Chapter 17: Emuna's Bad Day

After Emuna's friends finished their tasks for the day, Emuna sighed while she stood by the bridge, gazing out at the same river as she did a weekend ago. She frowned and put her head down. She still felt guilty over her failure to prevent her memories from distracting her during her ministry work as well as making Yudia perform double tasks.

-I can't believe it…I can't believe I let Elohim and my friends down…I had this amazin' opportunity to stop my distractions with Elohim and…I…failed to do that…what was I thinkin'?!

Her eyes were watery as tears began to pour down on her face, nearly closing her eyes. Her gritted teeth was displayed when her mouth was opened, as she sniffed her nose. She leaned forward while she wiped the tears off her eyes. People walked past her in opposite directions; they didn't bother to comfort her. No one.

-Why…?! Why the hell did I do that?! WHHHHY?!

Her hands covered her guilty cheeks with her eyes remaining broadened. She tried to stop crying yet her guilty heart prevented her from doing so. She then placed her hands on her face and cried onto them.

-Like, I disappointed Elohim and my friends, thanks to my utter failure! How the hell am I supposed to get the hell out of this mess now?! HOW?!

She cried even more, this time without her palms serving as pillows for her to cry on. She continued on crying until someone's footsteps stood near her.

"Um, miss?" Someone's voice asked near her. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Emuna asked back, sniffing her nose, wiping her eyes from her very own tears. She turned around and saw no one but the boy from yesterday. She and the thief widened their eyes when they reunited with one another for a brief moment.

-Ah, it's this boy again! I wonder how his family's doin' so far.

"Uh, I gotta go. Bye!" The boy said as he turned around and tried to run away from Emuna.

Unfortunately for him, Emuna grabbed his wrist quickly. "No, wait!"

"Huh?!" The boy turned around rapidly and tried to get her to let go of her hand. "Let go of me, you freakin' bitch!"

Emuna growled at the boy for a moment with her head down, while she still held onto his wrist so tightly, that the boy still had trouble getting her hand to let go of him. Then she calmly asked him, "I want to know how your family's doin' financially to make sure you're okay and all."

"Uh, I don't wanna answer you, bitch! Now let go of me!" The boy snapped, glaring at Emuna while he still resisted her.

"Answer me!" Emuna roared and glared back at the boy as she was starting to lose patience with him. "Is your family doin' okay financially or not? I'm not tryin' to hurt ya, y'know…"

"I said, 'Let go of me,' dammit!" The boy roared, respitting his saliva on her face.

"Ah!" Emuna cried, letting go of the boy's wrist as she quickly wiped her tears off her eyes. She heard his footsteps running away from her on her right. She opened her eyes and studied her surroundings to the right of her until she spotted the boy running towards the end of the bridge. She glared at me more and sighed deeply with her mouth closed before she chased after him.

-Oh, Lord. Please deliver me from tryin' to hurt this child! Because this boy is seriously pissin' me off! Ugh!

She ran, ran and ran after him as fast as she could, fighting through the crowd, saying her "Excuse mes" when coming through, but he ran a bit faster than her. She widened her eyes when she noticed him running faster than her. She couldn't believe an Upper Elementary school kid could outrun her a bit that fast.

-Wow, that boy sure does run fast for an Upper Elementary school kid! I'll have to find another way to catch him, 'cause chasin' him isn't gonna cut it.

Emuna looked around to see if she could find a short cut, but she couldn't find any. The boy and Emuna entered the street shopping area where a lot of Mom and Pop's stores thrive there. Emuna looked sideways out of excitement-widened eyes and opened mouth.

-Whoa! This place is amazin'! I can't wait to visit here someday.

Then she shook her head sideways and remained focused on the boy with her serious, determined look on her face.

-Okay, Emuna. Snap out of it! Gotta stay focused, ya hear?

Then the boy threw the bag in the air and marbles came falling down. Then Emuna stopped moving and took several steps back. As the marbles hit the ground, some people tripped them over while the boy turned right once he reached the end of the sidewalk.

-Goddammit! I lost him! It's my fault I soulda jus' stayed focused on my target. Jus' Goddammit!

She tried to look sideways for shortcut, yet couldn't find any.

-Goddammit! No shortcut anywhere! Looks like I won't be able to catch him now. Better head back home while I'm at it.

She put her head down and clenched her fists while people still walked past her. She quietly growled and stood there in the middle of the sidewalk.

-Oh, man. Today's my worst day ever. First, I allowed my distractions to not finish my art project. And now I also allowed them to not get to my target and know about that boy's family situation? Ugh!

She turned around and began to head back home disappointed. Lifting her head up a bit, she scanned her surroundings with a frown.

-I can't believe this is happenin' to me today!

Then she looked up at the sky and her destination back and forth.

-Ugh! Why is Elohim allowin' this shit to happen to me?! Why isn't He helpin' me?! I did stuff for Him, but He won't do stuff back to me?! Like, huh?! Like why, Elohim?! WHY?!

****

Opening the door, entering her grandparents' house, Emuna switched her shoes with her slippers. Her grandparents were happy yet surprised to see their granddaughter at the same time. They were watching TV from their couch.

"Hey, Emuna! How have ya been?!" Her grandpa asked. "You're home early."

"Yea! That's what I was gonna ask ya!" Her grandma said, looking at her husband and granddaughter back and forth.

"I'm fine…" Emuna forced herself to smile with her eyes closed, pretending to be okay.

"Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that," Her grandma exclaimed, also closing her eyes with a smile, except she bobbed her head.

"Yea, me too," her grandpa also exclaimed.

"I'm gonna go take a bath," Emuna said, getting her hygiene products from one of her bags and some night clothes. "Do either of you want to go to the bathroom before I bathe?"

"No, we're pretty much good," her grandparents responded with a smile.

Once she got her things out of her bags, she headed her way to the bathroom, shutting the bathroom door. Looking in the mirror, she brushed her teeth as well as combed and brushed her black, wavy hair. After she completed these things, she put her comb, brush and her toothpaste away, then put her head down for several moments.

She felt guilty for lying to her grandparents about having a bad day. But she didn't feel like she wanted to talk to them about it. Too embarrassed to do it. She then lifted her head up and moved her eyes right.

-Man…I feel bad over lyin' to grandparents 'bout havin' a bad day today. But at the same time though, I'm not in the mood to talk to them 'bout it. Ugh!

Then she turned to the bathtub.

-I better start runnin' the bathtub then.

As soon as she turned it on, the bath started pouring out water from the sink. She closed the sink stomper and added bubbles to it from the running water from the bubble liquid.

Then she laid in the hot bathtub with bubbles covering her entire body, once her bathtub was filled and she turned off the running water. She already got her body used to the temperature before she started to wash her body, face and hair. She sighed out of relaxation, as well as she had her eyes closed and her hair tied up into a bun.

-Aaaaah! I love the hot bath water. Mmmm…so relaxin'...I would wanna do it all day, y'know…

Then Emuna opened her eyes and expressed her determined look on her face, as memories from earlier today resurfaced in her heart.

-Alright, Emuna. I need to go to that place again. I need to search for that boy again. I need to know if his family is financially secure or not. I may need to even follow him to know where he lives, so that I won't have to chase his rude ass again and throw marbles in the street, jus' like he did today. I'm gonna do it, dammit! I jus' have to get to the bottom of this shit!

Then Emuna began to wet and rub her soap to wash her arms.