Chapter 3

Before Gio could get up the next morning, Alita decided to surprise him with a Christmas song, maybe a regular one where she would tell him Santa Claus is coming to town.

    "God!" She stretched as she dropped the kitchen towel "Being a big sister is so stressful".

    She had just finished making pancakes and cupcakes, since they had always loved cakes, nothing would happen if they eat it for the whole day.

   If there is another word to describe a broke person, Alita might want to agree she is more than broke. Yesterday was Gio's birthday and she had spent the whole money she had, the only good thing is that she brought enough food that would last for one week before she get paid.

   Gio should still be sleeping in his room, sleeping on the floor, or if lucky still in his duvet. Since Gio was still a baby, he enjoyed rolling in his sleep, he would roll to the floor then under the bed.

    "Gio! ottenere il vostro culo grasso off metro" She giggled as she walked out of the kitchen.

    Whatever level of sleep Gio is, it is certain he would wake up just to tell her he doesn't have a fat ass. He would cry all day if she refuse to tell him that he is beautiful.

   "Gio?" She yelled louder as she rushed back to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of pancake, probably to tease Gio with it.

    Her smile was broad when she still found his door slightly ajar as it always seems to be every morning. The boy never leaves his door open or properly closed believing that something might come to get him in his sleep.

   She pushed the door and bent a little holding the remaining piece of pancake-like it was a gun. She placed her back against the door and bent a little bit to look at the other side of the bed from the under.

      "Gio?"

   All color drained from her face as she walked closer to check if her eyes were having issues. She pulled the sheet, she gasps as she couldn't find him on the bed or the floor.

      She smiled, maybe he wants to surprise her and hide in his wardrobe. Who knows what a kid can do to piss her off.

   She gently walks to the wardrobe smiling from ear to ear as she holds the handle.

    "Ready or not! Here I come" she Intoned as she pulled the door open.

  Her knuckles grew white as she found it also empty.

   "Gio, where are you??"

   She began to walk around the house, looking for Gio. She checks everywhere, the kitchen again, her room, mama Samantha's room, the store, the Laundry, even the garage they have never used.

   "Gio!!" She screamed, obviously getting worried.

    She ran out the garage door barefoot and the cold pancake still in her left hand. Her green eyes became stormy as she walked to the front door, leaving the garage life on but the door completely locked as before.

   Her warm feet met with the harsh cold snow but she didn't mind, she just want to find her brother and everything would be fine.

   Even when she felt she was about to freeze to death, she still didn't mind. Her light pajamas soon became the most uncomfortable thing for her. Her teeth gnash as she shivers but she still wasn't ready to give up on searching for Her only hope yet.

   Many things began to flow through her mind, many awful things she had never thought about since her parents died.

   'What if the killer of her parents came back for them and took Gio when she was still asleep?'

   'What if Gio had gone out to get something to surprise her and got into trouble or got lost?'

   'What if he is out here in the woods, almost frozen to death?'

   She shook her head, trying to push all the negative thoughts aside as she went further into the cold street, looking for Gio.

   As any other Christmas could be, everyone was in their various homes, cooking, singing, eating, playing, or even dancing. She caught a glance of a small family taking pictures in the snow.

   They seem so perfect!

  "Gio if this is a prank you better show up now" She cried.

    After searching for an hour, she came back to the house red, almost frozen to death with hurting feet. Her hair looked rough, scattered in all directions as she fought with a dragon. Her face look puffy and red as she was trying her best not to cry or break down.

    "Gio" she tried again as she came back into the house "Please Gio tell me whatever you want and I will get it for you"

    She walked back to his room and found it the same way she left it, everything was just the same way she left them except the garage, it was wide open.

   Without hesitation, she broke in two mob sticks and walked slowly to the dark garage.

    "Who so ever the fuck are you, you better show up with my brother or I am calling the cops"

    Shit!

  She cussed as she noticed she had nothing but the stalk. Her phone was even still inside her room under her pillow.

   "Please just give Gio back to me, I beg you" she began to cry, she fell on her knees as fresh tears flow down her frozen red cheeks.

   She just knelt there in the same spot crying, she couldn't imagine what her parents would do or say. They left her with just one task and she couldn't do it without problems.

     "Please!!!" She yelled again.

   She felt someone touch her shoulders, without thinking, she held the hand, pull it over, and was about punching existence out of the person before she looked well.

   "Gio?"

  She pulled the confused boy into a tight hug, she check his body if she could find any scar or injury.

   "Oh my God, Gio, don't do that again"

   "Are you alright" Gio moved back a little to see her face well "You are crying what happened"

   Alita flinched, she touched her face then his face.

     "Merry Christmas, Brother" she got up and walked away.

   Gio stood transfixed for a while, indeed he was surprised but he had never seen his sister so freaked out.

    "What's wrong, Sorella?"

  Alita decided to ignore him if that would be the wise thing to do, she couldn't just imagine what she had been through and still lose him. She might as well commit suicide because she has nothing else in this world to be proud of.

   Not long, they were spotted at the dining, eating silently. She kept staring at Gio's hazel-green eyes and began to imagine what she could have done without him.

   She flinched she heard her phone rang, jolting her back to reality.

   "I will get it" Gio offered with his mouth full, before she could say anything, she had dashed out of the dining to her room.

    Alita watched him, joy, overflowing joy flowing through her veins as she watch the boy run away happily.

    "I have it, Sorella" he returned "But the call has ended"

   Gio dropped the phone on the table and continued with his food. She didn't bother to look at his sister's face as she went through a message on her phone.

   Her face turned white and she dropped the half-eaten pancakes, she gulped water and dialed a number on her phone.

    "Mr. Mattoe you can't fire me now!" She yelled, "What wrong have I done?"

   She waited, listening to what the person was saying before she replied.

    "I am your best chief and Ma Samantha got this job for me, how the fuck will I cope?"

    "None of your fucking business?" She yelled, Gio raised an eyebrow and she mutter an apology before leaving the table, her voice hoarse and she was already sniffing.

     "The restaurant needs me, Mr. Mattoe" she walked around "Besides, this is the only time I have missed work and besides, it's Christmas Eve"

   "Fine!" She yelled "I will come for my paycheck this evening and you can go fuck your self"

    This wasn't what she had expected, or maybe she did expect a little bit of it. She called in sick and they still had the guts to fire her, what do they want her to do?

   She walked back to the table to find Gio, peacefully seated and looking at her plate of pancakes.

    "Want more?" She asked him.

   "Sure" he grinned as he grabbed from her plate without waiting for the next order "You should have more, Sorella," He said with his mouth full.

   On the normal ground, Alita would have to try to be a good parent by saying the usual "do not talk with your mouth full"  but Instead, she just watched him trying her best not to cry.

   "Merry Christmas, Sorella" his hazel-green eyes shone as he beam.

    "Merry Christmas, Gio"

   She just watched him eat happily, all her appetite had gone, as she began to think of how to cope with one job. How would she still pay tax, feed them, cloth them, amend things, pay bills, and put Gio back in school when school resumes.

    Right now, she doesn't want to hurt him by telling him that she had lost her job. She must do something about it quickly.

    What a Christmas indeed!