CHAPTER 2: LITTLE BOY

“You’re stupid if you think that your death is enough, Gabriel.” The small, eight-year-old child covered his mouth as he watched his brother groan in pain.

Tears filled the eyes of the child while watched, with unblinking eyes, the huge buff man with a red crescent tattoo in the back of his right shoulder started to kick his brother’s stomach hard, but not hard enough to make him collapse. The boy trembled in both fear, anger, disbelief, and shock. It was pitch black in the middle of the night, the ocean was calmer than usual, and the only reason the boat was moving was because of all the movement that the buff man was making.

There were about five men, and the buff man that was about six feet tall was the sixth member. All of the men that circled his writhing brother on the ground stood like walls. The boy knew that all he could do was remain silent as the stench of garbage covered the air. His brother immediately told him to hide under the garbage bags  the moment the men began to draw closer to their boat.

The boy wanted to lock eyes with his brother when he realized that his brother only groaned hard but never spoke. He searched his brother’s face, and he realized that his entire mouth was bleeding. His eyes widened and he felt his heart sink when he realized that the red thing beside his brother’s face was the tongue that was probably cut out from his brother’s mouth while he was being beaten up by the men surrounding him.

“What’s the matter, Gabriel? Cat got your tongue?” the man mocked as he began to step on the discarded tongue in front of the boy’s big brother.

“You’ve caused us too much trouble, you bastard. Because of your stupid tongue, the number of casualties rised too much that I can’t even think of any possible excuse when I report this to the boss,” the man was wearing boots, and he painstakingly stepped on one of the fingers of the little boy’s brother, “I might go home and get shot by the boss out of anger, but I’ll make sure that you’ll suffer a worse fate than me, you traitor!”

The man pointed his gun to the little boy’s brother who was now covered in blood, and he watched in numbness as the man began to shoot his brother’s arms until there were no bullets left in his gun. The other five huge men began to aim their guns to different parts of his brother’s body, and in unison, they emptied their pistols as his brother’s body became like a stack of meat, bones, blood, and clothes. The boy closed his eyes and trembled in fear as he covered his mouth so the men would not be able to hear his cries of pain.

“Open your eyes, Michael,” a voice echoed in his brain as the little boy heard the men’s footsteps come closer.

Michael opened his eyes and began to thrash as he woke up in cold sweat from the nightmare. There were hands that began to hold him down, and as he looked up, it was Remy and Remus, his twin guards. His eyes traveled to the hand holding his feet down, and he realized that it twas two more of his guards who each took hold of one of his legs. He could still hear the voice telling him to get a hold of himself, and he realized that the voice that spoke was Alba who was beside Angelo, one of the guys who held his leg, and she was near the foot of his bed in between the two men.

“Michael, boss, it was all just a bad dream, please, calm yourself down and take deep breaths, slowly,” Alba said in a slow and soothing voice as each of his men gradually lets go of each of his limbs, “I can’t believe this happened again after five years,” she said in a both annoyed and yet worried tone.

“I’m sorry,” Michael said as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and  rubbed his temple as he closed his eyes, “I guess seeing the files you’ve sent me somehow triggered the nightmares a bit.”

“Angelo, Jacob, you guys can go now,” Alba said to the two men beside her, while she signaled Remy to get his attention, “Remy, get the boss some water, and Remus,” she looked at the younger twin, “Go and call the the family psychologist and tell her to come to the boss’ room now. Make sure you escort her. We can’t be completely at ease after what happened in Venice. Do you understand me?” the man nodded in understanding and quickly grabbed his phone to call the doctor before sprinting out of the room to escort her.

“Alba,” Michael called as he tried to stand up and move to the sofa near his bed, “please don’t go overboard because of this. You don’t have to make a fuss and get everyone involved just because I had a nightmare. I’ll be fine in a few hours. I just need to rest and calm my mind, that’s all.”

“Michael, last time I left you after a nightmare, you nearly killed yourself with too much alcohol just so you could calm yourself down,” she nagged at him for a few minutes about the last time he had the same nightmare.

Michael stopped listening to Alba after a few seconds as he looked at the twins and gave them a gesture that let them know that they could leave. As Alba spoke to him, he recalled the last time his nightmare was triggered. It was after he accidentally killed an innocent man while he had a shootout with an enemy on his way to the gym. The man was a barber who was walking along the side of the road and he was the one who was hit by the bullet when the guy that Michael was supposed to shoot was able to evade the bullet. 

“Michael,” Alba waved her hand in front of Michael’s face and he just released a frustrated breath, “You’re zoning out on me again, Boss. What’s happening to you? You;ve been like this since you came back from the office. You didn’t even eat dinner, Nana Cookie wants to stab you for ignoring her meal. ”

“I already told Nana Cookie that I wasn’t hungry, Alba,” he said as he stood up and decided to get wine from a secret compartment near his bed, “besides, she loves me too much to stab me and kill me. She would stab me, but I think it’ll just be shallow.” The two of them laughed as Alba sat on his bed while he sat on the sofa.

The two of them would always be linked by their co-workers and other people that they’ve met ever since they were teenagers, and yet neither of them felt anything towards each other except for mutual sibling love. They both talked, and they agreed to just ignore or explain to people that what they feel is purely like siblings. 

“What’s on your mind, boss?” Alba looked at her friend with a worried expression since she knows that something aside from the file could have triggered his nightmares. She shuddered at the thought of the same nightmare that he has endured for more than two decades. She still couldn’t imagine that her friend was still sane after everything that he experienced. The nightmares alone gave Alba the creeps. She was an assassin, and death like those were not new to her, but it was unacceptable either way.

“I’m thinking of Bert, I wonder how his kids and wife are doing after all these years. I didn’t think I’d be attached to his family after just meeting them a couple of times.”

“They’re doing fine, Michael. I make sure I check up on them from time to time. Don’t worry,” Alba said with a small smile, “Gemma is still saying thank you for helping her and the boys.”

Michael smiled at Albe. Bert was the barber that Michael himself brought to the hospital with his car after the accident during the shooting. He remembered that the only good thing that happened was that the man was able to stay alive for a week. It was long enough for Michael to properly apologize secretly in the hospital, pay for everything, and present himself as the man’s good friend to his wife and three sons. Bert and Michael were able to bond while the man slowly greeted death knowing his family was now in Michael’s hands. Michael promised Bert he’ll take care of his family, and gave the family enough support. He told his wife that the man took the bullet for him while they were walking and talking in the streets. Michael and Bert lied to make the family feel less bad. After he settled the problem, his nightmares somehow stopped.

“Alba,” Michael said with a rough voice, “The nightmare I had. I guess it was triggered by the photo that you sent.”

“Photo? Are you talking about the report I gave you of the dead bodies that were retrieved after what happened in Venice?” She asked and he nodded his head.

“One of the dead bodies had a crescent moon tattoo on his chest, Alba. It was the same tattoo as mine, and the same one as the buff guy during that night…” his voice began to tremble out of anger, “the same tattoo as the man who killed and tortured my brother that night.”