As she lay there on the bed, curled into a ball with tears flowing down her eyes, Stella tried to remember the first time she had cried like this, ever.
It was really difficult, it had become too much of a habit for Stella to ball herself with her knees dug into her chest, as tears flowed down freely. Stella wondered how she hadn't yet run out of tears after all these years as she continued to ransack her memory.
Finally, it stuck her after a lot of efforts.
Stella had always been a cuddler as far back as she could remember. Her earliest memory was her and her dad sleeping together cuddled on her small bed.
Even as she grew up, that had never changed. Though her dad had a big master bedroom of his own, he usually slept in Stella's little bed, hugging his little world. But all that had changed after Bart had remarried.
Though he clearly didn't want to, Bart had begun to sleep in his own room with Susan, and Stella was left to herself. That was when she had developed the habit of hugging her soft-toys. Stella would pick one of the numerous teddy bears she had every night, otherwise left untouched by her, and would pretend the huge teddy-bear was her dad and fall asleep hugging it.
Then came the day when Stella's life changed forever. The day her father died after struggling a long time with the illness. Stella, a little child who was not even six years old, could not understand where they were taking her father, and she threw up the biggest tantrum, turning the whole house upside down.
Stella kicked and scratched at anyone who tried to hold her and keep her away from her dad, including Susan. She had also scratched and bit Darwin's face because he was laughing and making fun of her crying.
That was the first night Susan had ever beaten her. She had brutally hit the little Stella and threw her in the attic to sleep. That was also the first night when not knowing what or who to cuddle, Stella had pushed her knees deep into her chest and had cried herself to sleep hugging herself.
Stella's breath hitched as she suddenly heard the door open. She cursed under her breath and tried to even her breathing as she caught the sound of Sharp's footsteps. Stella did not know how much sound she had been making while she was thinking back of all those years and was really regretting the fact that maybe she had disturbed Den and another argument between them was imminent.
Stella's head began to lightly throb as she kept out of Den's head and tried to even her breathing to make it look like she was asleep.
But she knew she wasn't fooling anybody. Least of all a vampire with such heightened senses.
As expected, Den walked over to Stella's bed and spoke in a soft voice, "McCartney?"
Stella lay still as a stone. She did not know or care why Sharp was here and what he wanted.
"McCartney please. I know you're awake." he called out again. Stella still made no movement, she was in no mood to talk to him after she had seen that look in Den's eyes. When he had once loved a human too.