Dark Love

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mia opened her eyes. There was hay on her face, and some of it sticking her back. She moaned lightly. Her back felt bruised and her head was pounding. It was the worst headache she had ever experienced in all her life.

She tried standing up, but her body was glued to the ground beneath it. She was in so much pain, and the worst thing is she doesn't even know where she is, or how she got there.

Her throat was sore, and closed up. She was thirsty, she didn't even know how long she had been there. She looked up and saw the wooden ceiling. She knew this ceiling, she was at the stables. She could hear the animals now. The horses were loud, they always were.

What she didn't know was, how did she get to the stables and ended up on the floor, had she fallen asleep? Had she fainted?

She tried standing up one more time, and this time she was successful. Her legs were wobble, but she held on to the poles situated in the middle of the stable. That helped her walk, too. She looked down at her clothes, and she immediately spotted blood.

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

She began examining her body. She had no cuts or wounds. Then she noticed that there was a trail of blood, right beneath her feet. She followed it with her eyes. Behind the haystacks, she could see a head. It had curls on top of it. There was blood pooling around it.

She didn't need to move closer to identify the person. She knew exactly who the person was. She looked down at her hands in shock. They were stained with blood.

She was in shock for only half a minute.or so, because she let out a deafening scream.

*

Todd heard the scream. He looked down at his body, he was on a bed? What was he doing there? The last thing he remembered was running towards the stables, and then...

Mia!

He stormed out of the house and ran towards the stables, fear was consuming him. When he barged in there, he spotted Mia. She was on the other end of the barn. She looked so perfect. Her blonde hair shone under the daylight. Her face looked so angelic, but her eyes were filled with fear.

Then, he spotted the body. He moved back as if he was pushed. He looked at the person on the floor again. There was blood pooling around the person, it was a man. He was definitely dead...but who was he?

Then it clicked.

It was Henrico.

Then he remembered.

He stared at Mia in horror. She was looking directly at Todd now. She didn't say a word. She too remembered.

"Mia?"

No words were spoken. They simply stared at each other. She knew what he did, and he knew what she had done. There was no denying the odd vibe between them now.

As if one cue, Mia's entire family barged into the barn. Donald was behind them. They all stood behind Todd. Lauren walked in afterwards, standing right beside him.

Her mother screamed.

They were all aware of what happened now. Henrico's body, on the hay, blood pooling around him. And Mia, standing there, looking confused with bloody hands. They immediately assumed the worst.

"Mia, how could you?" her uncle Ben asked. He was shaking now, and he held on to her mother for support. They looked petrified. The look Mia's mother was giving her sliced her into pieces.

"I-I-I-"

"You killed him!" her aunt screeched. "You killed Henrico!"

"I-"

"How could you?!"

It all felt like a nightmare. It was all surreal. She looked down at her hands again. It wasn't her blood that stained her hands. It was Henrico's.

"You killed this little boy!"

"I didn't kill him!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her mother flinched. The sound was almost animalistic. She didn't sound like herself.

"Murderer." she heard someone say. That was it, the breaking point. She fell on her knees and wept. That was all she had left now, the tears.

She was all alone, once again.

*

They were taking her away, and her family simply watched. They all had pained faces, even Donald seemed to be afraid of her. They all looked down at her as if she wasn't a part of their family once. As if she wasn't a Santiago.

Even Todd.

He hadn't said a word to her. When the police had arrived, he simply stared at the men grabbing her and shoving her into the car.

The call was anonymous, nobody knows who called the police. She could've bet that it was Lauren, but she wasn't sure anymore. Everyone was against her now, even her own mother.

She had never felt so humiliated. She couldn't even defend herself. She couldn't even speak. It was shock. Simply shock.

She didn't kill him. That she knew. She wanted to, but she didn't. She could be everything, but she wasn't a murderer. She would never end somebody's life.

Her family knew that. But they were all against her. How could they think that she killed him? Sure, she wasn't at all controlled, but to kill? That was absurd.
She was a victim.

Somebody set her up. Somebody that hated her, that hid in the shadows. Somebody that knew that she hated Henrico.

But who?

Who would have done such a thing? She would've never guessed. Did she have an enemy she didn't know of? She can't imagine who.

But her enemies weren't the issue now. He was already dead, and she would be blamed for it. A crime she hadn't committed, and she would be blamed for it. All because she let anger consume her. She was at the wrong time, at the wrong place.

All her worries, she had to put to the side, Todd's betrayal, she had to put to the side as much as it pained her. She didn't understand...why? Why would he cheat?

But the real question was...

Who killed Henrico Olivera?

______________________________________

Ooh...mystery.

Who feels for her? What do you think?

Stay cool and fabulous!

Xoxo

~Stephanie