1
“You should stop abusing yourself. You cannot do this forever, Bella.”
Isabella sniffed, shoving her body out from the sheets that has covered her for days now. Has it been days? She doesn’t know.
“I don’t have the appetite, Luke. Please leave me alone.” She said, not bothering to look at him while she walks through the window, peering through it.
“Oh, yeah, you’ve been telling me that for weeks now and seriously, I won’t buy it anymore.” He stood up and walked unto her, grabbed her by the shoulders and then dragged her to the front of the mirror. “Come on, Belly. Look at yourself.”
She did. And doing so, she realized how terrible she looks. She lost almost half of her weight, as if she had been homeless for a year. Her hair’s in a messy (literally) bun and she couldn’t even remember the last time she ever combed it. Bella wears a shirt that she once remembered a perfect fit on her body but now makes her look like a hanger in it. “Wow, I look… cute.” she chuckled.
“Really? You would want to look presentable when you face the police right now. They’re downstairs. I bet they already have some heads up about who murdered your parents.” Bella’s head automatically turned to him in shock. Without saying a word, she rushed to the shower to get ready.
It has been a month since Luke called Bella, telling her that her parents were in the hospital, fighting for their lives. But who could they be kidding? They were shot in the head, making sure that her poor Mom and Dad won’t leave the crime scene conscious. It has been a week since their funeral. Everything still feels unreal for her right now. Being the only child of the family, she couldn’t bear to eat nor sleep thinking how to start a life without them. She couldn’t afford taking care of herself while her parents are there, in their graves, still screaming for justice.
With an undeniably fresh feeling after taking a bath, Bella went downstairs to face the police – expecting to hear some good news from them. Two detectives were sitting and as they saw her, and they stood up to greet her.
“Miss Stark. We are sorry for the unannounced visit.” Said Rand, the detective that leads her Mother and Father’s case. She only smiled in response and offered them to have a seat again. “But as we were investigating in the crime scene, we found… these.” The detective handed her a zipped plastic bag. Bella gave him a questioning look. Rand returned his stare saying she should see it for herself.
Inside the bag was a paper. It was crumpled carefully enough just to see what’s in it. Bella felt as if her stomach is being squeezed. Written on the paper was a terrible family drawing, three stick figures that looked like it was drawn by a grade-three student. Two of them – that seemed to be the mom and dad – have been crossed out. The paper itself have bloodstains. But what gave her more cringe was the note at the back of it saying, “Two people down, one more to go. –XxX” She looked at Rand in fear only to see that he had been observing her as she studied the evidence that they’ve just found.
“So you see, Miss Stark,” he started, “we found that piece of paper in a disposed cabinet of that abandoned building. It was inside. But it was lying there vulgarly – as if it was placed there for us to find.” Bella looked at him, even more anxious this time.
“So, y-you’re telling me that this XxX… is trying to inform me that… t-that I’m next?” She asked. The detective looked at her, confirming that her realizations weren’t wrong. “Wow,” she said, trying to find words that could sum up the things that she wants to know. “Do you think I know this… this XxX person? Is he a man? Do you think this person hates my family? Is he one of the people who hates my parents? Who’s after our business?”
“That, Miss Stark, is what we haven’t confirmed yet. But the investigation’s still ongoing.” He assured him nonchalantly. She isn’t even sure if he was sincere at all. “The bloodstains on that paper are your parents’. Guess this douche is trying to mock you and scare you even more.” He added. “The only thing that we’re sure about as of the moment is that, XxX is someone you know – worst, this guy could be close to you or your parents.” He said in finality, ending the discussion about it.
And as if on cue, Luke, Isabella’s best friend for half of her life walked in, holding a tray of juice in his hands. The only person that she have since she was twelve. The only friend that she had in her lifetime.
And she thought… what if?
Just... what if?
