Capítulo 28: Chapter 28
Emma showed a dismissive expression.
"Forget it. If you don't show up, this will have nothing to do with me. Everyone will just think that Milo accidentally fell off the cliff."
She continued proudly, "I'll act as if nothing happened. My acting skills are enough to deceive everyone, and I won't expose the medal. I'll just keep it and appreciate it alone in the evening."
"That's a good idea, but for the parents who lost their child, they'll dig into it. You can't just brush it off with a few words."
The school also has a responsibility. They wouldn't want to be blamed and will definitely redirect the issue elsewhere.
Emma's few words have already shown flaws. Facing a lawyer or psychologist, she would likely be found out even faster.
"No matter how well you do, once the seed of suspicion is planted, it will eventually reveal the truth. Based on your performance just now, I don't think you can keep up the pretense forever."
Emma's problem is her excessive narcissism. Randy could almost guess that after she evades the first round of questioning, she would be smug and think that the matter is settled in her eyes.
Randy picked up a rock and threw it into the sea with force. Emma casually kicked a stone at her feet.
"If you can't perform perfectly, then you should find someone to take responsibility for your mess. It could be the teachers who didn't properly instill safety knowledge or it could be Milo's own fault for arguing with you at the edge of the cliff, leading to his fall. Anyway, it's not my concern. I don't know anything about it."
In the final few words, Randy mimicked her earlier tone.
"At least you should have a way to vent."
Emma was still unimpressed.
Randy continued to teach.
"Anyone can cause destruction. If you want to kill more people at once, you could poison or set fires, but you haven't considered the consequences of these actions. That's the lowest form of retaliation and no different from just getting back at society."
Emma showed disdain, "Whatever."
Randy stopped his actions, turned, and coldly looked at her.
"You should consider yourself lucky that I found out about this when you pushed Milo down. At least I know about it now, so there's still room for negotiation. If this had been discovered after I left and the mess you created had attracted the police... I wouldn't mind retaliating against society."
Randy didn't say more, but his gaze became even more severe. "Let me tell you, I will definitely find you before the police have finished their investigation. Whether it was accidental or intentional, if you caused me trouble, I will make sure you never have peace, and everyone related to you will receive my 'gifts.'"
"You should also be grateful that I didn't think of a better solution earlier. That's why I'm showing you a friendly face. You should be grateful that I see a bit of myself in you, which is why I'm willing to have an equal conversation with you. If you make me unhappy again, I don't mind changing my plan and making you disappear just like Milo, without a trace."
The sudden change in attitude made Emma's expression stiffen, and her long eyelashes visibly trembled with fear.
There's an inherent attraction between similar kinds, and Randy could sense their similarities, just as Emma could detect his difference. This is why she chose to get closer, understand, and communicate.
Thus, she could also guess what dark thoughts might be hidden behind his seemingly kind and harmless face.
One is too immature, with a style of dealing with things being too whimsical. The other has already concealed himself well, with more mature judgment and different handling methods depending on various scenarios.
Threatening a child doesn't give Randy any sense of achievement. He only needs Emma to understand what respect means and that basic courtesy should still be maintained.
"Understand? Nod if you do."
Emma quickly nodded.
"That's right."
Randy reached out and rubbed her face.
"You and Milo got separated in the forest. He saw a red balloon and ran towards the direction of the road to chase it. If you saw someone waving at you by the shore, that was a clown, so you ran over. But when you got close to the edge of the cliff, I stopped you. Understand?"
Emma looked confused but didn't dare to ask.
"If you have any objections, you can raise them."
"I don't understand. Why a clown?"
"It's right that you don't understand, but your parents will. You just need to follow this."
Emma's mouth twitched. She felt it was better not to ask if she wouldn't get an answer.
"Also, about this evidence."
Randy pointed to the medal tightly gripped in her right hand.
Emma's expression immediately turned tense, and she hid the medal behind her back with both hands. "This is mine. I earned it through hard work."
Randy opened his backpack. "That thing is of no use to me. I'm just keeping it safe for you. Since you can't take it now, you might as well give it to me."
After some thought, Emma eventually put the medal into the bag but still said stubbornly, "Don't forget, it belongs to me!"
"I understand."
Randy zipped up the bag and then picked up a blood-stained round stone to throw into the sea. Emma followed suit and threw a stone as well.
She seemed a bit confused, "Are you sure this will pass?"
"Pretty much. At least it won't cause you trouble and will make your family more concerned about you."
The townspeople all know about the clown. Even Carrie, who was isolated, has heard the rumors.
Based on Emma's behavior, her parents were likely involved in the previous disappearance case, so they would be even more deeply affected.
Knowing that their daughter nearly fell into the clutches of that monster, the negligent parents would be shocked with relief and would naturally shower her with more love due to guilt.
"I don't understand, Randy."
Randy looked at her with confusion.
Emma frowned and asked an unrelated question, "Why do people's relatives feel sad when they die? Isn't it something that will eventually happen to everyone?"
She looked up, and Randy could see that she was genuinely seeking an answer.
It seems Emma's psychological issues are more severe than he thought. She doesn't have a sense of reverence for death.
"Do you have any relatives?"
"I have a dad."
"If your dad died, how would you feel?"
"Well... I think my aunt would adopt me, but she probably wouldn't take care of me as well as my dad did."
"Well, if you died, your dad would probably adopt another child, but he might not treat her as well as he treated you before."
This explanation made Emma frown in dissatisfaction.
"I'm not going to die. I'm still young. Both you and my dad would definitely die before me."
"No one can refuse death, unless you do it like me."
Randy patted her head. "I have high hopes for you, Emma. You are an extraordinary child, much better than other ordinary kids."
"I'm different from those childish guys."
After receiving the praise, even though Emma didn't show it on her face, her slightly lifted head revealed her emotions.
She was still very proud.
Randy nodded thoughtfully, and he guessed that Emma might be a protagonist from another dimension, similar to Carrie.
Before they could say anything more, shouting suddenly came from above.
"Emma, Milo?"
"This is my dad's voice. They're looking for us."
Emma's ears twitched, and she quickly ran to the water's edge to clean the dirt off.
Soon, there were more voices.
"Emma, Milo, where are you?"
Many people had come out, and Emma heard the voices of the teachers and some of her classmates' parents.
She nervously looked at the water's surface. The deep blue made it hard to see what was below. It seemed Milo's body had indeed sunk to the bottom.
Randy waved her over. "Let's go. Don't respond yet. We should go up first; this place isn't suitable for too many guests."
Emma nodded. After all, her deskmate had just died by the shore, so she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.
When passing by the spot, she even took the initiative to kick some stones to cover it up.
They went around the side steps and slowly climbed up.
On the way, they could still hear the shouting voices.
When they were almost close, Emma looked back at Randy. After receiving a confirming look, she immediately shouted.
"Daddy! I'm here! I'm coming up now!"
"Emma."
Soon a middle-aged man appeared on the shore, looking anxiously down below.
After seeing his unscathed daughter, David finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, when he saw Randy following his daughter, he immediately became wary.
Several other people appeared behind him.
There was a black, overweight woman in professional attire, who was obviously a teacher. Also, there was a pair of anxious-looking parents who seemed to resemble Milo somewhat.
They must be his parents.
"Daddy."
Emma ran a few steps up to the shore.
Her father David quickly checked her from top to bottom. "Are you okay, Emma?"
"I'm fine?"
Emma shook her head innocently.
Then Randy felt the other people's gazes on him.
But he still calmly climbed onto the shore. He noticed that there were quite a few people. Just those who had come to the shore numbered seven or eight.
After being stared at for a while, Randy showed a look of confusion. "What's wrong?"
Milo's mother, unable to wait, bypassed Randy to look at the stone steps and then ran to the edge of the cliff to look down at the sea, finally running nervously in front of Randy.
"Have you seen my son Milo? He's about this tall."
Randy shook his head and glanced at Emma. "I've only seen her, Emma."
Milo's mother looked at Emma again.
"Emma, where is Milo?"
"I don't know."
Emma still shook her head innocently.
The black, overweight woman, Teacher Ellis, stepped forward and asked seriously, "Emma, two classmates said that they saw you and Milo enter the forest together."
"Ms. Ellis, don't talk to Emma in such a serious tone."
David frowned. He had already suspected something from the conversation earlier.
After the award ceremony, he noticed his daughter didn't get a medal and remained silent, so he proactively talked to the teacher to ask about the situation.
The teacher's response was that Emma was the most elegant and composed child she had seen in nearly twenty years, listing many virtues. However, she also mentioned that Emma lived in her own world and was indifferent to others, suggesting that Emma should become an actress when she grew up.
It sounded more like criticism than praise.
So David always suspected that Ellis might have some opinions about Emma.
Ellis quickly apologized. "Oh, sorry, Mr. David. Sorry, Emma."
But Milo's mother was still anxious about her child's whereabouts, so she quickly gathered around.
"Emma, tell me what happened after you and Milo entered the forest? Why did he go missing?"
David also looked at Emma with a puzzled expression.
Emma seemed startled and a bit flustered, glancing subtly at Randy for encouragement. After getting a confirming look, she immediately spoke.
"I don't know where he is. We came out of the forest, but he was quickly attracted by a red balloon and went in that direction!"
Emma pointed to the other side of the forest, the direction opposite the coast, where there was still a path.
"Milo is still in the forest."
Milo's mother looked anxious, while David and the other parents seemed confused. "A red balloon?"
"It might have been a balloon from the gathering that blew into the forest."
David quickly asked more questions. "Emma, how did you end up by the sea? And who is this person?"
In this town, which is predominantly white, with only a few black or Latin faces, there are very few Asian faces.
"He's my new friend Randy!"
Emma announced loudly first.
"You must be Mr. David, right? Letting her run alone by the shore is too dangerous. She nearly fell off the cliff just now."
Randy immediately added, also adopting a questioning tone.
"Fell off the cliff?"
David, Ellis, and Milo's parents were all visibly relieved and terrified.
"How could this happen? Emma? Didn't I tell you that the shore is very dangerous?"
Emma quickly began to act. "I don't know. Milo ran too fast, and I soon lost sight of him. Then I saw a clown on the shore waving at me and calling me to come and play."
"A clown?"
Several adults looked at each other, seeming to recall something disturbing.
"Impossible. There are no clowns. I saw her running alone by the edge of the cliff. It's too dangerous. The stones by the cliff are severely eroded by the sea wind and could collapse easily."
Randy didn't give them time to think and, while giving Emma a look, countered her previous statement.
"It was just a clown calling me to help! I'm not lying!"
Emma also noticed the adults' changing expressions when they heard about the clown, so she quickly cooperated with Randy's story.
For this kind of performance, she seemed quite excited and somewhat enjoyed it.
"The clown, the red balloon! Milo."
Milo's mother's expression was frantic. She stood up and ran towards the direction Emma had pointed out earlier. Milo's parents also quickly followed after apologizing to Emma and David.
Ellis also looked very serious.
"Mr. David, as long as Emma is safe, we'll go look for Milo now."
"Yes, yes. I'm sorry I can't join you."
"That's okay. And Emma, I apologize for speaking to you harshly just now."
Unfortunately, Emma didn't pay attention to Ellis. She might really dislike the teacher who gave the award to someone else.
Other parents gradually left as well. After all, there are priorities in situations. Since Emma was safe, they naturally needed to search for the missing Milo.
No one doubted Emma's lies, especially since she had given everyone hope and bad news. Her performance had deceived many.
"That was too dangerous."
David looked at Randy with gratitude and extended a friendly hand.
"You must be Randy, right? Thank you so much! I'm Emma's guardian, David Grossman.
"You're Mr. Grossman.
Randy shook hands. Emma, behind him, showed a victorious smile.
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