Status: I'm baaack...
The Chronicles of City Lights and Modern Love
Vol.16
We had been at Neil's Palermo house for two full days before he greeted us and apologised for his absence, but without explanation. In that time, we had seldom ventured from the confines of the property, save for a brief trip down to the beach for a swim.
The house was set back from the water against the base of one of the surrounding mountains. It was rustic and grand at the same time, painted paprika red and consisting of numerous wide windows, french doors with billowing white curtains and numerous pillars covered in Bougainvilleas. It had a spacious lawn dotted with olive trees and the rear section of the house opened onto an entertaining area complete with outdoor kitchen and pizza oven, and a pool.
In appearance, it was consistent with other homes in the region save for its size, which made it hard to miss. In a place like Palermo, money and money origins are no secret. If you know what's good for you, you make it your business to know who is important and whose bad sides you don't want to have the misfortune of becoming acquainted with. As it turned out, Neil was one such person. More specifically, he was the one.
"My dear Alessandra," Neil said as he approached the day he returned from wherever he had been, a wide smile spread across his face. "Welcome to my home! I hope you like it here."
I though about this for a moment, wondering how he could speak with such sentiment, as if I was there of my own accord.
"Neil," I replied slowly, "I don't like it here. Let's not pretend I'm here because I've chosen to be. Please just explain why I'm here."
His smile faltered and his brow furrowed. "It's probably better if I show you. Come, we'll go now".
With that, he gestured to Carmine and the three of us, plus another man I didn't know, piled into the Ferrari and made our way through Palermo. We were only in the car a short time, when we pulled off the main road into a side street and finally came to a stop. I looked out the window to see that we had pulled up at a cemetery.I was becoming increasingly uneasy as I followed Neil through the cemetery, Carmine walking so close to me that his hand kept brushing mine as we walked. He had a very serious expression on his face, which made me feel even more uneasy.
As we picked our way through the rows of grave stones, my concern mounted. Who could possibly be buried here? Whose grave were they taking me to see?
Finally, we turned down a row of grave stones and stopped in front of one, and Neil simply gestured to it with a flick of his hand. I glanced at Carmine, and his face was grey as the grave stones we were standing amongst. As I looked him in the eye, he started to reach his hand out to comfort me then seemed to think better of it, withdrawing his arm back to his side.
As I looked at the words inscribed onto its surface, my feet disappeared out from under me and my knees hit the warm earth with a thud.
The house was set back from the water against the base of one of the surrounding mountains. It was rustic and grand at the same time, painted paprika red and consisting of numerous wide windows, french doors with billowing white curtains and numerous pillars covered in Bougainvilleas. It had a spacious lawn dotted with olive trees and the rear section of the house opened onto an entertaining area complete with outdoor kitchen and pizza oven, and a pool.
In appearance, it was consistent with other homes in the region save for its size, which made it hard to miss. In a place like Palermo, money and money origins are no secret. If you know what's good for you, you make it your business to know who is important and whose bad sides you don't want to have the misfortune of becoming acquainted with. As it turned out, Neil was one such person. More specifically, he was the one.
"My dear Alessandra," Neil said as he approached the day he returned from wherever he had been, a wide smile spread across his face. "Welcome to my home! I hope you like it here."
I though about this for a moment, wondering how he could speak with such sentiment, as if I was there of my own accord.
"Neil," I replied slowly, "I don't like it here. Let's not pretend I'm here because I've chosen to be. Please just explain why I'm here."
His smile faltered and his brow furrowed. "It's probably better if I show you. Come, we'll go now".
With that, he gestured to Carmine and the three of us, plus another man I didn't know, piled into the Ferrari and made our way through Palermo. We were only in the car a short time, when we pulled off the main road into a side street and finally came to a stop. I looked out the window to see that we had pulled up at a cemetery.I was becoming increasingly uneasy as I followed Neil through the cemetery, Carmine walking so close to me that his hand kept brushing mine as we walked. He had a very serious expression on his face, which made me feel even more uneasy.
As we picked our way through the rows of grave stones, my concern mounted. Who could possibly be buried here? Whose grave were they taking me to see?
Finally, we turned down a row of grave stones and stopped in front of one, and Neil simply gestured to it with a flick of his hand. I glanced at Carmine, and his face was grey as the grave stones we were standing amongst. As I looked him in the eye, he started to reach his hand out to comfort me then seemed to think better of it, withdrawing his arm back to his side.
As I looked at the words inscribed onto its surface, my feet disappeared out from under me and my knees hit the warm earth with a thud.
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm slowly going through and editing bits and pieces in the earlier chapters, as my writing style is very different from when I started, and I couldn't help but cringe at some of my expression...Please give feedback :)