Rina ZanteI placed our lunch on the tray and left the kitchen for our room. Mammà laid asleep on the bed, a light snores filling the room. A little sad smile sat on my lips. Watching her this way broke my heart. She was exhausted, having worked her butt off today. I tapped her. "Mammà."The snoring came to a stop as she stirred. "Hmm?" Slowly, her eyes let open. "The food is here.""Grazie a dio." I set the tray on the floor as she rose. Her loud yawn erupted and I glanced up to see her stretching. That was right: she was tired. Mammà had done quite a chore today by stoking up the kitchen with supplies. The market was particularly congested today. The rush had really stressed her out. I helped Mammà sit on the floor before securing my spot opposite her. It was true we had a table in the room. However, it was as good as useless since only one chair existed here. Besides, Mammà and I were fond of eating together on a single plate. We ate in silence and from the look on her face
Rina Zante"Che la dea della luna ti protegga.""Così sia." I opened my eyes, my amusement not hidden. "I'm relocating upstairs, Mammà, not leaving the county. ""You always need prayers. Always. I tell you this all the time." Although her tone was stern, she bore a smile.I pulled her to a hug, and planted a kiss on her chubby cheek. "Ti voglio bene.""I love you too." We pulled apart. "Remember what I told you. Be nice—I trust you on that anyway. And don't ever hesitate to let me know should you find anything disturbing, okay?"I nodded. I had told Mammà that Piccolo Maestro hadn't offended me in any way. Instead it was Mia I was concerned about. In my words, "she gives me bad vibes." Now, I knew it was wrong of me to put the blame on Mia. She hadn't really been nice, but then, she hadn't been that much of a problem to me. However, desperate situations called for drastic actions. I had to do what I had to do.Mamma had told me not to worry. She too had noticed that from her. All I n
VINCENZO “You’ll be driving Rina to school,’ Mother spoke up, tone firm. I cannot, to save my damn life, believe that this was what was happening right here, right now. Madre literally stood her ground, her thin lips further flattened by her deadpan expression. For the billionth time, I'd got to say: this was a joke. Madre had got to be pulling my legs. Maybe it was part of her "antics". One time, she'd found my gaming console lying carelessly on the floor and hid it as a way of teaching me a lesson. Now, that'd happened a long time ago. However, I couldn't help but think in that direction. Madre had been quite pissed, given that I hadn't consulted her before making Rina my maid. "Excuse me?" I wanted to be sure I'd misheard Madre. "I don't understand." "What don't you understand? Driving Rina to school and helping her locate her hall?" "Yes, that part." My voice was unbelievably calm despite the raging inferno in me. I still wanted to get the situation straight. Madre simp
Buckets of tears ran down my face. They came in such force I hadn't felt before. Hurt, shame, anger and disgust tumbled within me. Whatever had I done to deserve this? I'd taken a while to reflect. Was there a time I'd gone astray? Had I maybe done something terrible without knowing? My reflection turned up zero answers. That meant that I was either blameless(which was impossible) or I'd unknowingly erred. The latter looked to be a better explanation. I sniffed. We strayed ever-so-often. We did things that angered the moon goddess and gave her a reason to unleash her wrath. However, according to Mammà, she was a considerate being. All she needed from us was a repentant heart. Once, we turned away from our wrongdoings and sought her forgiveness, she would have mercy. Yes, one could call me crazy for all these mental ramblings. But could I be blamed? I wanted to get something straight. I wanted to know why my luck was this bad, this ugly. Yes, for heaven's sake, I had done bad. I ha
RINAThe young man gave me a crystal clear description, even a blind person would find his way around. I thanked him profusely, almost crossing the threshold of craziness. That was how grateful I was. As I raced down, I played the directions in my head. I couldn't afford to lose it. To my relief, I came across this open space with a stone work quadrangle. Next to it was the cafeteria. The amount of relief that washed over me couldn't be quantified. It brought tears to my eyes, it left my heart light. Yet, I knew it was too early to celebrate. The actual jubilation came when I recovered my bag. The cafeteria was almost empty now. Just some heads here and there. I flashed my gaze at the booth I'd stayed in. Instantly, my heart plummeted. It wasn’t there. The bag wasn't there! Still fixed in the same spot, I combed the cafeteria—the part within my line of sight. Nothing. No freaking thing. There was an elderly woman behind the counter. I dashed towards her. "Mi scusi, signora. Per
RINAI missed two of my afternoon classes. Half of the time was spent roaming about in search of my bag and the reclaim section the guy had talked about. The other half was me in the bathroom, spilling the entire contents of my tear duct. It was official. My bag had disappeared. Stolen, perhaps. The walk to the reclaim section hadn't been a success. As it stood, I'd be walking nothing less than a mile—in every sense of it. Two, I'd go through the rigors of getting my documents again—that was, if I decided to go on with schooling here. The probability of that was quite low. I was hanging around in one of the empty theater balconies, waiting for the clock to strike three. That was when the last class was held.Some minutes later, I left. I was able to locate my classroom thanks to the help of yet another janitor. Not surprisingly, stares were thrown my way. I tried my best to ignore them since it was likely that I wasn't ever going to step my feet here again. I sat in the last ro
VINCENZOMy eyes peeled open to meet the white ceiling. It took me a couple of blinks to finally sit up and get ready for class. I threw on a light hoodie, jeans and baseball boots. Something not bulky but solid enough to shield me from the creeping autumn chill. Grabbing my satchel from my study chair, I left the room for the private lounge. My breakfast was on the table and far across the lounge was the dumb maid. As I stared at her, memories of the previous afternoon flooded in. Memories of how she dared to flout my orders and talk to that Scaramouch. She was lucky she'd left on spotting me. I would have taught her and the fuckass dickhead a lesson. I dropped my satchel on a couch beside and sat. My gaze traced the platter before me. I wanted to be sure everything was in order. Satisfied with what I saw, I snapped my fingers, or rather I wanted to snap my fingers. A chanced gaze at Rina brought the action on hold. Her gaze was in its usual direction, but that wasn't what I was i
"Sei sicuro di non volere che ti lasci cadere al cancello? [Are you sure you don't want me to drop you at the gate?]" Sophia asked.I nodded. "Sí." There was a sense of urgency in my voice. Although embarrassing for me, I couldn't help it. Sophia passed me a knowing look and nodded. She drove some distance, coming to a stop at the spot she'd dropped me the other day. The Y-junction that opened up to the boulevard. "Thanks." I offered a smile. As I turned to open the door, she asked, "Are you alright?"I turned from the door, but didn't look at Sophia. I wasn't sure I was comfortable with this new formed relationship. Sophia and her friends seemed too good, too good to be true. "Rina?"I flashed her a wry smile. "Anything the matter?"I was quiet for a while, not that I contemplated letting her in on my thoughts or not. "No," I finally said, "I'm fine."There was no discernible expression on her. She simply stared—casually as though she was watching a lame movie. Before I could