Excerpts from the Emily Entries

Emily Entry #1

February 14, 2026

Women are wicked. That’s all that it is. I thought that Emily might be the one; she was into comic books and graphic novels, Harry Potter, and I swear, I’ve never seen a bigger A Song of Fire and Ice nerd in my life! But NOOOO, she just wants to “be friends”. The bitch! I don’t want to be thrown into the “friend zone” again! I swear, if I ever see her again…

She said that she has an optometrist appointment on Monday. It must be the office on Fifth Street, the one on Seventh is closed on Mondays. Maybe I’ll be able to catch a glimpse of her then.

Dad says I should be a man and let her go, but I think it would be worth it to see her one last time. Mom, as always, has nothing to say on the matter.

Emily Entry #2

February 16, 2026

She was there. I had to wait a couple of hours, but she came in at 11 a.m. I wonder what her job is that she could snag a morning appointment. I bet she’s a computer programmer or a receptionist at a tech company. Something either nerdy or best suited to women. Yeah, she’s probably a receptionist. Mom was a receptionist before I was born. That’s what she always reminds me of when she and Dad get drunk. I took her future as a career woman away. At least she doesn’t yell it like Dad does.

I watched Emily checking out those big black nerd frames that everyone’s been into the past few years. God, she’s such a poser, but damn she did look hot in them. I wonder what she would look like with only those glasses on…

She settled on what looked like a pair of delicate purple frames and came out at around noon. She went north onto Fourth Street and into that corner coffee shop that she had told me was her favorite. Bert’s Beans. I decided to give her some room for the rest of the day, but I do wish I knew what she had ordered.

Emily Entry #10

March 4, 2026

It’s taken me a couple of weeks, but I finally coordinated it so that I was at Bert’s Beans at the same time as Emily. She ordered an espresso, so I did the same. It tasted like shit and hurt my stomach, but I just wanted to taste what she tasted. When she ordered a second one, I did, too.

Emily Entry #20

March 18, 2026

I figured out her pattern, at least when it comes to coffee. She visits Bert’s Beans every day at noon, on the dot, unless she has an appointment. I still don’t know her job, but I heard her tell one of her friends that the “night shift is crazy” and “thank God for weekends”. Maybe she has the night shift as a nurse? Or she’s the receptionist at a hospital? A bit odd for a nerd, but we all do weird things for money. I’m on sabbatical from the university right now, told them that I had some personal things that I’m going through, though Mom and Dad aren’t too happy about it. Mom won’t say so, of course, but Dad nearly beat the crap out of me for it. I don’t care. I can live in their basement a little while longer.

Emily dropped a receipt from her favorite comic book store today. I made sure to snatch it up before anyone noticed. Mike’s Bargain Books. Not very original, but maybe that means it’s a small business, something locally owned. I could stop by and see when Emily next comes for her stash.

Emily Entry #25

March 25, 2026

Mike’s Bargain Books is crap! I asked “Mike” for the first appearance of John Constantine, and he couldn’t even tell me that it’s Swamp Thing #37! Emily is just a poser, through and through. She’s only into comic books and graphic novels for the Marvel and DC movie trends. I bet that she thinks the best Batman is Robert Pattinson!

And of course, while I was there, she and her friends showed up, so I had to stay and see what they got. Surprise, surprise, it was a couple of Batman (Vol. 4) and Iron Man. I bet that they’ve never even read any of the originals.

When they left the shop, I decided to follow them to see what they talked about. Predictably, Emily took her friends to Bert’s Beans. She ordered an espresso, so I did, too, just to know her whole experience. (Again, it tasted like shit.)

The longer I sat there, though, the more uncomfortable I got. Emily and her friends started staring at me and whispering. Finally, Emily came up to me and had the nerve to tell me that I needed to leave her alone or else she’d get a restraining order against me!

Why? Because we were having coffee at the shop and went to the same comic book store? I’d like to see her try.

Emily Entry #26

March 21, 2026

Dad yelled at me today. He told me that I needed to “be a man” and “toughen up”. He said that one girl wasn’t worth me moping around like some invalid. Mom, as usual, didn’t say a word, but I could tell by her expression as she drank her vodka that she agreed.

You know what? They’re right. I’m going to go confront Emily tonight. I followed her home after one of her coffee runs; I know where she lives. I will just go up to her apartment and tell her that she cannot treat me like yesterday’s garbage. I deserve better than that!

I’ll deal with her, one way or another.

The house stank to high heaven. Four paramedics came out carrying two body bags between them, followed closely by a pair of police officers carrying armsful of notebooks. The police officers stopped on the stoop to watch the paramedics as they loaded the body bags into the ambulance to transport to the morgue. Identification and cause of death would be nearly impossible to pin down now; the two had been dead for years and the scene had been compromised by someone cleaning the bodies and tucking them neatly into bed, but the police officers had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

“You almost feel sorry for the guy,” one of the police officers said.

“Bad for him?” the other exclaimed. “He broke into Emily’s apartment and tried to kill her!”

“The poor bastard’s delusional. He probably didn’t even know that Emily and her roommate are cops.” He looked back at the house before returning his attention to the body bags. “I mean, he didn’t even realize that his parents had died.”

“If he didn’t kill them himself…”

The first police officer shook his head.

“This was definitely a murder-suicide. You can tell by the close range of the bullet in the mother’s head plus the fact that we had to answer many domestic abuse calls at this address.”

The second police officer shook his head now.

“Just because it was close range doesn’t mean the son didn’t hold the gun to his mother’s head and shoot her. If we ever find the gun, we’ll know.” He sighed and looked down at the notebooks in his arms. “Do you think that these will lead us to the other women’s bodies?”

“They better because he sure can’t now.”

The second police officer nodded.

“Officer Emily DuPont is an excellent aim.”

Author’s Note: This story was written for LC Schäfer’s Quote Me Baby (Women’s Edition) Challenge, the link to which can be found below.