Heartbreak & Lies

When I woke up in the morning, in Dante’s arms, everything just hit me. Immense sadness clawed its way out and I felt the tears wetting my pillow.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop my sobs and eventually woke up Dante.

“Angel” he yawned.
“What’s wrong, baby?”

I could only shake my head, believing that he would find my reasons silly.

“Talk to me” he pleaded, pulling me close to him.

“Jonathan isn’t my brother and my friends are far away” I wailed.

“That’s it?” he asked with a chuckle.

“I want my life back” I cried and curled up into a ball.

I heard him sigh and get out of bed. Soon I heard the door open and close.
My tears wouldn’t cease and I wished that we would never have moved here in the first place.

“Alisha?” I heard Matteo’s friendly voice a few minutes later.
“Dante told me that you’re upset. What’s bothering you?”

“I want my life back to normal” I sobbed.

He sat next to me and pulled me up on his lap.

“Listen, I understand that you have a lot to deal with, but we love you and want to help you through this” he mumbled and stroked my hair.

“You don’t know me. I have no friends” I continued sobbing.

“You are my sister. I love you no matter what. And you can always make friends” he tried to comfort me.

“I want my friends” I sniffled.

“I promise that you will see your friends someday soon” he mumbled against my hair.
“Please, don’t cry. I want to see you happy.”

“I can’t” I blubbered and clutched onto his shirt, staining it with tears.

I somehow tired myself out after a while and fell asleep.
The next time I woke up, it was past noon, so I decided to get dressed and eat something. If only I had known that they were eating lunch.

“Good morning” Matteo greeted me and I nearly sprinted back to my room. I did not want to talk.

“Morning” I grumbled.

“Come, sit with us” he offered.

“I’m not hungry” I lied, wanting to escape.

“Please” Matteo begged.
“It would do you good.”

“I said no” I muttered and ran back to my room.

I didn’t want their cheery attitude, but at the same time I felt really bad for being so rude. They didn’t deserve this kind of attitude, but I didn’t know how to react. I was lost, confused and afraid. Everything had changed.

This continued for 4 days, until Dante finally snapped.

“I’ve had enough” he growled when he stormed into my room, pulling me up from my bed and grabbing my face harshly.

“You better get your act together. Matteo has welcomed you into his home and takes care of you and this is how you thank him?” he yelled in my face.
“He’s your goddamn brother!”

As usual, I started to cry because I was afraid of Dante and sad because what he said was true.

“Don’t start” he hissed.
“Those crocodile tears won’t work on me.” he squeezed my face harder, making it really hurt.

“You hurting me” I whimpered, my eyes begging him to let go.

“You should have thought about it earlier” he snapped.
“Your fucking little tantrum caused this.”

He threw me against the wall and punched the wardrobe door, making a crack in it.

“Damnit, Alisha!” he growled and walked up to me.

He crouched down and gently caressed my terrified face.

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you just made me so angry” he murmured, pulling me up.
“I know this is hard, but you have to let us in. Talk to us.”

I felt his lips on my neck but was too scared to protest and instead squeezed my eyes shut.

“Open your eyes” he demanded and I obliged.
“Don’t be afraid of me. As long as you behave, you won’t get punished. Do you understand?”

I nodded, too afraid to do anything else.

“I love you, Angel” he whispered against my lips and pushed me down on the bed, sliding his hand into my pajama pants.