STARGIRL

59. Blood

The moment the front door finally opened, she didn't expect to be greeted by such a lovely woman.

The woman grinned, her mop of dirty blonde hair stopped a bit passed her shoulder, and her piercing green eyes resembled her sons perfectly.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked in a friendly tone.

Rosario nodded and cleared her throat, "Is uh, is your son home ma'am?"

The mother's sweet face lit up for a moment. Then she remembered that her son wasn't speaking to her.

Standing to the side, her frown disappeared and was replaced by her kind disposition again.

"Come in. He should be in his bedroom."

Rosario hesitated for a few seconds before stepping into the house, "Thank you."

Kindly, Lynda led the girl up to the top of the stairs and pointed her in the direction of his bedroom before departing back the staircase.

Rosario knocked on his door and waited to hear him rustling on the other side of the door.

Rosario waited for a minute or so and felt a little hesitant to knock again, but she gathered the courage and did it anyway.

Sighing, she opened the bedroom door and peered in before stepping in. There was no one there, and it baffled her until she heard the sound of a shower running.

She sat down on the edge of his unmade bed and reached into her cardigan pocket for the paper she had uncrumpled and folded into a delicate square.

She left the paper on the bed and got up to depart. It would be best if she didn't explain to him why she had it in the first place.

Stopping at his door, she was about to open it when she looked back at the paper. She adjusted her bag over her shoulder and exhaled from her mouth.

Was it the right thing to do? It was an essential and sensitive government document regarding his custody status amid his parent's divorce.

After all, he did crumple it and threw it on the ground during that public argument with his father.

Rosario scurried back to grab it. She put the paper back in her pocket and then changed her mind again. She decided that she had to give it to him face to face.

She groaned because she was never good in an ethical dilemma.

She placed the paper on the top of his dresser next to a strange box full of random things.

It caught her attention because there was a mix of old-looking books, women's clothes, letters, random photos, and jewelry.

Looking over at the bathroom in his room, she noticed that the light was still on.

Rosario had no business going through his things, but what stood out to her the most was a photo of a beautiful woman who was the spitting image of someone in her life.

The beautiful woman in the photograph was sitting on a couch right beside a handsome man who was holding a small baby in his arms.

Rosario analyzed the old photo and frowned, but she put it back.

Another photo she pulled out was of a little girl with a pouty face right beside the same attractive man.

She put it back and then continuously kept examining each photograph until the child's face had finally taken a form, and she realized it was Arabella.

Baffled, she noticed how far apart the photos were taken from one another as she grew up. They would become sparser and sparser, but she would get prettier and sadder. Rosario could see it in her eyes.