Two Foreign Stars | TH

1. Daphne Giuliani

1.9k Words
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"Daphne! We're all waiting for you!" Her mother called, bellowing through the large, empty house.

They were a wealthy family. Known for their reputation and titles. Their family was known for Daphne's fathers lead in the mafia. The Giuliani Mafia.

There was no love amongst them. Daphne's mother had stopped loving her father long ago. And Daphne couldn't remember the last time they had shared a smile with one another.

Her father was a cold man. Traditional and up-tight. He never spoke to Daphne or payed her any attention. He was fairly short and held very deeply in his work and stuck with his Italian roots.

Her mother was pretentious and rude. And although it was early on in the 21st century, her mother's ways never modernised.

Her brother, William, was distant and never payed any attention to her. Though, he never treated her badly or gave her a hard time like her parents often did. It was though Daphne was just a lost asset to the house. And when found, chucked back behind the cupboard like it had never been discovered at all.

Daphne loved her sister. She was the only person she felt safe with. But her sister had died. Nearly three years ago now and life was never the same. She missed her sister more than anything and now she was gone, she realised how lonely she was.

"I'm coming." Daphne replied dully.

She had grown up in a large, grim house. Grey and dark and all Daphne ever thought about was leaving it all behind.

They were moving away to the country. Away from the busyness of London and the constructed life she had lived in up till now. She looked forward to the day she would walk out through those grey doors one last time. But she never imagined it would be with her family.

Daphne hauled her large bag down the grey stairs and walked through the grey doors of their grey house, past the grey walls and into the long grey car.

The journey was dead silent. Apart from the occasional bickering between her parents (god knows what it was about), and the loud snoring of her brother beside her, not a sound was made.

As Daphne had grown up, she had adapted to the cold feeling of abandonment. She had learnt to shut herself out from the rest of the world. Mostly by reading or listening to music. It drew her away from the dull reality her life lead.

In this moment, Daphne didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that they were moving for her fathers work. His work meant everything to him. The mafia he ran and owned was the only thing he had ever spent time on. Daphne knew of her father's work and knew of it's violence a cruelty. She wanted nothing of it.

*

The journey to the country took longer than expected. Daphne turned her gaze towards the dark window and leant her head against the pain of glass. She watched the blur of the trees drift by and felt the occasional bump in the road of the drivers 'careless driving' as her father would say. He didn't treat anyone with respect. The tires made a motionless scrape as they grazed across the rain-washed road. The air that made its way through her brother's slightly-opened window, filled her senses with a blissful smell. One so different to the smells from London.

It had been a while longer until the car finally stopped. They had settled into a large driveway overlooking a large house. Tall and sturdy. It was a dark shade of white, almost smoky looking.

Daphne stepped out of the car and looked up at the towering house above her. She thought for a moment how much nicer it was than her old excuse for a house she now previously lived in.