TW: DOMESTIC ABUSE

A room – a girl's room from the looks of it. Lacquered, lilac wallpapers and furniture, summery, flower-printed curtains and bedsheets – it's Emerynne's room, back in their apartment in Vienna.

Yells emanate from behind the white door. Yells and screams; angry, loud, cursing, and pleading, begging, apologizing – a man's voice and a woman's. Annika and Johann are fighting again – no, Johann is, whereas Annika is just asking him to stop. He shouts over her entreaties, inundating her sweet implorations in his unreasonable rage. Then she raises her voice, demanding to know why he's being like this, and he screams back at her that she has no right to ask such questions because she is the cause of all this. Emerynne can hear it all.

A piercing scream shatters the air, making her jump. Then comes another. Another. And another. Emerynne stares at her bedroom door in horror; it sounds like one scream hasn't died before another comes alive. Each harrowing shriek thickens the air with a fear that fills her chest and chills her spine.

Emerynne cannot take it any longer. She runs out of her room and into the hall in panic, where Johann stands, a hand fisted in Annika's hair and the other hand landing a hit after another to her face. Horrified, Emerynne rushes forward and grabs Johann's arm, pulling it back with all her strength.

He is momentarily surprised by her intervention, but that doesn't last long. His eyes turn on Emerynne with so much fury and hatred that her innards get a life of their own – churning and twisting up a tumult. He speaks, low voice laced in impending threat, "Emerynne, let go." Defiance builds in her, and she shakes her head. He raises his voice, "NOW!"

She can sense Annika's hand on her lower back, pushing. Urgently, Annika whispers, "go, please. You'll make him angrier..."

Emerynne doesn't move.

Johann turns on her. The space around her warps for a minute, and she is thrown to the side like a mere ragdoll. Her body crashes into the coffee-table; there's a distant ringing in her ears and an eerie blur encroaches her vision. An excruciating, aciculate pain fingers into her back, right below her left shoulder blade. Then she sees Johann again, hulking over her, expression molded into one so monstrously demented that she knows this man is out for blood. Somewhere beyond him, Annika screams as his raised fist comes crashing into Emerynne's face.

Emerynne bolts upright, gasping. The room is cold, but still her body is drenched in sweat. Her throat is parched, and her heart hammers away in her chest from the unmitigated terror. She stretches her hand back to touch the scar from that incident; it is a puckered knot of a mark, a starburst of skin where a glass shard from the coffee-table had pierced her. As her breathing slows to normal, she keeps telling herself that it was just a dream, a bad dream – that it can't hurt her, that she is safe and sound, in Hallstatt, away from him. Slowly, Emerynne works to disentangle herself from the pleached vice of the blanket. Shifting to her side, she fumbles about her bedside dresser in the dark, searching for her phone. Her hand closes around its slim, cold form, and she taps on the screen. 3:56AM, it shows. She drops back on her pillow, trying not to think about the nightmare and instead get in a few more hours of sleep, but of course, slumber eludes her when she needs it the most. Emerynne is tired, but seemingly not enough to fall asleep.

Emerynne remembers that day now; the night Johann had assaulted her for the first time. Something that she had endured nearly every day since. She was seventeen then.

Inhale. Exhale. Don't think about it.

How can she not? Ghosts of the agony still linger in her bones.

Just don't think about it.

That's how you deal with bad memories. You don't let them govern your mind.

She checks her phone again. 4:23AM. She curls in on herself, her hands tucked under her chin, her knees drawn up to her chest. There is a crack in her dam of emotions, and Emerynne cannot hold herself back from crying this time. Her sobs are as hushed as she can keep them, her breath held back and her pillow soaking up the tears that have finally escaped.

Eventually, she has cried herself to sleep.

Her phone displays 6:11AM when she awakens next. Kicking the blanket off herself, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Emerynne stretches, popping a few joints with that queer satisfaction. Then she goes about the starting-the-day activities – brushes her teeth, showers, gets dressed, checks on her bruises. They have faded fully – the bruises – so she doesn't bother with make-up today. In the dining room, Erika and Annika have finished breaking their fast and are getting ready for work.

"Can I come today?" asks Emerynne tentatively.

"Emery, it's Sunday," says Erika, as though that answers Emerynne's question.

"Yes, I'm aware, but—"

"Hang out with Noemi." Erika has evidently developed an annoying knack for interrupting Emerynne. "You can have her show you around town—see the museum and the Viewing Point."

Puffing out her cheeks and swinging around, Emerynne heads back to her room.

"Have fun, sweetheart. Stay safe!" Emerynne hears Annika yell before there's the sound of the door shutting behind them as they leave.

After spending almost an hour in bed, Emerynne decides that spending the day with Noemi will be a better use of the Sunday than wallowing in her room. She pulls on her coat and laces up her sneakers, then heads out to locate Noemi's address that Erika had penned down. Finding it is easy; the residents of Hallstatt are quite helpful – unlike in Vienna, where everyone is too busy trying not to get late for something or the other that they simply don't have the time to help someone with directions. In minutes, Emerynne is standing on the porch of Noemi's house, ringing the bell.

The door swings open to reveal a woman. "Yes?"

She looks like Noemi, only with crow's feet crinkling the corners of her green eyes and stray grays streaking her red hair. "Hello," Emerynne says, smiling, "Mrs Unger?"

"That's me."

"I'm here for Noemi. I was wondering if she wanted to hang out with me?"

The woman breaks into a pleasant smile. "Oh, please call me Anne. And do come in. I'll go get Noemi." As Emerynne enters the house, Anne calls her daughter. "There's a friend here to see you!"

Footsteps hurry down the stairs from somewhere further inside, then Noemi rounds the corner, surprise masking her visage. "Emerynne, what're you doing here?"

"Hey. Erika told me Sundays are off for you," explains Emerynne, "so, I was wondering if you wanted to go out."

Noemi brightens. "Of course!"

By then, Anne reappears wearing an apron. "Girls, eat something before you leave. If you're going exploring, you'll need all your energy."

"Thank you, Anne," says Emerynne politely, "but I just had breakfast."

"Oh, come now, it's only some pie and tea. And it's rose tea from Esoteric Herbals, absolutely delicious," Anne tells her, taking her hand and leading her to the dining room. "Young people like you ought to eat more."

The pie smells decadent; Emerynne doesn't want to decline that.

After eating, Noemi takes Emerynne upstairs to her room to wait while she gets ready. From beyond the closet doors, she asks, "so what do you wanna do? Where do you wanna go?"

"Umm..." Emerynne thinks a moment, then gives up. "I was hoping you'd have something in mind."

"Well, in fact, I do." There's a triumphant lilt to Noemi's voice. "How about a little Hallstatt tour for a start?"

"Sounds great."

Noemi comes out, dressed in blue jeans, a white tee, and a black hoodie, and her hair pulled into a ponytail. "Let's go, then."

The two head out, Noemi leading, already telling Emerynne about the history of the houses on her street as they walk it down to the Marketplace. "You already know Marktplatz. This is like the heart of Hallstatt," she exemplifies, "all major roads wind up here, like veins and arteries."

"That was a beautiful simile." Emerynne laughs. "You'd make an awesome tour guide."

"Why, thank you." Grinning, Noemi executes a low curtsy. She straightens. "Is there anything you wanna buy?"

"No... not really..." Emerynne starts, but changes her mind when she remembers that she does need something. "Actually, I lost my phone. I've got an old one to use right now but I don't have a SIM."

"The phone company it is!" declares Noemi. "This way."

Once Emerynne gets her old number unregistered and a new one registered in her name, Noemi decides that they must see the harborwalk of Hallstatt Lake. So, they meander through the serpentine main road leading out of the Marketplace and Noemi stops her in front of the Municipal Office building to take a picture, and another in front of the Hallstatt Lutheran Church.

"Whyyy?" Emerynne whines, holding a pose Noemi put her in.

"Because memories," Noemi responds, squatting to photograph from a lower angle.

A few feet from the church is a dock that sits aside the Hallstatt Lake, small boats parked parallel to each other bob in the water. The sign labels it 'Hallstatt Market Boat Station', it also informs Emerynne that it's closed on Sundays.

"Would you look at this view?" Noemi calls. Emerynne turns towards her voice to see her standing by the railing that edges the water. Emerynne joins her. "See that?" Noemi points at the town which occupies the other bank. "That's Obertraun. My ex-boyfriend lives there."

Emerynne faces Noemi; the girl's faraway stare is misted in tears. "If I may... why'd you break-up?"

Sighing, Noemi shakes her head. "Frankly, I don't know. He simply texted me one day and said it wasn't working for him."

"What wasn't working for him?"

"I don't know, Emery." Noemi sounds exasperated. She removes her glasses and rubs her eyelids. "I just... didn't know how to ask, how to get closure and clarification. Like his message was so direct and heartless. He told me it was best if we stopped talking to each other again..." She pauses to sniffle, and Emerynne wants to pull her into a hug. "And knowing that he's right there, a boatride away. I could turn up, ask him to look me in the eyes and say those things again. Ask him what went wrong..."

"Why don't you?"

"I don't think I can bear his answers..."

Emerynne feels her chest constrict. Reaching out, she wraps an arm around Noemi's shoulders. "I don't think you need anything from him. From... from someone so blind to what he's missing and what he's lost..."

Noemi sniffles again. "You're only saying that."

"No, I mean it," Emerynne asserts, "you deserve someone who sees and appreciates how intelligent you are. And not to mention, beautiful. You're organized and hardworking, you're neat and dedicated. You're an amazing coworker, and you're crazy fun to be around." Gazing out at Obertraun, she adjudges, "you deserve someone who can match all that. He was definitely not that someone."

"Thank you..." Noemi's voice is heavy with sorrow.  She drops her head on Emerynne's shoulder, and they stand like that for a while – watching the ripples cresting across the lake, the sweet, spring sunlight warming them. The gentle breeze and the water lapping at the dock fills their silence. Then, Noemi straightens and Emerynne releases her hold on her. Her eyes are still teary, but she dabs them away with a handkerchief. Turning to Emerynne, she beams and says, "the tour's not over until you've been to the Hallstatt Viewing Deck. Come on."