A/N: Hi there! This is a short chapter but it's an important one. The next chapter I promise will start the story we're all waiting to read from my oc's POV. But until that next update of the chapter comes, you're stuck with this one. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters belongs to Oda-sensei, my OC belongs to me!

"... sh-she just came out of nowhere. We weren't drunk, or anything!"

"It wasn't your fault, It was an accident."

"It's alright, honey, we'll get through this..."

"Hey, you're that girl I saw in the news! The one that—"

"... Well? Before we begin, would you like to say something?"

"You killed her! YOU KILLED HER!"

"Don't! Just don't."

"I-I'm so sorry!"

.

.

.

.

.

.

The red-head had been hesitant to go at first, but she had to do this. She just had to, no matter what came her way through the worst of it, she just needed to do this. It might help her, a doctor had told her when she was forced to come to the clinic by her parents.

The dark circles around her eyes said that Miranda couldn't find any rest. But who could? After what happened, how could she find sleep when all she could see behind closed eyes was her friend being horrifically slammed through the windshield? She could still remember the feeling of blood on her face from the impact, she still remembered the smell when she watched people run blindly for help.

Miranda rang the door bell, listening it chime and waiting for the occupants inside to answer the door. She was both relieved and terrified when the person who answered the door was the youngest child of the family, Marcus. Marcus was thirteen years old, his voice was getting essentially deeper and he was growing just as handsome as his older brother—

"What do you want?" came a frosty demand.

She swallowed heavily, blinking away the wetness from her eyes as she looked straight on Marcus' glaring eyes. He looked like he was wanted to beat her to an inch of her life, and if that had been the case, she would have let him. She deserved it.

"I, I wanted to drop these off." she gestured to the small box in her arms. "I wanted to give them back."

He stared at her with wariness, as if he was expecting this to be a trick. Like he was expecting her to reveal the demon with her. The very monster that killed his older sister...

"Can I take this to her room? Please?" she pleaded to Marcus, no longer having the will in her to hold back the tears and hurt she had been bottling the last few months.

Marcus stared at the box in her arms. It would have been just easy for him to simply take the box and slam the door shut in her face, no longer welcome her presence in the very house she would always visit when she walked back from school with her friend. Amazingly, Marcus opened the door wide enough and gestured her inside without a word.

She let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She stepped inside and watched the door close behind her and she waited until Marcus led the way through the house. Miranda looked around the house, knowing that this would be the last time she would ever step inside when this was done and over with. Looking inside the living room, she recalled a time when she would watch Zack play the old Resident Evil games that creeped her out, furiously hugging her friend for comfort.

"Why did you let her in?!"

Maggie, the now only daughter of the family, was screeching at her younger brother. Maggie was very temperamental and was easy to anger out of the five children, and she was ready to murder her on the spot for just looking at Miranda. If it hadn't been for the security escort Maggie would have attacked Miranda, but now she was alone and at her mercy.

And yet, she was welcoming any coming beating with her name on it.

"She wanted to drop off some stuff."

Brushing by Marcus, Maggie strode up to Miranda and grabbed her by the lapels of her coat. "Get out! You're not welcome here you fucking murderer!"

"MAGGIE!"

All three jumped at the booming shout that came like thunder and at the entrance of the living room was the oldest of the five, Joseph. Joe stood tall but seemed to be restraining himself from going into another shouting spat with his little sister. With one last seething look, Maggie released Miranda and briskly left the hallway and towards the kitchen. There was a long pregnant pause before Miranda finally mustered enough courage to look at Joe in the eye.

"Joe, I'm—"

"Just drop whatever you have in her room and get out."

And just like that, the elder child turned away from the quiet red-head and back into the living room. It took Marcus to get Miranda to move her feet and follow him up the stairs where the room was located.

It looked the same, if not a little empty, but things haven't changed in the room. The walls were still a lilac hue, the bed still had the patched quilt cover with cows and sunflowers on it. The red-head walked towards the white empty desk and placed the box down, opening the cover so she could get to work on putting things back to place as she had remembered.

Marcus silently watched her the whole time, waiting for her to finish and finally walk her out the door so he would never have to see her again. It was strange. Not so long ago, the brat used to whine to his older sister on why she wasn't as cool as her best friend. Miranda didn't feel cool.

She walked over to the book shelf to place the alarm clock back to place when she noticed something colorful at the corner of her eye. She reached for it and slid out the book to get a better look at the cover. Somehow she vaguely remember this book, but from where...?

"She really liked those books. She was always asking mom or dad to buy her one when we would go to the library." Marcus told her, leaning against the door frame. "But, she stopped reading collecting them."

"Why?"

"'Cause apparently that was kiddy stuff and she should act like an adult."

And it clicked. Another wave of guilt hit her like a bunch of brick, reminding her of the last words she spoke her friend before she was killed that night. She clutched the book in her hands and held it closely to her chest, letting another flow of tears fall down her red cheeks.

"Hey, what are you reading?" Miranda asked when she came upon a familiar, lonely form sitting away from the people of the cafeteria.

"Well, it's like a comic book."

"Uhhh... aren't you a little old for comic books?"

"Can I have this?" she asked, holding the book up for Marcus to see.

She shouldn't deserve to be inside this house to begin with, let alone be standing in their dead sister's room, but...

"Whatever." Marcus muttered as he stood up straight from leaning on the door frame.

As she walked away from the house, she heard the door shut behind her one last time before heading towards the car waiting on the side walk. Miranda's father didn't say anything the whole time he drove them both to the house, having already said his two cents yesterday when she announced her plan to visit the mourning family. She climbed inside the passenger seat and buckled up, closing the door and looking down at her lap.

Her father started the car without hesitation, like he was ready to rabbit away from this place. She understood the feeling but she couldn't allow herself to do it.

"What's that?" he asked after awhile when they stopped at a red light.

"It's a comic book. She, uh, she one time told me I would like it if I read it." she replied.

"Well, go ahead."

From her father's prompting, Miranda opened the book but realized something odd; the page said that she was reading the wrong direction. With some awkwardness, the red-head flipped the pages the other way and came across an index. She skipped past some pages until she finally found what she had been looking for.

She read the first printed words out loud,

"Once upon a time, there was a great pirate. His name was was 'Gold Roger'..."