Today was the day that marked the three year anniversary of her death. Reluctantly, Daniel opened his eyes, and allowed his mind to wander through old memories, filling him with a nostalgic sense of happiness, however it was soon replaced with frustration and anger, and an overwhelming sad sensation. He missed his best friend, more than he could describe, and he had vowed that he would never give up searching for the reason for her death.
Scarlett, a young, dark haired, vivacious woman was murdered in her parents' home, and the killer had never been caught. Police had declared it a cold case, there were no leads nor was there any evidence pointing to a culprit, and to many people it was nothing but another tragic loss of a life that had never really begun. Daniel had been the one to clarify that it had been Scarlett killed, as her body was physically unidentifiable, due to the manner in which she had been murdered. She had been visiting her childhood home, as only days before her parents had also been mysteriously attacked, although this only resulted in them going clinically insane, and had been sectioned in the local psychiatric hospital. As the home was in a remote, countryside area, and she had no other siblings, Scarlett had been alone at the time of her death, so no one was there to hear her screams, no one could try and save her. She died alone. The house was sent on fire, and the intensity of the fire seemed to double every second, spreading throughout the entire building in less than 1 minute. With no way of escaping, Scarlett burnt to death, her flesh and bones becoming nothing but a pile of ash, insignificant among the rest of the incinerated objects in the house. Daniel had never truly gotten over her death, and he didn't think he ever would.
He pulled on his clothes, a suit, as he would be heading to work afterwards, but he did not leave the house and travel his normal route to the building he worked at, as today he would be making a detour, he had more important things to do first.
Before he reached his destination, he stopped at a florist, placing the same order on the same day he had done for the last 3 years. About 10 minutes later, he had arrived at the graveyard. He walked to the tombstone, and let his eyes sink into what was only left of his best friend.
'In loving memory of Scarlett Absal.
1950 - 1978
Her spirit lives on in those who loved her.'
He placed down the bouquet of flowers, purple lilies, as they had been her favourite, with one single scarlet poppy, to personalise them. He sat down in front of the tomb stone, and kept his silence for a little while, before speaking to her,
"Hey, well it's me, sorry to disappoint you, no one special today. I brought you some flowers, I thought that you'd like them, you always used to fill the house with them, making me sneeze every time I walked into the hallway. I'd never complain if you did it now, I promise. Three years huh? Three years. I'm still looking for them Scarlett, I'll find them, I'll find them... Yes I know you would tell me to let it go and move on, you were never one to dwell on the past, but I can't, I just - I just can't. If it makes you feel better, I've become a better lawyer now, because now I know where to look for clues and stuff, it's like I'm from CSI or something." He trailed off, pausing as if he was expecting a reply.
"I've been to the hospital where your parents are, they're still unwell, but I did see a tiny bit of expression in your mother's eye when I was in last, so that's an improvement. Although, your mother was never one to hold back, so seeing her so still and quiet really does take some getting used to. I'm sorry, that was insensitive, I... I... I just don't know how to deal with anything anymore, not without you. I guess I needed you more than you needed me." He let the tears fall freely down his face, not making any effort to mask his emotion.
"I miss you Scarlett." He choked out, "I miss you so much. I need you, why did you have to leave? We had so much left to do, and now that's gone. You're gone." Continuing to let the tears cascade down his cheeks, dripping onto his shirt, he leant his forehead against the tip of the tomb stone, and remained that way for a little while.
Leaning back again, he said,
"I need something Scarlett. I need someone, without you I have no one. If you can hear me, please send me something. Whatever, whoever, I don't care." Swallowing the ever present lump in his throat, he whispered one last time,
"I miss you."
With one last glance at the name of his best friend, he rose and left the graveyard, and headed about his day as if it was any other normal day, the powerful stride within his step returning, all previous emotion masked with an expression-less façade.
Eight hours later, Daniel was back in his home, his study to be in fact, although it was such a small room it could be considered a cupboard, and he was attempting to build up information for his most recent fraud case, however he was becoming increasingly distracted by his other project, a project that had been ongoing for 3 years.
Giving in to his urges to change the subject, he went over to the drawer that held all of the report he had gathered over the last few years regarding Scarlett's death. He had narrowed down the time, and obviously the place of the murder and the cause of death, however the problem that had been plaguing him for the entire 3 years is exactly how the fire was started, and who was the murderer. From what he knew, the fire was not started by matches or an explosion, nor a lighter, neither was it arson, as there had been no traces or supported evidence of these possible conclusions. He knew that the fire had to have come from somewhere, as well as the person who started it. There had been no fingerprints or footprints that had been registered to anyone known in the databases, and nothing could be traced back. Just like the formal investigation, Daniel was at a dead end, and couldn't seem to get past it. Just as his frustration was growing, there was a knock at the door.
He opened the door, and was shocked at what he discovered. Not only was it Bella standing in front of him, but she was covered in cuts and bruises, although it looked as if she had attempted to fix them.
"Bella! How did this happen to you?!" Daniel exclaimed, worry lacing his voice, as he took her arms and lead her into his house, slamming the door shut with his foot.
"It's a long story." Bellatrix sighed, unsure of how she was going to come up with a believable story, as she couldn't tell him the true reason.
"I have time Bella, and surely whoever did this to you needs to have their head looked at! Who did this to you?" Daniel replied, demanding to be told the truth.
"Let's just say that I angered someone, and they weren't very happy with me." Bellatrix said quietly, managing not to give too much away without telling a downright lie.
"Well I'm not very happy with them! Who thinks they have the right to do that to anyone? Bella, please tell me who did this."
"I can't." Bellatrix whispered, becoming somewhat light headed from what had happened in the last 24 hours, as well as the mental fatigue from not telling Daniel the truth.
Seeing that she was slightly unsteady on her feet, Daniel lead her to the sofa in his living room, and heard her hiss in pain as she sat down.
"Bella, how hurt are you? And where are you hurt? I can see your face and your hands, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the whole story."
"I'll be fine, stop worrying, I just have one stupid little cut that hurts a tiny bit more than the rest." Bellatrix replied, not wishing to be tarnished with the 'damsel in distress' card.
"Where is it? Show me."
Sighing, Bellatrix gave in, "It's on my stomach, and unless I take off my dress I can't show you, and I don't want you getting a free look at my chest, as well as everything else." Despite being weaker, she was not going to lose her pride along with her control.
Taking her hands in his, he stared into her eyes and said as sincerely as possible, "Bella I am not like that. You are hurt and I only want to help you. You came here so you obviously wanted me to do something, otherwise you wouldn't have come. Please stop being so stubborn and let me help you."
Recognising his sincerity, she sighed and stood up to remove her dress. Slightly whimpering as she pulled the dress over her head, she revealed the entire depth of her injuries that she had hidden before. Daniel's eyes widened and his jaw fell slightly open at the way the state of her body had been left, various cuts and bruises painting her skin, standing out against the cool porcelain shade that was the base, and then there was the worst one. The line that ran along her abdomen was deep and the wound was still open, no wonder it was causing her pain.
"B-Bella, you need to see a doctor, you can't leave that." He said, gesturing to that particular spot.
She remained quiet for a while, as she racked her brains to try and recall some of the information she had learnt from her Muggle Studies lessons at school, soon remembering that doctors were the same as healers. On one hand she knew that neither her or Daniel could sew up the wound, and she did want to gain some relief from the pain she was suffering, yet on the other hand she hated showing weakness, as well as the fact that doctors would ask questions as to how she obtained the injuries, and she didn't want to try and explain again.
"I'll be fine, I just need to get some rest and -" She didn't manage to finish her sentence as a spell of dizziness overcame her and she fell forward, only to be caught by Daniel. He placed her back down on the sofa, and went to go and fetch some looser clothes so that the fabric wouldn't stick to the wounds.
He returned minutes later carrying one of his shirts and a pair of old jogging bottoms, and instructed her to put them on. At first she refused, and wrinkled her nose at the sight of the clothing, until he firmly reminded her of what had just happened.
"Bella, you nearly fainted on top of me. You are not in charge anymore, and as soon as you have those clothes on, I am taking you to A&E, you can continue you try and convince yourself that you're fine, but I know you're not. Now please, do as you're told!"
Half an hour later, Bellatrix was being seen by one of the doctors at King's College Hospital. Daniel had come with her into the treating room, as he didn't trust her not to sneak away an continue to protest how 'fine' she was. The doctor had examined all of her cuts, before deciding that the one on her abdomen would need stitches.
"So, how did this happen?" The doctor asked.
"It's a long story." Bellatrix repeated half-heartedly, even more reluctant to reveal everything to this stranger.
"Oh I see." he replied, eyes shifting to Daniel and then back to Bellatrix again. Sensing where he was going with his theory, Bellatrix took the opportunity to set him straight.
"It had nothing to with him, don't even make any assumptions as I can guarantee that they aren't true." She snarled, a dislike for the doctor emerging from her. "He has done nothing but help me." She clarified.
Just as the doctor was about to begin stitching up the wound, Daniel took Bellatrix's hand. As it took her by surprise, she inhaled quickly, before regaining composure.
"It was just for reassurance, and sometimes these hurt, you know, so I thought you might like it." He said, worried that he'd done something wrong.
She smiled softly at him, fully appreciating how lucky she was to have been able to come to him for help. "Thank you." She said.
A few uncomfortable minutes later and the whole procedure was over. The doctor had given Bellatrix some pain relief tablets for her injuries, and had instructed her to rest. "I'll make sure she does." Daniel said.
They rode home in a comfortable silence, and it took a while for Daniel to realise that Bella had fallen asleep, presumably tired from everything that had gone on that day, a small snore alerting him. As they pulled up outside his house, it became apparent that she was not going to be waking up any time soon, and he didn't have the heart to wake her up himself, so he carried her from the car to the house. She was very light, so it was no problem for Daniel anyway. Knowing that it would be a while until she woke up, and it was late anyway, he placed her in his spare room, the room that used to belong to Scarlett. Leaving the painkillers and a glass of water by her bed, he pulled the covers over her and stood back, watching her for just a minute.
'She looks so peaceful when she sleeps.' He thought, 'Much less stubborn and hard to please.' He smiled to himself, and then realised that if she woke up and saw him staring at her, she would most likely hurt him, he left the room, closing the door behind him.
As he got into bed himself, he suddenly felt exhausted, the day's events catching up with him, and he closed his eyes, allowing himself relief from all the emotions he had been through in one day. If anyone had seen him, they would have thought that he was sleeping with a smile on his face.
Reviews? I tried to make this chapter longer, as I won't be updating for at least another two weeks, because I'll be on holiday and there isn't any internet there. The whole story has now been planned out, so hopefully the main plot of the story will become clearer and will add depth to the characters, especially Daniel. There is more to him than meets the eye, so please be patient, I don't want to rush the story otherwise that will make it much less believable, which I obviously don't want to do.
Thank you for reading!