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Emy ended up singing with Mina for hours. Although she felt it was lame doing it on her own, when she did it with someone else that was also as passionate as she was, things became much better, she felt happier and could fully immerse herself into the world of music she loved.
It also helped that Mina could give her tips and as she followed them, she learned to improve. Eventually, seeing two cute girls singing ended up bringing more attention, as they received a lot of tips from people passing by, several of them standing there to listen.
When they were finally over, it was already night, and Emy couldn't believe she had had such a blast, laughing and giggling while joking and chatting with Mina.
"It was so much fun!" Emy said, packing her stuff. "I can't believe there were so many people listening to us! And they donated a lot too…"
"Yep, it was fun," Mina said. "I guess we should divide this, or I'll feel bad. Let see… Uh."
"Ah no, don't worry, just anything would be fine, I know you put most of the effort and all!" Emy said.
"Well, uh, here," Mina gave her like thirty dollars. "Is that fine? I don't think we made more than sixty."
"S-So much money?!" to a young girl like Emy, thirty dollars were a lot of money.
"It's honestly nothing once you grow up, haha…" Mina laughed. "Anyways, I'll get going… was fun, how about we do something similar tomorrow?"
"Yeah sure!" nodded Emy. "We could even… Ah wait, why don't you come to my family's pizzeria? I'll convince my parents to give you a discount! Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm starving… sure," Mina smiled with a nod.
"Ah, now where's my bicycle…" wondered Emy. "Hmm… Huh?"
She wandered around, she was sure the bicycle was right behind her, but she hadn't been paying attention to it this entire time, as she was busy singing.
"Mina didn't you see the bicycle here?!" Emy asked.
"Nope…" Mina said. "D-Did you lost it?"
"Yeah… I think… someone stole it?" Emy muttered. "Shit… it's the only one we have!"
"Ah… let me help you out, maybe it's around here…" Mina muttered.
They ended up looking around the entire plaza but couldn't find anything in the end.
It was truly stolen.
Emy didn't knew what to do! She felt completely lost.
What would happen to her now?
"Aaah… I-I really lost it… no, it was stolen. What do I do?!"
"I think we should report it to the police, right? Though I doubt they would do anything- it would be a waste of time actually."
"Ugh…"
"I think that for now you should go back home Emy, let me accompany you at least… And you sell me a slice of pizza for a discount, alright?"
"O-Okay, thanks Mina…"
Emy at least felt lucky Mina was there for her, someone she had unexpectedly befriended in this city full of chaos and stress.
After ten minutes of endlessly walking everywhere while avoiding shady places or suspicious groups of people, or people in general, they reached the pizzeria, still open.
"H-Here we are, come in…"
Mina stepped inside as she looked at the shaggy-looking place, it certainly wasn't the best place, but the smell of pizza made her hungry anyways.
As Emy walked to the kitchen, she greeted her family who were having dinner.
"Hey I'm back…" Emy muttered.
"Emy! Y-You're so late! You said you would come back before dinner…" her mother muttered, running towards her.
"You're super late! We were worried!" her father groaned angrily. "What do you think you're doing coming at night?! You're grounded!"
"B-But dad, wait… I… This is Mina, she's my friend I made at the plaza, we sang together…" Emy muttered, trying to introduce her.
"Heyyy… Uh." Mina muttered, as she noticed Emy's father and his furious face.
"Where's the bicycle at, Emy?" her father aske angrily.
"A-About that… Um, it was… it got stolen," Emy muttered.
"WHAT?!"
Her father grew super furious, smashing the table and throwing a cup of wine into the floor.
"THAT'S THE ONLY DAMN BICYCLE WE HAD!"
"B-But we could buy another one? Look, I earned thirty bucks and-"
"That's cheap change!"
Her father threw away the money she tried to give to him onto the floor, making her hands hurt.
"That hurt asshole!"
"Asshole?! Since when you talk to me in such a tone of voice?! YOU DISSAPEAR FOR A WHOLE DAY, GO SING WITH SOME RANDOM… SLUT YOU FOUND AROUND? AND THEN YOU COME BACK WITH THE FUCKING MISSING BICYCLE?!"
"S-Slut?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Mina asked angrily. "Why are you even…? Ah, I'm not even going to bother with this… Bye Emy. It was nice meeting you."
Mina quickly ran away; she didn't want to get involved in family drama.
"M-Mina!" Emy tried chasing Mina, but her father screamed at her.
"YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND! AND YOU'RE NOT SINGING EVER AGAIN!"
"What?!"
Emy saw her father grabbing her guitar, her mother tried to stop him, but he pushed her away and threw the guitar onto the floor.
CLAAASH!
"NOOO!"
Emy screamed in horror as she saw the guitar break apart once it hit the floor, its threads were cut down and a horrendous sound came out from it before pieces fell off from it when she tried grabbing it again.
"H-How could do this?! This was… this was auntie's guitar!" Emy started crying. "THIS WAS THE LAST THING SHE LEFT BEHIND!"
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT HER! SHE WAS AN USELESS WOMAN THAT ONLY RUINED OUR FAMILY'S LIVES!" Screamed her father furiously. "HONESTLY? I'M GLAD SHE'S FUCKING DEAD!"
"A-Ah…!" Emy gasped in disbelief, rapidly growing more and more desperate, her heart breaking into pieces. "Y-You're a fucking monster… are you even my father?!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! REPEAT IT TO MY FACE!" Her father screamed, his hands rushing towards her.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Emy ran away from the kitchen, screaming at her father.
"I FUCKING HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!"
As she ran away to the dark streets while crying, her father became angry, throwing to the floor everything in the kitchen in a fit of rage.
"D-Dear, calm down! Please stop destroying everything!"
His wife tried to stop him, but he just pushed her away again.
"Shut up! I work hard every fucking day for this family, and this is what I get?! A bunch of fucking useless pieces of shit is what I get!"
Emy's mother glanced at her husband in disbelief, but deep down, she knew he was like this.
"Oh… Emy…!"
She slowly stood up, running to find her daughter who had run into the city at night.
"Haah.. Haahh… Haaah…"
Emy continued running through the streets.
Sometimes she bumped into people.
Other times they tried to stop her.
But she kept running and running.
The lights of the city at night, the darkness, the moon, it all merged together, twisting around her, warping her perception of everything.
"Auntie…"
Consumed by grief and the loss of her aunt, filled with frustration over her abusive father, and consumed by embarrassment after her first friend was insulted like that.
Emy felt like she slowly drowned into the black void, the technicolor of the night city, the moon, the stars, the night itself.
It all merged into a swirling mass of darkness, consuming her completely.
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