Harper's Hill, Chapter 26: What We Owe To The Land

Emily pulled up to her Dad's house. She parked in the driveway and got out of the car. She sighed as she walked towards the door, her stomach rumbling, hoping for food once she got inside. In a surprising turn of events, the past few months had changed Emily. Ever since living on the West side of Harper's Hill, she had seen more and more of her Dad. She had been going to his place regularly, sometimes sharing a meal and sometimes just hanging out.

Now that she wasn't talking to James, she had an empty hole in her life that she needed to fill. As much as she loved all of her new family members, she needed someone more familiar sometimes. Her Dad was just the right amount of home for her right now. She was working on starting her own life, living with Nicole in a small apartment, but the casual meetings with her Dad were making her happy and leaving her feeling satisfied.

She knocked on the door and waited for a moment, but then walked right in, feeling like she could do this now. She had met all of her Dad's housemates, and they seemed to be fine with having her around. They were all very nice, especially the man that her Dad shared a room with, Marty. Now that James was out of her life, Emily had no on-call mechanic, but Marty knew how to fix things. He had reassured Emily that if something ever happened with her car, he could take care of it.

"Hello?" She said into the house as she walked into the front door, quickly spotting one of her Dad's housemates sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey Emily," The man said, and Emily was pretty sure this was Paul, not Chris. "Your Dad is in the kitchen. He's got food for you."

Emily smiled and pretended to tip her hat to the man. "Thanks," She said, slipping off her jacket and shoes before heading into the kitchen. She walked in to see her Dad standing at the stove, turning off the burner.

"Emily!" He said to her, looking over at her with a smile and excitement in his voice as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Glad you're here."

"Thanks," Emily said, feeling awkward and not really knowing what to say in response to this. She was quiet for a second, but then said, "I'm glad to be here, too."

"Good," Raymond said, taking a pan off of the stove. "I made pasta." He started to plate his dish, making two plates. Once he was done, he handed Emily a plate and then sat down across from her with his. "Dig in."

"Thanks," Emily said again, taking her fork and wasting no time. She was starving. She and her Dad were quiet for a few moments, and then her Dad put his fork down.

"Are you okay, Em?" Raymond asked, looking directly at Emily and trying to make eye contact.

Emily tried to avoid his gaze, but she was unsuccessful. "I'm... alright," She said with a shrug. She sighed after that. "I guess I'm not. Something kind of happened."

Her Dad gave her a questioning look. "Care to explain?"

Emily shrugged again. "I met with Camille. You know, Uncle Julian's daughter?" She took another bite of food. "Anyway, I met with her because she wanted to come to the East side. She wanted to explore. And I know that no one else is gonna take her here, so I figured I'd do it."

Her Dad watched her, listening intently, just happy to be back in his daughter's life.

"So we've been driving around a bit, and then all of a sudden when we park she wants to go down this random alleyway. And I told her not to, but she did anyway..."

Emily took another bite of her food, a look of confusion crossing her face. "But then the weirdest thing happened... I realized where we were."

"Where were you?" Raymond asked.

"Um... she led me right to the alley where Mom died."

"What?" Her Dad asked, also feeling confused now. "How did she do that? She wasn't even alive when your Mom died, right?"

"Right," Emily said. "Which is what makes it weird. She was kind of talking like she was feeling pulled to the East side, and I don't know what would pull someone here, but she was so excited to come here."

"What happened after that?" Her Dad asked, jumping back to the story.

"Well, I freaked out," Emily said, followed by a sigh. "I feel bad for getting upset at her, but I couldn't help it. It triggered me."

"That's understandable," Raymond said. "But have you talked to her since then?"

Emily shook her head. "No." She said. "The ride home was silent. I'm pretty sure she was crying — I was just about to. It wasn't comfortable, at all."

"What do you think you should do?" Raymond asked.

Emily shook her head. "I have no idea. All I know is that... she has some kind of connection to Mom. I don't know what it is."

Raymond and Emily sat in the kitchen quietly, both taking their bites sparingly, as if they were going to run out of food after this. "Emily, I know you might want to hear this," Her Dad started, "But it might be time for you to start thinking about your Mom and her... death."

Emily looked at him with a look of pure confusion. "Why?" She asked. "I know what happened. She got high, walked out into a snowstorm, and she died. Right?"

She looked at her Dad, expecting him to answer and confirm what she had just said, but he just avoided her gaze.

"Right?" She asked again, her tone more intense.

"Well, that's what the report said," Raymond said. "I do... I do have a different theory."

"Theory?" Emily asked incredulously. "It's a death, Dad. There is only what happened and what didn't happen. There's no theory."

"Honestly, Emily—"

"No, maybe you're right, maybe I don't want to hear this," She said, shaking her head. She was about to stand up, but her Dad quickly reached out and put his hand on her wrist gently.

"Emily, you have to realize that there's more to this place than meets the eye," He said. "Harper's Hill has a lot of history in the land, especially on the East side. Your Mom always felt called to it."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked. "She felt called to the land? To the history? So she killed herself?"

"No, no," Her Dad denied quickly. "She didn't kill herself."

"So what, then? Am I expected to believe that the land took her or something like that?" Emily asked, losing her faith in the sense of stability that she had barely been holding onto as it was.

"Emily..." Raymond said, looking at her intently, sadness rumbling through his eyes like a storm on the horizon.

"Just tell me, Dad!" Emily exclaimed in angst, feeling more and more upset as the seconds ticked on.

"Okay, okay," He said. "You have to remember that both your Mom and I grew up here. In the East side. We have a history with it. Especially us..."

Emily stayed silent and waited for her Dad to finish.

"We fucked around with witchcraft at one point," Her Dad continued. "We know we shouldn't have. We regretted it afterward. But after that night, when we went to the train station with the Ouija board, we felt different."

"Different how?" She asked.

"Like... cursed in a way?" He said, seeming unsure. "I don't know, maybe not that. Maybe just this feeling like we owed the land something."

"Okay..." Emily said, not sure where he was going.

"As your Mom started to... lose her mind... lose her soul..." Raymond said, his voice getting quieter as he spoke. "She started talking about how she was going to pay the land back for what we took from it, whatever it was that we took. Maybe a secret we shouldn't have known. But she was intent on paying the land back."

"Are you saying she...?" Emily started, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"Now don't misunderstand me, Emily. She didn't kill herself. I have no doubts about that," He said.

"So what happened then?" She asked, making strong eye contact with her Dad.

Her Dad looked away. "She sacrificed herself.