Medusa's Eye

November 9th, 1993 - Berlin, Germany

Ezekiel Theos -Zeus- chuckled as he strolled down the dilapidated streets of East Berlin. His light blue eyes surveyed the area. There were thousands of cardboard hovels tittering back and forth. Ezekiel Theos was not a man who belonged in a place like this. He wore a black Armani suit, royal red silk tie, black bowler hat, and polished black leather shoes. He was a well-known mafia boss; someone who you would not mess with nor would you disobey. Ezekiel had respect from his fellow mafia members, and he could have probably asked them to inspect the impoverished streets of East Germany. But for once, Ezekiel Theos was out on his own mission. He wanted to meet the creature who had scared both his enemy and his men.

It had one blood red eyes. T-the monster... it had disheveled long brown hair, like a pile of b-brown snakes. A-and... when you stare at its eyes... y-you can’t move nor b-breath

As Ezekiel rounded the corner, to the dead end, he stared at the feeble cardboard dwelling in front. Out of all the huts he’d seen, this one was nicely built. The placing of cardboard, duct tape, and newspapers seemed to be in an orderly calculated manner. ”Could this be the one,” Ezekiel wondered to himself as he admired the handiwork of the owner.

“Was willst du? (What do you want?),” a feminine voice asked harshly. Ezekiel turned around, gripping his pistol in the chest pocket of his suit. He nearly gasped as he came face-to-face with a small girl. The girl appeared to be no older than eleven. She wore a large, long-sleeve shirt, which reached to her shin, splattered and smeared with dirt. From the descriptions of “the monster” that his mafia members had made, Ezekiel predicted that the girl was indeed “the monster”. Ezekiel stared into the young girl’s eyes: one blood red, the other grey.

“Wussten Sie kommen hierher, um mich verspotten? (Did you come here to mock me?),” the girl spat as she looked away. She ignored Ezekiel as she made her way to her small shack.

“Wohnst du allein hier? (Do you live here alone?)”

The girl turned her head toward Ezekiel as she heard his iron steel, firm voice. There was something in Ezekiel’s voice different from the rest of the stupid freak-show scouters. For the first time, the girl turned herself around and stared at the man in front of her. She pressed her lips together as she noticed the man’s luxurious attire. “Surely the man couldn’t be someone coming from the circus,” the girl thought to herself as she stared at the proud, tall figure.

Ezekiel, too, noticed the change in the girl’s attitude. From the harsh, sharp-tongued words and murderous scowls, the girl seemed to show her childish curiosity. “Perhaps she will answer me this time,” Ezekiel concluded to himself as he asked again. “Wohnst du allein hier? (Do you live here alone?)”

“Ja, Herr, ich lebe hier alleine. (Yes, sir, I live here alone.)” Once the icy stares and glares faded, Ezekiel noticed how soft and sweet the girl sounded. He sighed to himself, the girl that his mafia members had named “monster” was just an innocent, abandoned girl. For once, he felt sympathy toward the small girl. Her parents must have deserted her due to her eye color. Different colored eyes and blood red eyes had always been an ominous symbol.

“Wie alt bist du? (How old are you?)”

“Zehn (10),” the girl whispered. She rushed into her study hovel and pulled out an orange-brown file size envelope.

Name: Kira Austerlitz
Geburtsdatum (Birth Date): 12. März (March) 1983
Geburtsort (Birthplace): Berlin, Germany

“Ist ihr name Kira? (Is your name Kira?)”

Ezekiel watched as the girl nodded. “Ja,” she mumbled. Ezekiel smiled. Kira Austerlitz, from his eyes, would be a great mafia member in the future. The mature, calmness in her voice and her handicraft with her own cardboard shelter proved she was a fast learner. She knew how to survive alone.

“Wer sind Sie? (Who are you?),” Kira asked as she stared into Ezekiel’s light blue eyes. Just by the man’s apparel and his firm, confident voice, Kira could guess that the man in front of her was high in authority. She knew she probably wouldn’t know the name even if she asked, but the girl was curious. “What was someone with high authority doing in this indigent place,” Kira wondered to herself.

“Ah, entschuldigen sie. Mein name ist Ezekiel Theos. (Ah, excuse me. My name is Ezekiel Theos.)”

“Ich bin ein Mafia-Führer. (I am a Mafia leader.),” Ezekiel smiled, flashing his perfectly straight, white teeth. Kira gulped slightly, realizing for the first time that the man in front of her was dangerous... very dangerous.

“Guten tag, Herr Theos. (Good day, Mr. Theos),” Kira greeted nervously, licking her dry, chapped lips. The autumn temperature was dropping every day, creating colder, arid days.

“Zeus. Rufen sie mich an Zeus. (Zeus. Call me Zeus.),” Ezekiel ordered. Kira nodded, whispering “Zeus” softly to herself. Still smiling, Ezekiel stated, “Ich habe hier aus Amerika kommen, Kira. Ich möchte mein Mafia-Gruppe beigetreten. (I have come here from America, Kira. I want you to join my mafia group.)”

Kira stiffened, building her guard again. “The man must be crazy,” she thought to herself as she glared at the man. “Bist du verrückt? (Are you crazy?),” Kira scowled. A full grown Mafia leader was asking her, a juvenile girl, to join the mafia?

Ezekiel chuckled to himself as he shook his head. “Kira, ich möchte Ihnen, meine Tochter sein. Ich werde Ihnen verabschieden. Ich will ein Haus. Ich werde Ihnen was Sie wollen. Ich freue mich sehr für dich interessiert. Sie sind perfekt für die Mafia. (Kira, I want you to be my daughter. I will adopt you. I will give a house. I will give you what you want. I am very interested in you. You are perfect for the mafia.).”

Kira stared into the man’s light blue eyes again, searching for hints of lie or deceit. In truth, she, herself, found the man amusing. He was the first to not scream or curse profanities at her. She doubted her hearing when the man had announced that he wanted to adopt her. Kira Austerlitz had always been the outcast, the unwanted child. Her parents had thrown her out of their house when she was eight. By now, probably no one in her family expected her to be alive. In the ten years she lived, no one had wanted to even socialize with her until this man strolled onto the streets of East Berlin. But even staring into his light blue eyes, she could not find any lies in his eyes. She could not read the man.

“Gut. (Okay.),” Kira finally answered. Grinning happily as if he had won a lottery, Ezekiel stretched out his hand toward Kira. “Komm, meine Tochter. (Come, my daughter),” Ezekiel called out, waiting patiently. Kira bit her lips nervously as she hesitantly placed her small dirt-covered hand in Ezekiel’s large, warm hand. Gripping Kira’s hand firmly, but gently in one hand and her birth certificate in the other hand, Ezekiel Theos and Kira Austerlitz stepped out of the meager streets of East Berlin, Germany.

November 9th, 1993- Huntington Beach, California

“Honey?”

Maximus Sanders gripped his both hands on the collar of his black trench coat tightly, fixing the collar, as he heard his wife, Andrea Phyllips-Sanders, calling his name.

“What,” he snapped with annoyance as his wife rushed towards the front door to greet him off.

Maximus Sanders was a strong mafia leader in Huntington Beach, California. Almost everyone respected Maximus Sanders, for he was known as a ruthless, impeccable man. He killed men without thought. Make one mistake on him and you would be dead with the snap of his fingers. But there was one thing Maximus Sanders had miscalculated in his mafia glory. It was his marriage with Andrea. If he had not married Andrea, Maximus would have had much more of a glorious life. He would have had money, fame, and women dancing in the palm of his hands. But marrying Andrea had ruined his fun in life. Now, whenever he went to see women, he had to be furtive about the matter. Although she did give birth to his son, Matthew Charles Sanders, Andrea Sanders was a bitch, in his opinion.

“Honey, where are you going,” Andrea Sanders asked sweetly to her husband. Andrea and Maximus had been married for over thirteen years, now. In the beginning of their marriage, Andrea could feel the warm, heated love between her and her husband, but recently, she felt as though they were slowly drifting apart, their heated love gradually cooling.

“Work,” Maximus answered laconically. Andrea was tempted to rub her temples. During the past couple years, Maximus would answer with one-single words. Before, he had told her that he was going to be meeting with so and so Company or he’d be meeting with Mr. so and so. And it wasn’t as if Andrea didn’t know Maximus’s job as a mafia leader. She knew fully well that there were days when Maximus had to snap his fingers and order his group to assassin someone.

“Will you be able to come home early tonight,” Andrea asked. Maximus furrowed his eyebrows, clenching his fist tightly. He wanted to get to his office as soon as possible. He was hoping for a quickie from his twenty-year old secretary, Melanie. He loved how tight a twenty-year old pussy felt, but his thirty-year old wife was holding him up.

“No,” he replied impetuously, as he slipped on his polished, brown leather shoes.

“But, Matthew...”

“No, Andrea. No. I said, “no”,” Maximus repeated, glaring at his wife. Andrea shuddered as she saw not Maximus, the one she loved, but mafia leader Maximus. She had seen those angry emerald eyes before.

“Okay, have a nice day at work,” she squeaked, backing away as Maximus glared at her. Sighing, he nodded, shouting out a goodbye to his twelve years old son, Matthew.

“Bye dad,” Matthew called out as he rushed down from his room to the front door to wave goodbye to his dad. Both Matthew and his mom waved at Maximus Sanders as they watched him leave.

As the wooden door of their three story mansion closed, Matthew glanced up at his mother. He saw tears drip down her cheeks. “Mom?”

Andrea quickly wiped her tears as she noticed her beloved son staring at her with concern through his hazel eyes. Although Matthew had inherited his father’s features, he had received his mother’s beautiful hazel eyes. “I’m okay, sweetie, just missing your dad,” Andrea lied as she bent down to Matthew’s eye level and kissed his forehead gently. Tears silently flowed down Andrea’s cheek. Even lying couldn’t cover the hurt and heartbroken feeling Andrea felt. For the first time this year, Andrea Sanders had noticed that her husband no longer wore the golden marriage band on his ring finger. If she didn’t know Maximus, she would have thought he had forgotten it, but Andrea Sanders knew and remembered Maximus’s promise. “I’ll vow here right now too along with making you happy that I’ll never take this ring off my finger.” were the exact words Maximus had announced his whole guests on the day of Andrea and Maximus’s wedding. But time had changed Maximus. Andrea knew for sure now that Maximus was seeing other women behind her back.

“Mommy, it’s okay,” Matthew cooed softly petting his mother’s head, breaking Andrea out of her thoughts. Twelve year old Matthew Charles Sanders was still too naive. At the time, he had believed his mother’s tears were tears indicating that she would miss his father. Matthew Charles Sanders had presumed that both his mother and his father were deeply in love. But he would see repugnant things over time. He would learn the meaning of adultery and witness his family corrupting before his eyes.