Bella’s POV
I sat on my bed, crying my eyes out and regretting my actions. I began to wonder what actually made me do the things I did.
“Ma’am Bella, two girls are here looking for you. They claim to come from your school” the butler came to inform me.
“Please tell them that I don’t want to see them” I sent him away but he didn’t seem to take my instructions as I was shocked and also angered to see Mia and Lakshmi in my room.
“You fool” I screamed and threw my slippers at Lakshmi’s face but Mia caught it just in time before it could get to her. I was more than disappointed.
“I told you not to let anyone in” I picked up the other pair of my slippers and aimed for the butler who ran for his dear life.
“You have to calm down Bella, if not you may end up hurting someone” Lakshmi tried to advise me.
“And look who is giving me advice. You are in my own house and causing a mishap. Get out! ” I yelled at the top of my voice.
“That’s it! Mia we are done here. Let’s go” Lakshmi held Mia’s hand and tried to leave with her but Mia broke free from her grip all too easily.
“No Lakshmi, you promised to come here and make her feel better if I followed you. Since I have fulfilled my end of your condition, you will also fulfill yours unless we are not going to leave this place” Mia was talking to Lakshmi as she held her hand and made her walk towards me on the bed.
“Does she look better?” Mia asked Lakshmi who slowly shook her head as a no.
“Now make her feel better,” Mia told Lakshmi.
“How do you expect me to do that when she doesn’t even want to see me?” Lakshmi defended herself and tried to get up from the bed.
“You girls know I am right here and you are talking as if my presence is not recognized” I was getting really annoyed by their conversation, all I wanted was for both of them to get out of my house.
“Don’t be angry Bella, Lakshmi was worried about you that is why I agreed to come to see you with her” Mia tried to explain to me.
“That’s not true” I could see Lakshmi was trying to give Mia signs with her eyes but it seems Mia wasn’t understanding her or maybe she just chose to ignore her. It made me laugh.
“Lakshmi, I don’t think she understands what you are trying to tell her” I giggled and Lakshmi laughed along with me.
“I know it sounds strange but I actually miss you Bella, there is no one to disturb me in school. It’s too peaceful for my liking” Lakshmi was plainly teasing me.
“Ha ha so funny” I faked a laugh.
For the first time I actually saw Mia smile and I raised my head up as if trying to signal for Lakshmi to look at Mia.
“You are shocked huh?” Lakshmi asked me.
“Yes,” I replied.
“It has become a normal occurrence” Lakshmi shrugged and we got deep into our conversation, Lakshmi and I began to resolve our differences, we were so into our conversation that we completely forgot that Mia was there but she didn’t seem to be offended.
She was lost in a world of her own.
“Mia” I tapped her as three of us sat on the bed.
“Yes Bella, do you want something?” she immediately said coming out from her thoughts.
“No, I’m just concerned. What are you thinking about?” I asked her and looked at her.
“My parents” Mia shrugged, making sure her palms faced the ceiling before she tilted her head towards the right. Lakshmi used her hand to support her head, making her keep her head straight up.
“Why did she do that?” I looked very confused.
“That’s how she behaves sometimes, don’t pay too much attention to it” Lakshmi pinched Mia’s cheek.
“Why are you thinking about your parents Mia, you want to go home and see them?” I was inquisitive.
Lakshmi looked at Mia with a very sad face before she looked back at me. Mia folded her lips and looked downwards.
“My parents are dead, I stay in an orphanage now” Mia said it without any form of emotion.
“I’m sorry I asked Mia, I didn’t mean to hurt you by bringing up the topic” I regretted my actions immediately.
“I’m not upset, if you didn’t ask then you would never have known in the first place” Mia kept on nodding her head vertically as she spoke very slowly.
“So how did they die?” I found my stupid self asking. I just had to open my big mouth and as expected I got a very stern look from Lakshmi who opened her eyes very wide as she folded her lips. She looked very mad at me but Mia, who I expected to leave the room, immediately stayed there and was more focused on the ceiling. She didn’t look sad or angry, infact her face showed no emotion at all.
“They were killed” Mia finally told me before averting her gaze rather very quickly.
“By who?” I just had to ask again and this time I earned another angry look from Lakshmi except that it was accompanied with a slap on my lap, it wasn’t too harsh but it signaled a warning.
“I don’t know who they are or what they want. They attacked our house and..” Mia stopped talking.
She started coughing and I poured her a glass of water from the jug that was on a small stool, just beside my bed.
“Thank you” she dropped the glass.
“That’s enough Mia, you don’t have to explain anything to Bella again” Lakshmi rubbed her back and looked at me with angry eyes.
“No Lakshmi if I don’t tell her now then she will continue to think about it and it might cause her a lot of stress and anxiety. I don’t want to cause her anxiety, it is very bad” Mia was explaining and inwardly I felt like she was over thinking it herself.
“You hear that, she doesn’t want to cause me anxiety” I tried to tease Lakshmi a little but she clearly wasn’t in the mood for it.
“We were having dinner when some men came to our house, they were all putting on masks, I somehow managed to climb the ceiling and hide away from them. I could overhear them, trying to force my parents into providing me. When I tried to peep from a ceiling home, I was able to see one of them.
When I came down, my house was filled with dead people. A lot of the workers in our house had died. More than 100. Sometimes I feel like it’s my fault my parents died” Mia was just saying it as if it was nothing. I really commend her for her bravery and also the way she was handling the issue.