Chapter 8

Emma could see that gaze again. It was the same gaze she had seen in the eyes of the boys earlier when they had seen her at first; and she got really curious.

“Can’t you talk or what…” The woman queried, seemingly getting tired of repeating her questions.

“I’m Emma, and I live down the street” Emma replied looking at the woman. But she couldn’t keep the eye contact for long. Rubbing her hands together, she looked elsewhere, at the gmelina trees; because for some reasons, unknown to her, she felt cold under the woman’s gaze.

“You live here??” The woman asked, her voice tinted with a note of confusion and surprise.

Emma, grasping that, looked up at the stranger. She could see the widening of the woman’s eyes in surprise, then in conflicting emotions.

“Yes, that’s what I said the first time” She replied after few seconds. She didn’t understand the woman emphasis on where she lived.

But then, Emma heard the woman scoff, and she almost slapped herself