This chapter is dedicated to Choco_lateefah. Thanks so much for your support.

And also for writing such a good book too😁
It's titled 'Unrequited' y'all should check it out if you haven't💙💙

Character;

Roxie Johnes

*

"You?" She asked, snapping me back to reality.

"I'm Stella....Stella....Stella Downer," I almost stammered in reply.

"So you're really Stella? I've heard so much about you...you attend Ashton High right?" She asked, surprisingly amused.

Is she being for real?

"Yeah," I replied, a bit surprised by the newfound information.

"I've always heard about the strong, confident Stella that always stood tall and made things go just the way she wants them to...I'd always wanted to be like you to an extent that I stalked your Instagram page," she said before taking a good look at me.

What the heck is happening?

Roxie Johnes stalking my Instagram page?

She completely behaved like she doesn't even know who I am?

"I know what you're thinking right now," she said before releasing a short sarcastic chuckle.

"I actually had a feeling you were the one...but c'mon, you look nothing like you used to and I was wondering what the hell a whole Stella Downer was doing here...in a Juvenile cell, I had my doubts. So what happened?" She asked.

"How long have you been here?" I asked her, trying to be as polite as I could so I wouldn't push the wrong buttons and awaken the other side.

"I dunno....a couple of months...I think four or five..." She has replied with a confused look on her face.

And I guess that's why she didn't know the reason why the mighty Stella she used to know wasn't the same person slumped on the floor, a few metres away.

I looked away from her.

"Just tell me...I'll listen," She compelled.

"Nevermind," I mumbled.

"Maybe things didn't just work out the way you wanted...maybe it was just a little mistake, maybe it wasn't completely your fault...bad things do happen," she pushed on.

"I know how dirty things could be, don't keep things bottled up, it kills even faster than death...My sister used to tell me that," she continued and I swear, there was a flicker of hurt in her eyes when she said the last sentence.

Is this Roxie talking?

No one ever mentioned that she has a sister.

Or is she late?

I quickly removed that evil thought from my head.

No one deserves an untimely death.

'Neither did Veronica,' My sub-conscious chimed in.

She stood up from the bed she was sitting on before walking towards me, making me to rise up from my former position.

"Fine...I know people keep on talking about how wild and crazy I am, but it isn't like I chose to be the way I am. I can trade anything in this world just to have a normal childhood and teenagehood experience,"

"I...I don't understand."

"My parents passed away a long time ago, leaving my older sis and I with my aunt and her boyfriend. Things managed to be okay though, we managed to live without them, hoping atleast we could still have the bright future they've always wished for and make them happy someday..anyhow we can."

She paused and looked up at me and I bet all the sympathy in my eyes were so vivid. I mean I can't imagine any of my parents dying.

It was very hard for me when my dad left us earlier and I know I will not be able to survive it if my mom and dad should...

Damn, I shouldn't be thinking about it.

"Well it didn't last. Everything changed the moment my aunt's boyfriend abused my sister...I was young but not so dumb, I knew what was happening even if my sister could not open up. I mean, who could she talk to...my aunt who could never believe that her boyfriend even considered us humans...or me who is like four years younger."

She sighed and I noticed her rapid change of mood. Talking about this was obviously not comfortable for her.

"You know...you don't have to if you don't want to, right?" I told her.

She shrugged it off.

"She was hurt...she was like the only person I had in this life...It really did hurt to see her cry every night beside me in the dark, thinking that I was asleep. The worst of all was that it didn't happen once....or twice, it was continuous."

Her eyes got reddened and glossy with held back tears.

"I'm sor--"

"I mean...what could she do? It wasn't like we had any other means of survival...she was just twelve and I was eight."

With all I've heard and the little I've heard about Roxie, I'd never imagined her to be this....vulnerable.

"You know what?!" Her voice went higher and her face brightened up.

"I decided to stand my ground and tell my sister we needed to get the hell out of that damn place. I knew it was all me, I was the one holding her back...hindering her from doing a lot of things. It wasn't like she could just leave me there neither could she just drag me out to suffer on the streets with her. But I knew that that it will hurt so damn more lying the fuck around and letting my sister fuckin' suffer in silence. So that's it...we left...we ran the hell away from that mother-fuckin' house, it wasn't like anyone cared. We had to fend for ourselves and tried to survive on our own."

One recent characteristic of Roxie noted; She damn curses a lot.

She looked up at the ceiling like it was suddenly a fascinating object but maybe she was trying so hard not to let those tears spill.

"Different things happened but I made sure I took care about of my sister...funny right? Because she was the older one. But it didn't matter, she is my mom...my teacher...my friend...my everything and watching her go through that emotional trauma and low self esteem was killing me. The course of everything made me hate a lot of things...I hate people for being so cruel but of all...I FUCKIN' DESPISE MEN!" She spat the last sentence with so much venom in her tongue before looking straight back at me. All that pain suddenly converted to intense rage.

I gulped. She looked damn scary.

She placed her hand on my shoulder, I got startled and flinched like her hand was suddenly hot or something.

She removed her hand immediately after noticing my reaction.

"I'm sorry I scared you...I didn't mean to..." She said, her face softening before walking towards the bed and sitting back on it.

"That's just it...I'm a monster," she muttered.

"No..." I blurted and she looked up at me with a bit dazzled expression on her face.

"I got that right...you're not a monster," I found myself walking towards her.

I sat down beside her and placed my shaky hands slowly and gently on hers.

"Life isn't just fair," I started.

"And sometimes, we do things we don't intend to do. Life sometimes puts us in a corner where we run out of options," I continued.

"But atleast, it's still our own choice to make right?" She argued.

"I know...most of us makes wrong choices but that doesn't mean we can't make up for it. We're just passing through that crucial part of life...where life wants to test us and see what decision we make in different situations. It's not over until we say it is, so we shouldn't back down yet...there's still a bright future for you...for us," I said.

Ofcourse...those were Timothy's words, they were still fully alife in my memory. But the thought of him just brought back a pang of hurt in my chest.

He just had to make me trust him more than I could even trust any of my family members....or myself.

He made me so fond of him.

But he just had to let it all go....He just had to do what he did...

Roxie looked towards me and a small smile drew on her face. I know that I couldn't justify the fact that we were wrong but atleast there was this hope that atleast, we could make things right...

That this wasn't the end of the road.

Roxie might look and act very hard on the outside but for the fact that she could have so much love for a person...her sister...shows that there was still a heart somewhere in there.

"But I do know a lot of people find me so cool...sometimes, I'm just walking on my own on the street and someone is coming towards me with a pen to sign an autograph and I'm like 'did I become a celebrity without even knowing?'" She said the last sentence with a kind of fake weird-confused-questioning look on her face. It was damn hilarious and I couldn't help but burst into laughter with Roxie joining me.

'You should laugh often, you look cuter when you're happy.'

"You do have quite a number of fans Roxie. Do you know how far your name spreads in my school whenever you steal the cash on bet in a gambling centre or spray paint a police car? Sometimes I wonder how you manage to pull it off?" I said inbetween my giggles.

"Really?"

"Yeah...I'm damn serious," I replied.

It took a while though, but later on the little laughter session died down.

"You know what?" She suddenly asked looking at me again.

"People like you shouldn't be in here ya'know...what happened?" She asked, her voice suddenly low, calm and sweet.

I'd never imagined Roxie voice as ever being sweet.

I took a breathe in.

It still felt hard spilling out what I had done even if it was already out in the open and I was already even paying for it.

"I killed Veronica," I faintly replied.

She was mute for a while and I realized that what I said made no sense, I would have just simply told her that I murdered someone instead.

She probably doesn't even know who I was talking about.

"You mean Veronica Dallas? The ones that attends your school? The one that have the hottest brothers in town?" She asked.

Okay, she knew her.

I just nodded in reply.

She closed her eyes and put her palms over her face.

Does she know her personally?

"We had talked a few times...I just didn't know she would be gone this soon," she said, answering the question in my head.

It just increased the guilt I felt in my heart.

She was someone's sister, daughter...friend.

"It's fine though, it'd already happened, sulking over it wouldn't do any good right now. She had a limited life though, she was still going to die anyways," she said and shrugged.

"I know you wouldn't do it intentionally," she said and look towards me.

I looked back at her.

I just couldn't believe it.

That there was still someone that could understand me....that had faith in me.

I started hearing loud footsteps and I guess Roxie heard it too as we both looked towards the direction of the cell gate.

It was a female officer with blonde short hair. She poked her head a little through the metal bars.

"Stella...your family is around, they came to pay you a visit," she said.

"Is it a yay or nay?" She asked.

Unlike the rest, she was a bit nicer.

My breathe became faster and my heart started beating harder.

Roxie tugged on the hem of the sleeve of my plain blue gown and it caused me to look towards her.

"It should be a yay Stella...go meet your family, they need to see you and I bet you need them too," she said with a huge grin on her face.

I tried to stable myself before looking towards the blonde older woman.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~
Bulky chapter😪😪

I'm so tired from all these typing.

I just hope this chapter is good enough.

Please share your thoughts.

Vote. Comment. Share.

❤❤❤