THE TERMS OF OUR MARRIAGE

I used to believe tragedy had a sound.A crash or a scream or maybe tires shrieking against wet asphalt.

But when my parents died, it sounded like a phone vibrating against the kitchen counter.

That was all.Just a small, mechanical tremor beside a bowl of flour I hadn’t finished sifting.

I almost didn’t answer it.

It was 4:17 p.m. Luca was sitting at the table,playing videos on his phone in the corner of the kitchen and still managed to keep me company while I prepared what was meant to be dinner.I was arguing with yeast that refused to rise.

Mama had called that morning from Milan, laughing about how Papa had tried to bargain in broken Italian with the natives for extra packaging crates.

“We’ll be home tomorrow night, tesoro,” she’d said. “Start the sauce. We’ll celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”,I asked before the line ended.

“Another successful shipment of Rossi & Co. pasta to luxury grocers across Europe. Another year of steady growth. Another reminder that we had built something solid and safe,” Luca answered as he walked by.

He even suggested that we start the celebrations with native style pizza while we waited for our parents.

I wiped my hands on a towel and glanced at the screen of my phone when it disconnected from my favourite song playing on my MP3. It was an unknown international number, so I had to run in on true caller and it was a governmental organisation in Milan, and I gave Luca the look I give him when I feel some type of way about a thing.

My stomach tightened in a way I couldn’t explain. I told myself it was probably Mama using airport Wi-Fi to avoid roaming charges. I told myself not to be dramatic.

“Answer it,” Luca said absently. “Maybe Papa forgot his passport again.”

He grinned.

I answered with flour still on my fingers.

“Hello?”

There was a pause. Static. Then a voice. Male. Professional. Carefully neutral.

“Is this Miss Elena Rossi?”

“Yes,” I answered and put it on Loud speaker so Luca can hear even though he was still on his game.

“This is Milan Airport Services. I’m calling regarding Flight AZ 417 to London.”

The bowl slipped from my hand.

It hit the floor and shattered. I remember the sound of ceramic breaking far more clearly than anything the man said next.

“… experienced a technical failure shortly after departure…”

“… emergency response teams…”

“… there were no survivors…”

No survivors.

The words didn’t register as language. They felt like foreign currency pressed into my palm. I didn’t know how to spend them.

“I’m sorry,” I heard Luca say. “There must be a mistake. My parents are on that flight.”

A breath on the other end. Not impatient. Just heavy.

“Yes, that is why I am calling.”

Something inside my chest folded inward.

I don’t remember falling to my knees, but I must have, because suddenly I was eye-level with broken porcelain and white flour spreading across tile like ash.

Luca’s chair scraped back. “Elena?”

I couldn’t look at him.

The man kept speaking—procedures, identification, consulate contacts, next of kin documentation. His voice was gentle but distant, like it had already moved on to the next family.

“Miss Rossi? Are you alone?”

No.I wasn’t alone. I had my little brother. And in that moment, that became the most terrifying truth in the world.

I forced air into my lungs. “Thank you,” I whispered, though I didn’t know why. For calling? For confirming the end of my life as I knew it?

When the call ended, the kitchen was silent except for the refrigerator humming.

“Elena?” Luca stepped closer. “Why are you crying?” he asked trying to be sure he heard right from his headphones.

I hadn’t realized I was.

It wasn’t dramatic crying. There were no sobs. Just tears slipping down like my body had sprung a leak.

“Luca.” My voice sounded wrong. Too calm. “There’s been an accident.”

He stared at me.

“With the flight.”

He blinked once. Then twice.NAnd then the world ended again. He didn’t scream. He didn’t ask questions. He just went very, very still.

His phome falling off his hands and hitting the floor. His eyes stayed open, but something behind them disappeared.

“Luca?” I stood too fast. The room tilted. “Luca, say something.”

He swayed, and then he collapsed. The sound of his body hitting the tile was heavier than the bowl had been.

“Luca!”

I dropped beside him, shaking his shoulders. His skin was warm. His pulse was there—too fast—but his eyes… they were open and unseeing.

“Luca, please. Please, please, please.”

I don’t remember dialing emergency services. I don’t remember what I said. I remember kneeling in flour and broken ceramic and thinking that I couldn’t lose him too.

I couldn’t.Not today,not ever!!!

The paramedics arrived in red and noise and urgency. They moved around me like I was furniture. Questions were asked. Answers were expected. I gave them automatically.

“Yes, our parents were on the plane.”

“Yes, he heard.”

“No, he hasn’t moved.”

Shock paralysis, someone muttered.

I clung to that word.

Shock.

Temporary.

It had to be temporary, that's how long a shock lasts right?

…….

Hospitals are cruel places to grieve.

They don’t pause for your tragedy. Machines keep beeping. Nurses keep walking. The world insists on continuing.

Luca lay in a narrow bed under fluorescent lights that made his skin look pale blue. Tubes traced the lines of his arms. His chest rose and fell steadily, but he didn’t respond when I spoke.

“Acute stress-induced catatonia,” the doctor explained gently. “His body has essentially shut down as a protective mechanism.”

“How long?” I asked.

“It varies, maybe days, weeks or even months.”

The words floated around me like debris.

I sat beside him and held his hand. It felt smaller than I remembered.I wanted to ask the doctor what his chances of full recovery were but, I was not sure I was ready.

Only seventeen minutes ago,was it not only that?—we had been arguing about yeast.

Now I was signing medical consent forms with shaking hands because I was the only legal adult present with an affiliation with him.

I called our relatives.Aunts who had attended every birthday.Uncles who had toasted to “family above all.”Their voices shifted when I told them.

“Oh, Elena…”

“How terrible…”

“We’ll see what we can do…”

No one said, I’m on my way.

By midnight, I had spoken to embassy officials, airline representatives, and two distant cousins who debated travel costs before offering condolences.

My phone battery died at 2:12 a.m. I sat in the dim hospital room and watched Luca breathe. That was when the reality dawned on me —not as a scream, but as a slow, suffocating weight.

There would be funerals.There would be paperwork.There would be debts.The business—Papa handled the exports. Mama handled accounts. I was only twenty-two. I knew recipes, not contracts.

Now my Luca— I looked at his still face.He needed specialists. Therapy. Time.

Time costs money.

I pressed my forehead against the edge of his bed.

“I’m here,” I whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The words felt like a vow.

…………

The official confirmation came two days later.Closed caskets.Mechanical failure during ascent.Instant impact, they assured me. No suffering.As if that was mercy.

I signed documents until my signature stopped looking like my name, Elena Rossi. It felt like I was forging someone else’s life.

When the bodies arrived, I didn’t cry.I stood between two polished coffins and felt hollowed out. Relatives finally appeared then, dressed in black, offering tissues and advice in equal measure.

“You’re the head of the family now.”

“You must be strong for Luca.”

“Your father’s business will need managing.”

Their words layered over me like bricks.Strong.nHead of the family. Manage.

I was twenty-two. I wanted my mother. Instead, I received condolences and conversations about inheritance.Our company accounts were “complicated,” an uncle said gently. There were outstanding loans. Taxes. Pending shipments.

He offered to “help oversee things.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do.

………..

At the hospital, Luca didn’t wake.

Doctors said his vitals were stable.Neurological scans were clear. His mind had simply retreated.

“Talk to him,” a nurse advised. “Familiar voices help.”

So I talked. I told him about the funeral arrangements. I told him about Papa’s favorite tie. I told him I had burned the sauce we were supposed to celebrate with. I didn’t tell him that I was terrified.

At night, when visiting hours ended, I sat in the hospital corridor because I couldn’t bear going home. Home smelled like Mama’s perfume and unfinished bread. The kitchen tiles still had a faint dusting of flour I hadn’t cleaned. I left it there. Proof that the last normal moment had existed.

………

Grief is not dramatic at first.It’s administrative.It’s emails and death certificates.It’s learning words like probate and liability.It’s discovering that the “solid” business your parents built had been leveraged to expand production. It’s realizing expansion requires cash flow that no longer exists.

I found spreadsheets on Papa’s laptop that made my head spin. Projected growth. Projected risk. Projected everything. No one had projected a plane falling out of the sky.

Bills began arriving before sympathy stopped. Hospital deposits. Specialist consultations. Rehabilitation estimates.

I met with a neurologist who spoke about long-term recovery plans in cautious tones.

“With proper therapy, your brother has a good chance,” she said.

“How much?” I asked.

She hesitated. The number she quoted felt like another language. I nodded as if I understood. I did the math later in the hospital cafeteria and realized our savings would barely cover three months. Three months. I pressed my palm against my mouth to keep from making a sound.

……….

Luca’s fingers twitched on the fifth day.

It was small. Almost imperceptible.

But I saw it.

“Doctor!” I shouted, half hysterical.

They said it was a positive sign.

Hope is dangerous when you’re drowning. It makes you believe you can swim. I clung to that twitch like a lifeline. I sold Mama’s jewelry first. Then Papa’s watch collection. I told myself they would understand. Survival before sentiment.

I withdrew from my final semester of fashion school.

“Just a break,” I told the dean.

I needed work. Immediate work. But every job application asked for availability I didn’t have and experience I couldn’t fake.

Hospitals don’t wait for paydays. On the seventh night, I stood outside the hospital entrance and stared at the city lights. Seven days ago, I had parents. Seven days ago, Luca had a future that didn’t include machines. Seven days ago, I was someone’s daughter. Now I was next of kin, a guardian and decision-maker. The words felt too heavy for my bones.

My phone buzzed again. Unknown number. For one irrational second, my heart leapt. As if tragedy could call twice and reverse itself. I answered anyway.

“Miss Rossi,” a formal voice said. “We’re following up regarding the settlement process.”

As if grief could be itemized.

I just closed my eyes.

“How long?” I asked.

“Investigations take time.”

Time is the one thing I no longer had. When I returned to Luca’s room, I sat beside him and studied his face.

“You’re not allowed to leave me too,” I whispered.

The machines kept beeping. I rested my head against his hand.

“I don’t know how to do this alone.”

The confession slipped out before pride could stop it. Somewhere down the corridor, a child laughed. Life continuing. Cruel and indifferent. I squeezed his fingers gently.

“I’ll figure it out,” I promised, even though I had no plan. “I’ll sell the house if I have to. I’ll work three jobs. I’ll—”

My voice broke for the first time since the call. I bent forward and let the sob finally tear through me. It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t quiet. It was raw and animal and desperate. I cried for the parents who would never walk through the door again. For the bread that we never got to share. For the brother who lay silent beside me. For the girl I had been at 4:16 p.m.

She was gone. In her place was someone harder. Someone who understood that security is an illusion. That planes fall. That phones ring. That love can disappear between one breath and the next.

When I finally lifted my head, my reflection stared back at me from the dark hospital window. My eyes were swollen and my shoulders squared and we were alone.

I brushed Luca’s hair back gently.

“Okay,” I whispered.

If survival was all that remained, then survival would be enough. All I knew was that the call from Milan had taken everything and I would spend the rest of my life fighting to keep what it hadn’t.