THE PAINFUL TRUTH

Chapter Twenty One- The Aftermath

Stella's POV

The night was silent. Too silent. Usually, I would wish that the person who was snoring would stop so that I could get to sleep but tonight, I didn't want silence. Tonight, I'd rather have someone snore their head off just to let me know that I'm not alone.

Alone in my thoughts. All I can think about is the photo that Emma had posted on her Twitter account. I can't get it out of my head no matter how hard I try; every time I close my eyes, I just see it. The photo of a front page of a newspaper from eight years ago. A newspaper report with details that I wanted to stay hidden. A newspaper report about my family and I:

The Minehead Mail

SUSPECTS OF ARSON DO A DISAPPEARING ACT

On Friday night, Minehead's most popular coffee shop, We Love Coffee, suffered from a tragic fire. The coffee shop was owned by a couple, Mr Roman Hana and Mrs Ruby Hana, who had a thirteen-year-old daughter, Emily Hana. Unfortunately, none of them survived; they died before the fire brigade arrived due to the large amount of fire.

According to evidence discovered by the police while they were investigating the scene where the fire took place, somebody had deliberately set the coffee shop on fire. After Minehead Police interviewed the family and friends of Hanas, they decided to take the Johnsons into questioning.

Up until the Hanas has arrived, Johnsons' Coffee, owned by Mr Matt Johnson and Mrs Ailani Johnson, used to have many customers but they lost them as soon as We Love Coffee opened for the first time. Therefore, the Johnsons would have a motive for murdering the Hanas but of course the police force had to find out whether or not they had an alibi for that horrible night the fire burned down 'We Love Coffee'.

However, Minehead police arrived at an empty 'Johnsons' Coffee' and a bare house; Mr Matt Johnson and Mrs Alaini Johnson had packed their bags and fled with their five-year-old daughter, Stella Johnson. Nobody witnessed the family's sudden disappearance and no news of them have been heard. Not so long after the Johnsons left Minehead, the police closed the case of the fire at We Love Coffee. This received a lot of backlash from the public, who believed the search for the Johnsons should continue to find the couple responsible for a fire at the coffee shop and the murder of Roman Hana, Ruby Hana and Emily Hana.

I grab my phone(that somehow survived the crash) and once I unlock it, I open up Twitter. I know I'm going against Kate's wishes, which are to stay away from the app until it all dies down but my fingers have a mind of their own as they tap to view Emma's tweet.

There's the caption underneath the photo. The caption that includes any information that the newspaper report didn't contain:

The Johnsons moved to Bristol once they left Minehead. Last summer, Mr Matt Johnson and Mrs Alaini Johnson died in a car accident. Stella Johnson, who's now thirteen years old, was the only survivor and because she was left with no parents, she was put in the foster care system. Currently, she's being fostered in Minehead.

Now, whoever reads this post will know everything about my life. I'm sure that if Kate knew what I was doing on my phone this minute, she wouldn't hesitate to toss my phone out of my bedroom window. I wouldn't be lucky: a phone falling on the floor twice in twenty four hours is something you would try to avoid but Kate wouldn't care in the heat of moment, just to stop me from reading the replies:

The guts this girl has to return to a town where her parents destroyed lives!

Who are her foster parents?

Shocked nor disgusted is enough to describe how I felt while reading the report and the caption.

There are so many more replies but I'm not emotionally prepared to go through this.

Congratulations, Emma! You've achieved what you were aiming for! Since I joined Minehead Academy, you never liked me so you pretended to be my friend while you planned to hit me where it hurt...and it worked! You fed everyone with lies(that I don't know how you came up with) and now everyone's on your side so nobody will believe me if I said that my parents didn't do what everyone in Minehead think they did.

I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't notice the tears streaming down my face. Emma's won. I've lost. I've lost all the trust from all those people who trusted me. I've lost hope of a fresh start. A second chance at living in Minehead. It's crushed. Sooner or later, Kate and Harry will no longer foster me because they wouldn't want the daughter of alleged murderers under their roof. I've lost the very few friends that I had: if Storm and Sophie haven't already read Emma's tweet, she will gladly tell them everything. I'm not wanted; I might as well pack my bags.

You were stupid to return to Minehead!

I wish I had foster care parents miles away from this town. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. I'm going to leave this place and in the morning, I will visit a person who can help me.

Author's Note

Second time trying to publish this chapter. I hope this time it won't delete half of the chapter!

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