A/N;

The characters in this story; living or dead is completely an art of fiction and has no relation or depiction of any individual in real life; living or dead.
This is an original story for Wattpad by @Lady_PensDown.

Della pulled over the washed-out cropped denim jacket over her black T-shirt, scribbled with a word "I don't care" in bold and white clear font. She turned her heel towards the mirror with a blank face and sighed before walking out of her bedroom. As she unlocked the door, the peaceful silence within the closed doors suddenly got intervened by a distant sound of news from the TV, downstairs. She walked through the long corridor and reached the stairs while the sound of the TV got clearer and clearer with each step.

"...he has been taken away from us at a tender age. Our journalists are covering from Theo Woods' House, on his first Death Anniversary."

She hopped down the stairs, but her steps froze midway, as the name hit her ears. She peeled her eyes off her converse towards the TV, where that charming face, dominated the whole screen. Ruffled fawn hairs and a dimple on his right cheek, while his gaze seemed zealous enough to make people doubt his death. A teenager full of life until his fate engulfed him fully, without a warning and without mercy.

Della gulped down the bile rising up her stomach and let out a shaky exhale.

"Good Morning, Darling! Breakfast is ready." her father's voice broke her last string of thoughts and she turned towards the source of the voice. He stood there in his apron and a solemn grin curved up his lips.

She pressed her lips and managed to pass a smile still not daring to speak out, when she was trembling inside. She composed herself and confidently sauntered over to the dining and sat against a plate of honey drizzled pancakes. Even though she could feel her father's gaze studying through her, but she did not dare to look up at him.

She slowly picked up the cutlery and started slicing through the food, "Where is mom?"

He let out a sigh and pulled himself a chair beside her, "Mom, had an early meeting. So she left. And, I don't really have any important work so I decided to drive you to school on my way to the office."

Della nodded without looking up and started stuffing pieces of pancake into her mouth.

"Della, Just to remind you honey. You have an appointment with Dr. Garcia today." he spoke out in a gentle tone. An abrupt choke made her spare the cutlery and rub her neck. He passed her a glass of water. She picked it up and gulped down the whole glass of water in an instance, while her father kept studying through her with a visible concern reflecting off his face.

She shot her eyes up at him, after calming herself down and received a gentle nod in return. She averted her gaze off him and continued eating in a faster pace.

"Della?" he called out failing to receive a reply from her.

"Can I?" she looked back at him, "Like not go, anymore?"

He glided his gaze downwards at her plead.

"Dad?"

"I'll be dressing up and we will move in 10 minutes." letting out a blunt reply, he walked away, leaving her with her questions, unanswered.

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She kept a blank stare fixated on the speeding off view outside, from the passenger seat while the car drove at a considerable speed making certain stagnant details blurred in her vision. Her father, who was in control of the wheels tried making small talks, but she refused to even respond.

After a thirty minutes' drive, the car halted near the gigantic campus, dominated by large groups of students holding mixed emotions and mixed personalities. She turned her head towards the same, usual yellow building smeared in the gradient shades of the morning sun rays. She twitched her lips a little and her eyes enlarged at the view of the building, standing in it's usual stand but it seemed no less than a giant demon in her sight. Her sweaty hands moved to the edge of the seat, tightening her grip as her pounding heartbeats came out more and more clear to her ears within the lost moment.

A gentle nudge over her shoulder broke her out of her thoughts and everything turned normal all of a sudden. She turned her face towards her father, who had an unknown emotion reflecting off his brown orbs as he gave her an assuring nod.

She swallowed a gulp and walked into the campus, with a comparatively lesser zeal then the people aimlessly strolling around her. She walked through the wide gigantic corridor, and not long did she go, when a certain view made her take an abrupt hault.

It was the same picture again. The same honeyed smile, the same fawn hair, the same dimple and the same eyes that seemed to mock her in an unhumorous manner. The wide grin flashed through the white flowers placed below the brown frame, seemed to twirl every nerve in her body.

While the crowd near the photo held a relaxed posture, she stood their frozen. Within the pounding heartbeat, sweat droplets broke out her hairline, accompanied by an uncontrollable trembling of her palm and loss of breath. Shaking her head to herself, she turned her heel to crash onto an unexpected human presence.

"Ol...Olivia!" she gathered her words after taking a look at the presence of the girl in a boyfriend jeans and a creased white T shirt; holding a blank face; intruded by the reckless strands of her messed up bun. Olivia peeled her eyes off her, towards the picture and shot back her gaze towards Della and soon broke out into a cackle while Della kept staring at her, trying to reason out her reaction.

"Lets go, grab some meal!" Olivia spoke out composing her laughter.

Della looked over her shoulder and turned it back towards her. "You are not staying here, at your brother's..." she questioned, hesitantly, but trailed off her words, midway and took a silent time to study through her expression. Olivia's smile vanished off her face. She stole a glance off the picture.

"We can't really let us linger in the past." An unmissed bluntness laced into her words, "All we can do is focus on the present." She finished her sentences with a pointing stare piercing through Della, making her uncomfortable within the domination of the stare.

They chose themselves a corner table in the comparatively empty cafeteria, silently sipping off their coffee while Della glided her eyes through everywhere, in an attempt to avoid the constant stare of Olivia.

"What's wrong?" Olivia's question broke out in the silence, jolting her in her place.

She turned her face towards her to meet with a dark gaze critically studying through her while taking in a loud sip from her coffee. Failing to gather further words, she somehow managed to move her head in denial.

Olivia averted her gaze off her and fixated her look towards the stained window and started, "Unexpected people, unexpected actions and unexpected timings. Expectation is nothing but a pathetic weakness, luring people into it's death trap."

"I am sorry..." Della muttered on sensing the creeping up gloom in her countenance.

Olivia looked back at her with a sly smile, "Are you?"

Her unexpected question made Della crease her eyebrows carved with a silent question. Olivia sensed it, "He never told you? He always used to say this whenever he was at the verge of hitting the rock bottom." She slipped the phone slowly towards Della. Della slowly moved her gaze towards the picture and jerked back on her seat. A selfie, where Della held the camera while Theo supported his chin over her shoulder winking at the lens.

"What's wrong?" Olivia questioned bluntly, "Are you sad? Or are you scared? Here, you seem quite comfortable with my brother?"

"Where did you find this?" Della questioned in a defensive tone, shooting a glare towards her.

Olivia let out a sly grin in return, "You may not tell me everything about yourself, but my brother shared everything with me." With a flicker in her eyelashes the grin slowly vanished off her face and her eyes started to glisten, "This was the last message I received from him, before the news did." She spoke in a quivering voice, "I never gathered the courage to look at that face, which is now just constricted to only pictures."

She closed her eyes slowly softening her clenched jaw and widened back her eyes now sucking in all the impending tears, altering it with a rage, "I never knew, you were there with him, the day he died. You never told me. It was a murder, Della." She hissed within her gritted teeth, "There was no one else, with him beside you. You...killed him." She whispered the last part, making it only audible to Della, "One year it took to find out the killer. I never knew my best friend....."

".....just stop. I never killed...."

"......It's too late." Taking in a gulp, "You are no more my best friend. I am going to give the evidences to the police. I will see, for how long you keep running!"

She finished the sentence and stormed up from her chair, screeching the wooden frame on the floor and skirted past Della, but Della stood but and held her by her elbow, "Olivia, listen... You are doing a mistake!"

Roughly pulling her hand away from Della's grip she flounced towards her, with a gaze blazing with anger and determination. "Explain it to the police!!" she commanded in a blunt tone and darted out of the place, leaving Della frozen in her place.

As, her words kept reverberating through her mind, panic took over her and she slumped over the chair, wincing her face; failing before her emotions as tears slowly flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

Past Scenes;

Same Day a year ago;

A serenity filled the greenery, dominated by the gargling sound of the gushing currents of the river, fighting it's way towards an infinite journey. They sat under a shade of a gigantic tree, over the wild bushes.

Della kept brushing through his fingers, which was casually placed over her thighs and kept her head leaned against his shoulder, while he kept his eyes on the violent currents.

"Thank you." She spoke out, dragging his gaze towards her face. She straightened her neck and turned towards him. Looking at his puzzled face, she wiggled her eyebrows playfully, asking him to proceed.

"What for?" He questioned shrugging his shoulders.

"For bringing me into camping. Even though, it was a plan only for your friends. I am really enjoying it."

He chuckled shuffling his gaze over her face, "You are my girlfriend. That's only what matters."

"I never thought you would to be someone into commitments." She replied lacing her words into a cocky note.

He raised his eyebrows and averted his gaze in an attempt to gather himself an answer. Studying through the discomfort, a snicker escaped her mouth, receiving a puzzled stare in return. She cupped both his cheeks and placed a peck over his lips. She parted her face from him, to meet with an unknown expression washed over his face. In a matter of time, he killed the gap between them and crushed his lips into her, deepening it in each beat, letting the tongue dance through the core; tangling his fingers into the curls of her hair. The breaths took higher pace, struggling to escape through the musings, when the loud ring of her phone, broke them out of the kiss.

She jolted away quickly and grabbed the call. He in return let out a whine and slumped over the mushy ground closing his eyes. She stole a glance from him and walked to a distance to receive the call.

"Mia! You there?"

As, the deep hoarse voice spoke out from the other end, the softness of her eyes vanished along with the gentle smile, that was pasted over her face. As, the voice, started to try speaking to her, she peeled her eyes from the ground and everything around her that was once a clear view started to get distorted, announcing a sudden blurriness in her vision. She frantically scanned her eyes through the twirled gradients of green letting out gasps in an attempt to catch her racing heartbeat. With a shudder she closed her eyes and disconnected the call. A sudden calmness washed over her, which did not last longer. With a sudden impact, a tight grip, flounced her and pinned her to a hard chest. She looked up at the dark eyes of Theo, which had turned darker.

"Theo!" She spoke out trying to wiggle out of her grip.

"Please!" He replied in a desperate tone, "Don't stop me!"

With a sudden motion, he pinned her back to the rugged bark and started kissing through her neck, down to her collar bones. She let out a groan, while trying to escape from his grip but failed. He glided his hands through her hips and tugged his fingers at the hem of her t-shirt. She froze in her place, fixing her widened gaze on the flowing water. A sudden adrenaline rushed through her nerves. As, he slowly tried to pull up the top, brushing his fingers through the exposed skin, left behind. She raised up her hand in a quick motion and curled her fingers over his neck. He yanked away at once, and a sudden gasp escaped his mouth. A rage kept blazing through her eyes as he tried to free himself from her grip.

"Della!" the name escaped out in his struggled voice.

She used her other hand to give his torso a hard push, making him, stumble and fall in the river. She kept looking at him, with a blank stare as he struggled to slap through the water, trying hard to stay afloat. "Della, I can't... I can't swim!" he cried with all the strength his voice could gather, "Della, this is no joke. Help me! Della....!"

That was his last cry, jerking her in her place. She batted her eyes in a few rhythm when her eyes softened back. The last she saw, was his shaking hand disappear in the flowy water. She gripped her mouth tightly, widening her eyes as tears started to flow from her eyes and muffled cries escaped her mouth. An eerie silence followed and she slumped down on the muddy floor.

Present;

She sat on the chair, blankly stare at the tag, placed over the table, 'Dr. R. Garcia, Psychologist.'

"I thought, you would never come back." The sudden voice, dragged her attention towards Dr. Garcia, who stood there in a 3-piece suit. She did not bother replying.

"Don't feel guilty, Della! They are no good men." He walked over to the glass table and leaned over to her, "You have the potential in the form of Mia and no you are not a bad."

"Just....let me out of this." She cried in a quivering whisper, gulping in the lump, "I don't want to do this."

"I need you. I need you for the closure."

"I want to leave a normal life. I have adjusted with her. I know every detail she has and she knows every detail, I have. Please! Don't ruin it for me."

Mr. Garcia averted his gaze, and spoke out, "Olivia!"

She shot her eyes up at him freezing in her place.

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With a single ring on the door bell, Olivia opened the door, to meet with Della's blank stare.

Olivia cocked her head and questioned in a blunt tone, "What do you want?"

"I need to talk!" Della replied in a dead voice. Olivia took some time to study through her countenance and gestured her to walk inside.

Della took baby steps inside the living scanning us eyes through the cozy living room while Olivia spoke, " Look, if you are here for the evidences....."

"I am here to kill you." Della cut off her sentence, and turned towards Olivia, shuddering her in her place and compelling her to take few steps back.

"You are what?" Olivia demanded.

Della's eyes softened at her reaction, "But I can't do that to you." She muttered. She closed her eyes composing herself, "I have to tell you, everything! I never killed...T...Theo. Mia..Mia did. " With the utter of the last words, tears streamed down her eyes, one after the other.

Olivia slumped down on her knees, "Who is Mia?" she asked in a shaky tone, almost a whisper.

Della padded her way near her and replied, "Mia,......... is a part of me."

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"Dr. Robert Garcia, the well known psychologist in the city has plead guilty on the charges of murder conspiracy of 18 year old Theo Woods. The file suit has been charged against him, after his patient has revealed how she was puddled by the psychologist into acting against the young boy. On grounds of mental stability, she has been taken to a better treatment facility.."

Della kept seated at the chair keeping a blank gaze fixated at a nowhere as the voice kept gliding out of the speaker. On feeling a gentle pat on her shoulder, she turned back to meet with the gentle eyes of Olivia. Her emotions took the best of her. She wrapped her arms across Olivia as whispering wails escaped her mouth.

"It is time, Dell." Olivia said, holding back a choke.

"Della, Are you ready for the first session?" A gentle voice broke them out.

Della looked up at the source of the voice and looked back at Olivia to receive a gentle nod in return.

Gradually, things got back to normal. But, the Significant day remained significant. Now, with a different story.

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