No Happily Ever After

Chapter 19

"Hello?"said Stella Rampion, picking up her cell.

"I have somebad news," said her boyfriend, Eric Prince, without any prelude.

Stella's heartsank. Faraway had been entirely consumed with bad news of late, andshe'd been taking it hard. She didn't know if her psyche couldwithstand anymore.

"Have youheard already, Stella?"

"No," shesaid bleakly after a tense pause.

"KimberlyCrimson's grandmother has been found murdered, and Kimberly ismissing."

Stella instantlydissolved into tears.

"Ah, shhhh,"Eric said. "I'm sorry, Stella. Please don't cry, I should'vetold you in person."

Kimberly was aloner, and Stella wouldn't call her a close friend by any means. Allthe same, she was a nice girl and a fellow student of Faraway High. Stella simply couldn't believe this was happening. Where were herclassmates? Were they alive? Or dead? Were they safe and unharmed? Or injured hungry and cold somewhere?

And who would benext?

"So,"Stella sobbed. "What are they saying about it?"

"Well,"Eric continued soberly. "They've pretty much given up on anysort of murder-runaway scenario. Because of all that's transpired,they've even released Cailyn Pure's father from lock up. Even thoughthey still haven't touched on how all this ties together, they aresure that it does. Tie together."

"I'm gonna askmy parents if you can come over tonight, OK, Eric?"

"Sure, Stella. Sounds good. Call me later."

***

Stella led anextraordinarily sheltered life.

She was herparents' miracle child. She'd heard the story a hundred times, atleast. They'd attempted to conceive for five years before finallyhaving success. They'd been through every conceivable fertilitytreatment to no avail. Every sort of alternative therapy. They evenonce spoke with a self-proclaimed witch who cast magic on them. Andstill they did not conceive.

It wasn't until hermother's best friend, Madre Bar, gave her a special pill that themagical event finally occurred. Madre found some sort of supplementextracted from the petals of a flower that had allegedly helpedmothers conceive since the beginning of time. Mrs. Rampion consumedthe flower for only a week when she became pregnant with her blesseddaughter.

Stella alwayssmiled politely when her parents happily recalled the story. Truthbe told, she assumed that one of the many other medical treatmentsthey underwent at the time had finally taken. But it was a nicestory. And Madre Bar was her mother's most beloved friend andclosest confidant as a result. Despite the close connection, theyrarely saw Mr. Bar, nor had Stella ever particularly befriended theirson, Benjamin. She often wondered how such a nice, normal lady hadended up with such an oddball family.

Not that she hadmuch room to judge. Her folks were plenty strange. Friends atschool often asked Stella if her parents were super religious becauseher shining blonde hair grew past her knees, just like the girls fromFaraway's apostolic church. Though it was beautiful, it was so longit was a nuisance and she mostly kept it in a single braid down herback. In fact, her parents were not particularly religious at all,certainly not in any fundamental, old fashioned way. They were justso desperate to keep Stella in a safe little box that they neverliked for her to change in any way they could prevent. So, they hadnever once, in all her sixteen years, allowed her to cut her hair.

She had the parentswho accompanied her to every single school event. Every practice,every club meeting, every study group; at least one if not both ofthem would be there for Stella. Sure, it was nice to have suchsupportive parents, but it certainly got tedious. She was also neverallowed to go to friends' houses. She was a popular girl among herpeers, but the only way she was allowed to socialize with her friendswas if they came over to her house under her parents' watchful eyes.

Stella knew EricPrince most of her life. They grew up together in the same class atschool and as they aged, they came to love each other. It hadthoroughly astounded her the year before when her parents allowed herto officially become Eric's girlfriend. Of course, she wasn'tallowed to actually go anywhere with Eric. But they allowed her tohave him over from time to time.

That particularnight, however, her parents told her they had other plans and thatEric would have to wait until the following night to visit, which wasNew Year's Eve. Stella was excited to be allowed to spend theevening celebrating with Eric, difficult though times may be. So shecalled Eric back and made plans.

***

"That girl,Jennifer Tide," Eric told Stella on the phone the next day. "Ithink she's got a crush on me."

Stella chuckled. "Yes, she does. It's pretty obvious, Eric."

Eric sighed. "Wellit's kind of annoying. She's so... Chipper."

"Aw, well,she's a sweetheart. Just be nice. Try not to hurt her feelings."

"It doesn'tmake you mad?" he asked.

She laughed again. "Of course not, Eric. Goodness."

The conversationlulled for a few seconds before he continued. "So you stillwant me to come over tonight, right?"

"MmmHmm,"she agreed. "I have to wait until Mom and Dad come home ofcourse. But I'll call you back as soon as they do, OK?"

"Sure, Stella. Can't wait," he said shyly.

"Me either."