Blood Shed

Another week has come and gone and I decided to go casual this time. I put on grey skinnies, a band tee (Black Veil Brides, teehee), my K9 tooth necklace (homemade), and Christian Louboutins. I straightened my hair, swooping my long almost non-existent bangs over one of my eyes. I grabbed my guitar case and keys and went to the elevator of my apartment. Bill was going in late so he wanted to drive me instead of me wasting my time and money with a taxi. Not shortly after I reached the front of the building Bill had arrived.

“Where to, little lady?”

“Sal’s, Idiot.”

“You have very nice manners.”

“Excuse me! Good afternoon Bill.”

“Sarcasm. You need a drink pronto.”

“Make it a double.”

“Two drinks?”

“Shot.

“As soon as we get in, darling.” He pulled in through the parking lot and parked in the employee parking.

We both popped out of the car and made it past Ty. I passed him saying nothing. I wasn’t really in the mood for chit chat. I was somewhat twitchy about something. I don’t why and frankly I didn’t care. Bill kicked his sub out and took his post. I sat at the far of the bar.

Some guy was just glaring some where, like he was searching for something, someone. He looked oddly familiar, but I paid no mind to it.

A little while later, a tipsy and tumbling blonde and brunette came almost falling with every step they took. Blonde joke anyone? They were giggle and gushing over some so-called hot dude on a cell phone. Seconds after situating themselves, the blonde drunken klutz slid off her stool and landed head first into a pile of needles…I wish…she actually landed head first onto the floor. She giggled anyways, not caring if she might have gotten a concussion.

Brunette continued laughing and didn’t bother to check on her counter part to see if she was alright. Then she yelled out a name I wished I never heard again.

“Elena!”

Many years prior…

The place we were seated on was plane, as Mama called it, and it was very shaky. It wasn’t still or calm, and we had to hang onto a net that draped over the wall. I snuffle deeply into my cheep fur coat and listened to Mama’s and some other guy’s conversation.

“Am crezut ca ai avut de gand sa ne faca sa Americii conditii de siguranta?” Mama said, albeit a little hysterical.

“Ai spus ca eu voi aduce un avion si asa am ajuns ca avion ul. Ce altceva mai vrei?”

“As vrea sa paraseasca aceasta tara, fara moarte!”

“Eu, ma, eu, ma, eu, ma. Asta e tot te gandesti ca in ultima vreme. Ce mai putin despre Elena?” Apparently I had become the subject.

“Ea ar putea sa aiba grija de ea insasi. Ea este cultivata.”

“Ea este cultivata? Ea este doar cinci. Ea abia se mai imbrace insasi corespunzator.”

“Nu esti mama ei. Esti nimic pentru ea. Ea este fiica mea. Eu pot creste ea cu toate acestea m-am dori. Daca ma simt ca este destul de mari sa fie lasat pe propriul ei atunci asa sa fie. Nu am nevoie sfaturi de la tine.”

“Elena va avea o viata grea din cauza deciziile tale. Ce esti chiar intentioneaza sa faca cu ea?”

“Eu nu pot eventual sa aiba grija de ea mine insumi. I-am intilnit frumos americani. Au declarat ca au un loc de munca pentru mine si nu va faceti griji despre Elena, ele vor avea grija de ea pentru mine.”

“Esti capabil sa parasesc Elena cu complet strain. Blestemat in iad atunci. Eu cel putin speranta Elena are o viata mai buna in loc de urmatoarele in ea maici pasi. Te va fi probabil pus sa vinda trupul tau din nou.”

“Taci! Cine-ti cer? Doar ne exista deja si sa stea afara din vietile noastre.”

“Du-te dracu atunci,” He then turned to me. “Daca as fi fost tu, eu as lua sansele mele si fuga afara cind ajungem acolo. Locuieste impreuna cu mama ta ar fi nici diferite.” With that said he walked off into the cockpit.

After he left I turned to my mother and ask her only one question. “Mama, Este ceea ce ati spus adevarat? Aveti de gind sa ma lase in pace?”

“Nu, nu, era doar o conversatie. Asta e tot.”

At the time I felt comforted by what she said. I believed her. I was 5 and naïve. She was my mother, my mama, I had to believe her.

She lied. I was kept in a room all locked up and barely fed. Mother was always working. Stumbling, babbling men and under dressed woman always came in, mainly at night. Sometime men came in alone or just groups of men came in and sought joy in hurting me. They would cut me with knives, burn me with smoking paper sticks, and hit me with different thing. My body would always be cover in dark spots. All I ever wore was underwear and a small grey dress, like I was a slave. They always spoke in a language I did not understand. They would tell me things I never understood. When I try to communicate with them, they would yell and hurt me more. Eventually I learned couple words. Hello was a greeting and goodbye was a departure. If I were to introduce myself I would was my name is Elena. Everything else is just jumbled to me. Not many people ever liked me or acted nice to me, that is, until one day.

A boy about my age stumbled into my room. He was my only visitor besides my mother, who rarely came. He had skin the color of coffee and cream, almost Indian, and black, spiky, super short hair that stuck out from under his cap, whose cover was shifted to the right. He wore extremely baggie clothes and sneakers.

I sat with my back to the door.

“Whoa. I didn’t know no chick was stayin’ here.”

I turned to face him and said nothing.

He stuck out his hand and grinned. “What it do, baby boo?”

I figured the gesture was a greeting. “H-hello. My name is Elena,” My accent layered thick over the word I spoke.

“The name’s Roman. What you doin’ hangin’ around here?”

“Eu nu stiu. M-am adus aici de mama dar ea nu a vizitat eu de multa vreme. Intotdeauna oamenii veniti aici sa imi faca rau in timp ce ei se poticneste si beat si s-au primit fericita despre ea. Nu stiu mare lucru din limbajul vostru. Va rog sa ma ierti.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there little lady. I don’t know shit of what you sayin’ with all that mumbo jumbo-“

“Roman”

“Yeah. I know my name lady. I just don’t know what the fuck you speakin’. “

“Nu, eu vorbesc limba romana.”

“You speak Roman?”

I shook my head.

“Romanian? Greek? Italian? French?”

“Ro-m-may-nee-ahn.”

“Ah. You be speaking that shit huh?”

“Da”

He started to stand up. “Look I don’t even know if this place is off limits or what, but I gotta skip.”

“Nu, stai aici cu mine.”

“I don’t know… You know what? How ‘bout I teach you English n u teach me that funky language you have there.

“Brinza!”

“Ha-ha. A’ight then. I’ma be comin’ around here everyday, A’ight?”

“Da!”

“A’ight!” He shook my head. “See ya ‘round reddie.” With that, he left.

“Goodbye!”

He kept with his promise. She visited me after school every day and stayed long with me on the weekends. He always taught me new words and sayings. He taught me how to read and spell and write. He taught me as his teachers taught him. We played games sometimes. We had lots of fun and became very good friends. He always showed up on time, until the day that I finally got to start a new life.

He was later than usual. He was 2 hours late as a matter of fact. Maybe he joined a sport and had to stay after school. Maybe he missed his bus. Who knows? I’ll find out when he gets here.

After a while I started to hear shouts and yells from outside the room. Hard, rapid steps followed soon after. The door burst open and Roman finally had arrived. I was so relieved I got up and ran over to him and gave him a hug, burrowing into him.

“I was worry,” my accent heavy.

He grabbed my shoulders and push me apart from him. “Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to keep you waitin’. Listen, Get all ya stuff. I’m gonna leave for just a couple minutes and when I come get ya, u better be ready to run, kay?”
“Yes.”

“A’ight. I’m out.” He left me there and ran out just as fast as he came in, leaving my confused.

He said it was going to be a short while but time was either moving slowly or it wasn’t such a short time as he had said. The shouting from earlier had continued. It was louder, more aggressive. The more time passed, the louder the voices seemed to get. I got scared. I sat down in a fetal position, knees to chest, faced the door and put my head to my knees.

After a while everything went quiet. I heard of couple words but it was just a whisper to me. The silenced was then disturbed my gun shots. I started to cry and tried to squeeze my body closer to me to no avail. Everything went quiet once more and this time it stayed that way.

It seemed as if I was covered in infinite silence before a single sound was ever made. Foot steps made their way, two pairs of them. I practically pleaded for at least one of them to be Roman’s. It was, and someone else too.

His hair was brown, short, spiky, yet somewhat straight. He had the clearest, stormy gray, eyes. He was a tad taller than Roman was, skinny almost to the point of boney. His clothes were old and stained in blood, lots of it.

Roman spoke first, and held out his hand. “Come on. We’re ditchin’ this dump.”

“We are?” I responded a little confused yet amazed. Was that the reason why he took so long?

“Yeah let’s go”

The boy next to him grabbed his hand. “What are we even gonna do with her?”

“She’s been back here for a while now. Her mom used to come and visit but they stopped a little over three months ago. I ain’t leavin’ her here. This place creeps her and even me out. They hurt her, man.”

“Do you even know her name?”

Before Roman could answer, I grabbed his hand and introduced myself. “I’m Elena.” The boy’s expression softened as he took both Roman’s and my hand in his.

“On three we run”

Roman began. “One”

I followed. “Two”

And the boy ended. “Three.”

Hands held tight and never letting go, we ran. Adrenaline pumped through each and every one of us and I swore I could feel not only mine but everyone’s heart race. Men who had spotted us pursued but failed in ever reaching us. Roman and the boy guided and I followed. We ran, no, we sprinted until we ended up in an old dilapidated house.

We lived off the food we bought using the boy’s, whose name I discovered to be Daymond, money. We eventually went to school. We taught each other how to defend ourselves. We defended each other. We help each other. We stuck together. We grew up together. We grew close. Daymond and I grew closer. We fell in love. He asked me out, and I said yes without hesitation.

We stole each others innocence. I’ll always remember it.

Eventually we graduated, moved and left Roman with the house all to himself. It eventually became his fancy new mansion. I swore he got it selling drugs. Daymond and I moved into our own apartment. Once we settled down, Daymond made his move one more. Twice the charm I guess. We were always happy. At least I was. Daymond had two jobs and I had one. We were still struggling. I was scrubbing the floor, and he was sitting on the couch.
“I’m thinking of getting another job. It’s… kind of all over the place really.”

He stayed quite.

“I don’t think you’ll like it very much.”

His realization kicked in and anger or jealousy rather, overtook him. “You’re not taking it.”

“We’ need the money, Daymond.”

“Screw the money. Screw what we need. I’ll take fifteen fucking jobs if I have to. You’re not going to be out there jacking off with some horny bastards that aren’t me!”

That ticked me off I dropped what I was doing and stared at him, tears threatening to fall. “You think I’m gonna like it? That I’m gonna leave and betray you?”

His expression went blank. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

I needed to get out, to get fresh air. “I’m going now.”

“Where?”

“My second job.” I grabbed my bag with change of clothes and walked out. He let me. He didn’t stop me. He never said a word. He didn’t seem to care.

After a couple hours he called me several times. Eventually I blocked his number. I was surprised he even called. I was still mad at him.

Weeks passed. I had probably fucked every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there. Pun intended. In the process meeting Bill…then Al. I reached my breaking point eventually. Al paid the price. Number 1. I never let myself get played again. I whored myself off not because of money but to teach lessons, then it just turned into a hobby. Daymond never did find me. He never really cared I guess. Maybe when I see him again, I can show him my hobby.

And I did. He was standing not two feet from where I was. “Elena?”

I snapped out of my haze and returned to reality. They must have been waiting for a life time. “N-no. You must have the wrong person. My name’s Elyria. Y-yours?”