While Emma was at Jessie's place discussing the Western Parks, Ross and I were at Central Park walking on the pedestrian path.

I wore a long black-colored midi dress with a deep-blue shrug of waist-length and headgear on. Black and blue were my signature look.

On the contrary, Ross wore a relatively brighter colored knee-length top and a trouser with a long brown overcoat hiding most of her clothes. She, too, had headgear on.

We were strolling at a slow pace. We attempted our best to not get caught up in the eyes of many people, so we kept walking until we reached a place that was not the most visited one.

Having reached there, Ross suddenly spoke out,

"I hate it! Why do we have to keep our meeting so secret?"

"It's because I don't want you getting into trouble because of me!" I said, looking around one more time to make sure there wasn't anyone close by.

"What trouble could you possibly get me into? I mean, you aren't dealing drugs, are you?" said Rossie in a scoffing tone.

"Do you know? You ask a lot of questions!" I replied in the same tone that she used.

"Let's get to the topic straight away," I asserted.

"About that threat note. Did you receive any? We could tally the handwriting!" Ross asked with hope building in her soul.

"No. The sender didn't get an opportunity to. Mama and Baba did all that was necessary to keep me safe, and within a few days after my encounter, I left Blueball. So, I guess I didn't give him a chance." I replied plainly.

"Hm. That's right! So what have you been doing all these years? You said you returned after hearing about your parents' death. What after that? And why do you keep living here underground? What was that place we were at last night?" Ross asked all the questions that were tingling her mind at once.

I stopped in front of Ross and stared at her with a grumpy face. I hate answering questions, and Ross is like a big box of Question Marks.

"What? You expect a normal person to accept your abnormal behavior and not even ask a question?" Ross interrogated, giving stress on each word she spoke.

"A question!!?" I exclaimed with a funny astonishment.

"Ross, my dear, you are a Pandora-Box of questions!!!" I sneered at her statement.

Ross snorted on hearing my mocking tone.

"Okay! Get this straight." Ross started with her voice filled with exasperation. She snapped and pointed one finger of her right hand towards me.

"You're gonna clear your side of the story right now in front of me. Or else..." Ross paused, giving a thoughtful expression.

I raised one brow of mine as a sign of asking, 'Or else what?'

"Or else I'll ask you soooo many questions that you'll die answering them," Rossie affirmed with a victorious smile on her face.

I could help but burst into laughter. Rossie started gawking at me in confusion.

"Seriously! Oh, My God! I am so afraid of your questions. You're right! I must clear my side at once!" I said sarcastically, trying to stop my laughter.

Rossie turned her head, making a "hmph" sound, and started walking, stomping her feet on her ground.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I'll tell you everything, I promise." I apologized, making a puppy face.

"Why don't you take a seat, your Highness! Have yourself comforted." I started blabbering.

"YOUR STORY!!!" Ross yelled in a suppressed voice.

"Okay! Okay!" I said, raising my hands in submission.

After a while, we were seen to have been seated on a bench nearby. I started narrating my story.

I was 13 when I first received the news of that accident. I was staying at the hostel of Literati High. I had two of Baba's trusted men taking care of all my requirements. I was leaving under disguise. I was registered in the school by the name- Christina Hans. They used to visit me once a week in my hostel to make sure I was doing well. They mostly visited during weekend holidays unless there was an emergency.

I remember exactly - it was Wednesday morning. I was summoned by the clerk from one of my ongoing classes, saying I have a visitor. He told me that my visitor was waiting for me at the headmaster's office. All the way from my classroom towards the office, I kept wondering who it could be. At first, I figured it might be one of Baba's men. But the moment I entered the office, I gaped at the person sitting in front of me in astonishment.

It was Kyle. He was sitting with his back facing towards me. But can you not recognize your brother's back? When the headmaster, Mr. Zaurus, called out my name, I got out of my trance. And then, I noticed Kyle turned his head towards the door where I kept standing like a glass doll. My eyes all filled with tears. Maybe some tears left escaped the prison of my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, enjoying freedom.

"Angie, My little angel!" I heard Kyle say. His voice was grieved. Or maybe I felt it that way.

"Big-B!!!" I murmured under my lips and ran crying towards him.

I ran up to Kyle and cried like a baby digging my head into his chest.

Who says siblings are rivals. I say siblings are blessings.

One would die without its sibling. And brothers are gems, the most precious ones. They are the shields that protect you from any and every harm. If one loses its protective shield, what will keep it safe? What will protect your existence?

I kept crying without even bothering the fact that Mr. Zaurus was there too. Kyle tried to comfort and console me the entire time. But I knew he was crying as well.

When I got myself composed a little bit, Kyle excused me from Mr. Zaurus and asked if we could take a walk on the campus premises. He said he had something important to discuss with me.

Mr. Zaurus permitted us to do so. He was indeed a man with great character. Nevertheless, we went out, and Kyle started speaking,

"I know you have been missing us all. Trust me, we miss you too. Mama used to cry all night praying for your well-being. Baba used to keep himself busy in cornering the dirt away from you. And J..." he paused. His eyes filled with torment.

"What happened to J?" I asked anxiously.

"Her sorrow was greater than all of ours." He said with agony.

Some moments passed in silence amongst us. None of us dared utter a word. After a while, Kyle sighed, and gaining courage, he held me by my shoulders and said,

"Listen, Angela! What I am about to say might not be easy to take. But I want you to be brave. You need to be a stout-hearted person. You get it?" Kyle was saying with a low yet firm voice. And his tone sent shivers down my spine.

I didn't dare to speak. Hence, I just nodded in approval.

"Baba and Mama departed from Blueball to arrive at Nashville. However, they weren't ever able to reach their destiny. Their car crashed at Montanieu Street, and they departed for their eternal destiny." Kyle said, and his eyes started shedding tears.

And about me. I thought someone had snapped my soul out of my body. I stood there without blinking an eye. Cold and frozen like a dead body. Kyle started shaking me by my shoulders. But I didn't respond. Do dead people respond? No, they don't.

After a while, when my eyes opened, I found myself in a white room. I tried opening my eyes by fluttering them. But there seemed to be a burden on my eyelashes. My head was aching badly. It took me some time to finally come back to my senses. It was only then I realized I was in the school medical care room.

"Kyle!" I said in a murmuring tone. I thought the words didn't even escape my lips.

But Kyle heard them. He came towards me, and waving his hand through my hair, said,

"Yes, Angie!" Tears once again started filling his eyes.

"What happened?" My voice was still trembling and barely audible.

"You fainted. But now you're fine. Doctors say it's because you have a lot of mental stress." He was saying, and the number of tears running down his cheeks increased.

His voice seemed heavy due to a ball of tears hanging in his throat.

When he informed me about the accident, I was aghast. But now I was more stable, I guess.

"You should have cried. Yelled. Grieved. But you did nothing!? You'll get yourself hurt if you contain it all inside yourself." Kyle said in his tear burdened voice.

"Don't you remember, B? I am Baba's brave girl. I don't yell, cry and grieve." I said, making a failed attempt to smile.

After that, I was under-recovery for the next two days. The sorrow was gigantic. And the pain, eternal.

Nevertheless, after my recovery, I insisted Kyle on taking me to the place of the car crash. But he refused, saying it was highly inappropriate for me to leave. It was my last year as a mid-schooler. And don't even ask how I coped up with my studies in the upcoming years.

Kyle informed me that he received Mama and Baba's corpses from the area police. And he had already done their ending ceremonies under police surveillance. Kyle left me with the two men. He said his topmost priority was to keep me protected and make me complete my studies safely.

So, I waited until the right time arrived. Four years later, I completed high school. I asked the men to leave me now. And to my surprise, they agreed. That very day, I left Nashville and departed for Blueball. But before Kyle left, he told me that this news hasn't been yet announced to Jessie. So, I couldn't gather the courage to head back home.

Hence, instead, I decided to reside in that old secret house. It was an old hideout Baba used during his wildlife exploring escapades. He always used to make me accompany him.

I was speaking with my head staring at my hands, which were placed on my lap. I paused for a moment as a ball of years choked my throat. I tried to swallow. How much ever I tried to resent my feelings and not cry, a small tear escaped my eye and rolled down the cheek to land on my hands. I tried not to make a sniffing noise while drawing wet air through my nostrils. Rossie couldn't see my facial expressions. So I made sure she doesn't know that I am crying. I am a brave girl. I don't shed tears.

Years passed by, but some wounds never heal. And as long as you live, the pain is still alive.

Trying to compose me, I took some deep breaths and continued without lifting my head up,

"I kept on living in that house. And the only reason for my life was to find out why all this happened. Starting from the threats to my parents' atrocious MURDER!" I stated, with my voice carrying a sense of determination in it.

"Murder!? What murder are you talkin' about, Ann? You said it was an accident! A car crash!" Rossie's shocked voice reached my ears.

I finally raised my head as my eyes blazed with a sense of determination in completing my goal. The tears have now faded. Revenge took its place.

"I have been doing research about this incident for the past two years. And certainly, I am sure it wasn't just an Accident!" I stated.

Rossie, now, was extremely puzzled. Many-a-times, she opened her mouth to say something but then kept quiet as she couldn't figure out what to say. Seeing the state of her confusion, I decided to clear off all her doubts myself.

"I found some clues that created doubts in my mind about that accident." I started stating facts firmly.

"First, the place of the accident was 5 km from Blueball. Montanieu Street - the one that's surrounded by dense forestry on both sides. According to the police investigation, the car crashed into the trees." saying so, I stood up and started walking back and forth in front of Rossie.

"So, now the big question is - "How did the car crash and what happened to its passengers?" I asked in a dramatic tone.

"There were no severe crash bumps on the car. All the photographs I saw showed only minor scratches. But one thing that did fascinate me in person was that all of the car's glasses were broken into pieces except the rearview mirror inside the car. And you know what, even the airbags weren't inflated." I said with suspicions seen to be gathering all over my face.

"Kyle never saw the bodies. They said the bodies were too cramped up. So, Kyle just did the funeral rituals without even opening the caskets." I said thoughtfully.

I highly doubted it. There was something that Kyle was unaware of. It isn't the way they say it is. Something fishy. To the bottom of which I haven't been able to reach yet.

"How did you get all this information? I thought you said it was a confidential case?" I got out of my trance when Rossie's struck my ears.

Having heard what she said, a faint smile crept on my face.

"My best friend helped me out!" I exclaimed in a state of inner satisfaction.

"She lives at a farm, 2 km from Blueball. She studied with me in Literati High. Her father is a licensed private investigator. You know just some of being the daughter of a licensed PI's one and only best friend." I said, and my lips spread into a wide smile.

"She helped me through a lot lately. I am highly grateful to her..." I was saying when suddenly a shrill voice of a phone's ring shattered the tranquility of the surroundings.

Startled, both of us turned our faces towards the source of this screeching device. It was Rossie's mobile phone.

After a few seconds, Rossie could be heard speaking on the phone,

"What? What happened?" She said and paused to listen to the person on the other side.

"Okay! I'll be back asap. Yes! Yes! Bye!" She said and ended the phone call.

Then she turned towards me.

"I need to hurry home. There's some case regarding Emma's younger sister Chelsea. Sam didn't give all the details on the phone. I'll go check out." Rossie said in one breath, and the next moment she could be seen hurrying back home.

I stood there with puzzled expressions watching Rossie run towards her home when I heard the low, creepy, hair-raising voice, that came from behind me,

"Long time no see, dear friend. Or dare I say, Cousin Angie!"

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