~

"Once upon a time,a poor,lonely and distressed beautiful young girl chanced upon a handsome and rich young man. This girl had lived around hate all her life so never had a feel of love until her knight in shinning armour came along. Of course,there was a lot of trouble stirred when their friendship began. They,however,fought against all odds together and soon,got married. Their union was blessed and they lived happily ever after."

Lies! All lies! Bullshit,if you ask me. 

How can the writers be so sure about the after? How dare they even add happily!?

They're all fiction. Fantasies. Fairy tales. And anything starting with the letter F never last because it also meant Failure!

Hi. Before you hate me any more,my name is Bella and I have a plausible reason for all the yells and anger.

I am a young lady who has lived around hate and distress for years,courtesy of my stepfather and his sons. Oh,I missed one. My backstabbing ex best friend. 

I have,to my own understanding,being dutiful. I'm fucking nineteen now but hell,where is the knight? Even if he can't afford a shinning armour,where is the damn knight when you need one!?

Backtracking to ten thousand and ninety five minutes ago which happens to be a week and few minutes ago,I was on a hot seat which ruined not just my building social life but also my friendship with someone I trusted with my entirety"

~

Loud honks released Leah Caroline Flemming who had been held spellbound by another character in her latest story. Flicking her wrists to her face quickly,her eyes grew bigger as she processed the time. "Oh crap" She let out and swallowed a huge gulp. Her earpiece was yanked off her ears shortly and the serene world of rainforests came crashing down. The honks were louder now and people were cussing themselves out. From her vantage point,it looked like an Armageddon without the killings.

"Bloody asshole." The driver cussed at the someone in the traffic. "This is going to take a long while." As if suddenly remembering she was in a taxi,she looked at the money count and groaned inwardly. Retrieving her purse from her oversized brown handbag that always came in handy,she selected a few tens to pay the driver with.

"Keep the change!" She hurriedly exited the cab just as a vehicle tried maneuvering pass. It stopped and honked at her for over thirty seconds straight. "Asswipe." She muttered under her breathe,gave the driver the middle finger and raced down to the pedestrian lane. Now in the human traffic NYC never failed to conjure every weekday,she apologised to plenty people as she fluidly walked past all. 

The cause of the traffic was a roadblock up front,about fifty steps away from Warren Publishing. She raced down this time,only pausing once to check the time again. 9:45. She was totally late! She almost tripped as she ran into the building,the now cold coffee she'd gotten from the bistro close to her apartment spilling on the ground. Without thinking she pulled some tissues from her bag to wipe the ground before resuming her death race to the elevator. Thankfully,it was empty...well,only for a second as five more people entered noisily before  the doors slid close. It slid open again on the fourth floor and all of the suit wearing talkatives exited. A pair of hand stopped the doors from moving close again. She groaned within herself. It'll be better to be alone so she could memorise an improvised sob story Danica would have to deal with.

"Good morning",he greeted and she muttered a reply under her breathe.

They both came off on the 10th floor and Leah walked softly to her desk. It took her twenty minutes from the jam but she made it to her computer unscathed. Dan was at the other end of the room,too engrossed in someone's work to notice her come in. She heaved a sigh of relief but not for long.

"Oh hey Leah!" Bethany chipped with an innocent smile. Silently cussing the redhead,Leah dreaded the clicking sound of Dan's six inch heels as she neared her. Her head drooped in wait for the shout that always came after. 

"Welcome. You must be Nicholas." Hazel eyes flew open to see Danica smiling at the dark haired guy from the elevator. They shook hands and she directed the gentleman to her office. Her head did a mental victory dance.

"Leah,be in my office in fifteen."

She shot up from her chair. "Yes ma'am". So much for a victory dance.

~

For lunch,three days after Danica's scolding,Leah had a burrito. She sat on her own as always. Maybe not totally alone because she had her latest book in front of her,waiting for more keys in her laptop to decide what happens. 

She helped herself to more food and imagined the scenes that were to come after the one she scribbled at lunch the day before. Before the thoughts could settle in,her brain picked out the words from the reporter on TV.

"...what happens to be a once concluded suicide case has been declared reopened for investigation by the Homicide Department of the NYPD. The victim,a Lily Morrison who was 26 years old at the time of death was found below the window of a motel. Miss Morrison's case was dismissed since there was no sign of struggle and she was highly intoxicated. Reports had it the she may have pushed herself from the window of the motel where she checked into,alone, earlier that night."

Intrigued by the news,as she was getting with anything crime related,Leah listened and watched intently while biting on her burrito. 

The reporter continued,"An unidentified body has been found beside a dumpster below a motel about six blocks away from where Miss Morrison's body was discovered. Folks fear this may be the handwork of a new serial killer as both corpse look alike. Currently,we are yet to get a verified ID on the body from the police department but since the homicide department declared the Morrison case reopen,it is safe to speculate that both cases are related. Joining us here is the Chief of Department,Mr Buddy."

The reporter turned to a much older sandy haired man. "Good afternoon,Chief Buddy"

The policeman nodded in greeting. "We're pleased to have you on air with us. Hopefully you would help clarify some of the questions biting at the press and the people,at large."

"Hey!" Bethany walked in,her usual chirping self,this time annoyingly cutting into the interview. She sat down with her own food tray. Not much food to her opinion,Leah decided as she inwardly hated on Bethany's choice of crispy looking tofu steaks and mushrooms. How do vegetarians live?

"Happy grass." Her dried tone expressed the sarcasm.

"Healthy grass,Leah,healthy grass. You should try it." To aggravate Leah,she stabbed on a mushroom and chewed with a 'hmmm'. Leah rolled her eyes. "Yunno,it would help with your inpunctuality."

"Is that even a word?"

"Doesn't matter if it isn't. Dairy makes you oversleep. Cut it out." She shook her head at the glass of milk sitting beside the plate of half eaten burrito. "Heard the latest from the grapevine?"

Leah never made out time for gossips but to indulge Bethany,she shook her head in negation. An exaggerated gasp followed the response. She motioned with her hand for Leah to come closer. Sighing,Leah obeyed. "Danica may be leaving us really soon."

"What? Why? Is she getting fired?" Although a constant recipient of Dan's scolds,Leah loved her boss. The middle aged mum was never obnoxious about leadership. 

"She's actually getting promoted,I hear." Bethany ate more grass. "A new boss,the actual owner of Warrens Publishings is taking over this branch."

Leah grew stiff. "What?" If this was true,it was the worse news ever. "Where do you get your stories from?"

"Pieces here and there" She shrugged and went back to eating fully. Leah mulled over that disturbing bit of information. "Sad she died"

Her eyes followed Bethany's gaze at the TV but her ears never quite got the remaining portions of the news. "Yeah,sad." She muttered a weak response but her thought centered on how to survive now Danica was leaving.

"I followed this case on Dan's request you know. I was pretty sure all along that it was indeed suicide. I mean,the facts were pretty strong."

Leah got interested now. "Facts?"

"Do you even read the crime section of Warren's News?" She rolled her eyes. "I wonder how you're still an employee. You're never interested in news"

"Oh,I am. You just said 'facts'. Seems pretty too sure if you ask me."

"Watch crime as I do and you'd know when it is a fact and when it is speculation."

"I'm growing that interest" Leah consoled the redhead mainly because she was curious to know why the police ruled it out as suicide at first. "So? The girl on TV?"

Bethany cleaned the grease from the fries off her hands. "Oh her. She's a ballerina. I think about 24 years old. Thing is,the ballet world is -was- having a big event two weeks before her death. She was found all drunk and there was no sign of something even a little nasty. But you know what?" She called Leah closer even as she drew herself close. "She was 14 weeks pregnant at death. She and the baby died."

The loud gasp escaping Leah couldn't be controlled. "That is so sad! She killed herself and her baby because she was embarrassed at being pregnant?"

"Well,now,we know it isn't suicide. It may be murder." Leah looked back to the TV to where the ballerina's mother was interviewed. She sniffed a lot and held her hanky to her face. "But with a mother like her,one who wouldn't help or be there for me if I got pregnant unexpectedly,I'd kill myself." Another tofu plopped into her mouth.