Mafia's Mate

My identity

It was late at night, soon after I had turned nine. Clio and I were asleep when the sound of fighting woke both of us up. We shared a room with twin beds, placed at a distance.

We both didn't get anything from the early conversation but it was loud enough to have woken us both.

"What?" I woke up disheveled and groggily, "Wrong?" Rubbing my eyes I looked at my brother.

"I don't know," He was more awake than I was and he even looked more worried.

But we did walk to the corridor of the second floor in the dark. It was the place that gave a view of the lounge where Dad and Mom were fighting.

"What have you done!?!?!" Mom screamed at Dad, "How could you!?!?"

"It wasn't intentional!!!" Dad screamed back. He looked drunk, he couldn't even stand straight, "They forced me!"

We both stood in the dark corner, away from the light. In fact, none of the lights were on in the house except the one in the kitchen. And the light from the kitchen was illuminating the figures of our parents.

"What are we going to do now?!!" Mom grabbed her head, "God! You should never have taken her with you!"

"How is that my fault?!?!?" He yelled back, "How was I supposed to know it would turn out this bad?!??!"

I was scared.

The whole scene was frightening for me. Mom and Dad had never fought before this. They had arguments, but those arguments weren't aggressive.

And seeing them scream at the top of their lungs was making my body shake in horror and I wanted to cry.

Tears brimmed in my eyes

"Does it make any sense!!?" Mom yelled, "They're taking our daughter as collateral?" I didn't fully understand what it meant but my gut told me something was very wrong.

"We were losing everything!!!" Dad screamed, "All the assets we made, all the money, everything was disappearing."

"SO you gave into temptation!?!? Gave away our child??!"

"I said I didn't do it intentionally!!" He grabbed his head, "They got me drunk!! I blacked out!!"

"Well you shouldn't have drunk so much then!!" There were tremors in both of their voices.

"I went there to relieve some stress," He glared at mom, "I had no idea his men would pop up out of nowhere and make me sign and stamp a contract." A tear slipped down his cheek even though he was angry rather than sad. Or maybe that anger was masking the sadness he was drowning in.

I sniffled and was about to cry when Clio put his hand on my mouth.

"Shhh," He placed his index finger on his lips with one hand, then used the same one to grab my hand and dragged me back to bed.

Everyone always said Clio was a lot more mature than I was. And at times I couldn't help but agree. This was one of those times.

"We can still save ourselves," Dad's voice got lower, "We're getting the investment, I just need to make sure this doesn't fail."

"Oh!" My mother gasped, "You fool," Her knees gave out and she fell to the floor, "What makes you think they weren't the ones who made all of what we worked for disappear?" Her voice faded to a whisper, "What makes you think they didn't do it and won't do it again?"

Dad went still after her words. His eyes went dark and his body limp and the only word that escaped his lips was a devastated sigh of realization.

"Ah...."