor." The first girl shamelessly shouted dramatically, then turned to the other girls looking for their approval. And they all had turned to comfort her.
"Luna's dead?!! This must be a gift from heaven, yippie! Now I no longer have to deal with Luna ever! The dead can't hurt the living after all." Emma rushed out of the gossiping girls circle and went home with a smile, and occasionally skipped on the sidewalk when no one was around.
Emma took the metallic suitcase from her room and skipped her way back to the bus stop she was on before, taking the same path she used in the night.
But today, the air smelled odd. It was like the gasoline was infused with something else, like uncooked rotting meat.
That brought back some memories for her, it was an unfortunate circumstance. One day Emma had 'accidently' forgot to cook some meat that her mom asked her to, it turns out the meat was near expired.
The meat had rotted due to prolonged exposure being outside the fridge, and Emma was grounded for 2 weeks.
It was sad times, back then Emma had only started her exploration of the port in this city, at least all that she could.
Emma saw yellow bright duct tape and suddenly stopped reminiscing about the past. Emma had remembered this place; it was where she killed that ant and left it behind. But what was there was no ant.
Emma saw police officers carry a corpse to a car. The corpse itself had been in a very bad condition, with it looking kind of like how the ant had, and just the sight of it Emma's head spinning.
"Look at her, she is so young. what kind of monster would do this." The officer closed the trunk that the squished girl was in, while chatting with his fellow officers.
"If that was my own daughter I would be beyond devastated. I feel so bad for the family who experienced this loss." Another officer responded with an even sadder tone.
"We have to catch this criminal before they strike again! Who knows when another child might look like a squashed ant, it could happen at any second as long as the criminal is still out there." The last officer chimed in.
"Wait, a squished girl, dead, a squashed ant." Emma's face suddenly felt like tons and tons of weight, as she continued in her heart. "Was this my fault? Isn't this exactly what I wished for with that box in my hand?"
Emma hesitated a bit before continuing "Am I a monster? Ha! No way, if it really was my fault then Luna deserved it, if she hadn't done all those things to me then she would be alive. But it was most likely not even my own fault, there's no way someone could actually wish someone to death, that sounds like some evil Disney mumbo jumbo!"
But then again, Emma knew what this box was called, and now she knew why. The wishing box did exactly what the name suggests, grants wishes. Emma didn't want to admit it though, besides it wasn't even confirmed.
Emma took a step back and the police group continued. "What would even motivate a monster to do this? He got to be a real sicko."
"I'm already imagining how I'm going to beat this felon before we turn him in! I don't care about laws against it, this fella is just too heinous!" Another cop added.
"Yeah, for the family!" The last cop shouted.
Emma by now had already left the scene, she still had the wishing box in hand. And she knew what she was supposed to do. Besides it was just Luna who had died, no biggie. "I bet no one even cared for such a despicable person anyways."
Emma ran away, her head still felt light, and the disgusting air hadn't helped get rid of the feeling in any way. After stopping in an alleyway Emma had prepared herself and made another wish.
"I wish that I was in the Chugach mountains already!" Emma shouted honestly, and the box grew warm again. Emma remembered this feeling; it was exactly what she had felt last night.
The warm breeze, Emma understood now, the warm breeze wasn't a good thing. It wasn't a bad thing either. She was just a bad person.
Emma's breathing grew heavy, then she suddenly had been teleported to Chugach. Wasn't she supposed to be happy for such a box that had granted wishes? So why did it feel so bad?
It was because she was the one who killed Luna, bringing her in such a disfigured state. Emma's head felt lighter than before, like it was going to float away at any moment.
But it was just Luna, right? Why did that matter? Why did she care?
"I'm not a monster, right? No, I am not! It was the box, not me. The box that had granted the wish in the first place… Who am I kidding?" By now Emma had started too frantically pace around.
Suddenly Emma had come up with a solution. It was a poor answer, but what could she do about that?
Tears had rolled down from her face.