Emma and the Minotaur by Jon Herrera

ride home had been a quiet one because Will was good at sensing when Emma wasn’t in a talking mood.
    They ran from the bus all the way to their house without slowing down. Emma got soaked for the second time that day. They went to their separate rooms without saying a word. When she was in her bedroom, Emma changed into her pajamas and put on a pair of pink slippers. She wanted the day to end already but she knew that the hardest part was yet to come. She had to tell her father what she had done and the trouble she had gotten into.
    When she had put her things away, she reached underneath her bed and took out the yellow lunchbox. From it, she withdrew an old and tattered copy of her favourite book and snuggled into her blankets to forget the world. She started reading and in her mind she was taken to a hole in the ground where she found some quiet comfort before tired eyelids closed on their own and she fell asleep.
     
    When Emma woke up, it was dark outside. Her book was resting on her chest and against her chin. She blinked a few times and it took her a moment to notice the voices. One of them sounded like her father’s. The other voice was also familiar, but less so.
    She got out of bed and put her book under the pillow, thinking that she may need it later when this was all over.
    She walked out of her room, down the dim hallway, and into the living room. Her father was speaking but he stopped doing so as he saw her enter. Seated across from him was Lucy Leroux. The girl looked up and Emma saw that her eyes were streaked with tears and there was black makeup running down her face. She gave Emma a little wave and a forced smile.
    “Hey,” Lucy said.
    Mr Wilkins wasn’t smiling as he beckoned Emma over. She sat on the edge of the armchair opposite the windows so that the three of them formed a triangle. She was still disoriented and she wasn’t sure what time, or what day, it was.
    “What’s going on?” she said.
    “Emma…” Mr Wilkins said. He shook his head. A pulse of panic beat in Emma’s chest when she noticed his expression. A deep-set frown dominated his features. He took off his glasses, closed his eyes, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Emma had never seen him that way. In the pause that followed, for just a moment, he seemed like a stranger to her and she felt afraid.
    “It’s just… you’re such a good girl, Emma, but lately...”
    “Dad,” Emma said, “what is happening?”
    “It’s my fault,” he said. “I’ve just let you run off and do whatever you want. Your mother—”
    “Dad, what are you talking about?”
    Lucy Leroux spoke up in a small voice. “Professor, maybe I should go?”
    “No, no, it’s alright. I’m sorry, Lucy.” He turned to Emma and sighed. “I know you’ve been in the forest,” he said. “That’s why Lucy is here.”
    Emma stood up, a flood of thoughts crashing in on her mind. The first was that she was in a great deal of trouble, more than she had thought. Then the rest of the day’s events came back to her. Jake was missing and she hadn’t heard from him. Maybe he was lost forever. She had her third strike at school. Now, on top of it all, she had to explain her excursions into the forest.
    And then there was Lucy.
    “You did it to me again,” she said, almost yelling at the girl. “You’re just a giant snitch!”
    “Emma, calm down!” Mr Wilkins said, yelling back at her. He stood up and in his anger he seemed taller than before.
    Emma cowered back a step.
    At that moment, there was music. It was a symphony, a cascade of sound that inundated the room.
    “Why are you being so difficult lately?” Mr Wilkins said, still yelling.
    Emma looked around frantically. “Don’t you hear that?” she said.
    “Hear what? Stop playing around, Emma. First this obsession with the forest and now I get a call at work that you have detention. What is wrong with you?”
    He was shouting. Lucy Leroux was looking at the floor, trying to disappear. The music