A week had passed since Stella had gone into that art room, and a week had passed since she had seen Den.
He stayed up in the art room, never coming out, and never making a noise. Sometimes Stella wondered if he even was there or if she was alone in the whole cottage, but she dared not go see.
Stella walked out of her room wearing a long yellow coloured sleeveless dress. The dress clearly showed that it was longer on Stella than was supposed to be, because it was June's and June was of course quite taller than her.
But Stella did not mind as she skipped in the hallway, the dress twirling and waving. She stopped in front of Den's door amd stared at it for a long time. But finally shook her head and walked downstairs.
Once in the kitchen, Stella opened the door of the refrigerator and sighed. They were running really low on groceries. "Well it should be obvious, seeing that the last time I went shopping was four days ago." Stella sighed to herself as she closed the door with a snap and laid the ingredients on the kitchen counter.
She fixed herself some breakfast before walking out of the cottage. Stella smiled in the sunlight and stretched. The spring this year was turning into a summer quite nicely. "Oh it's going to be a long walk to the city. How I wish I could run like they all do." Stella yawned to herself as she began to walk towards the closest city. She had not been getting proper sleep for the past few days. Stella had always been kind of a night owl, feeling more awake in the nights than during the day, but the past few days she was having some real trouble falling asleep. And even when she did, Stella found herself having nightmares and would wake up all covered with sweat.
She had no one to talk to these days, as Den would not come out, and June and Allen seemed to be quite busy due to Allen's work. They did not know about Den having shut himself up in his room, Stella had not told them.
The last time she had heard from them, the two were on some tour promoting Allen's new movie.
After two hours' walk, Stella finally reached the city. It was another walk to the departmental store where Den used to do all the shopping. Of course, she could buy groceries at any store, but she did not have any money. And the owner of that departmental store apparently knew Den as he had said that he would take money whenever Mr. Sharp came there.
As Stella walked in the store all covered in sweat, the salespeople eyed her with suspicion, wondering if she had not lost her way. But the owner himself came forward to greet her and even offered Stella a seat to sit down and have some refreshments.
Stella waved her hand as she smiled, "It's all right. I'll just walk around and see what I like."
The owner bowed went away.
Stella leisurely walked around the isles, glad for the first time that her step-mom had made her do all the work since she was little. So she knew which ingredients were the best and what to buy with experience.