Pretty lies

thirty five- the right mind

Mia Rose:

I don't understand. I can't understand. The moment I saw her eyes, a pair I know all too well, the world around me went all quiet.

For what has felt like a lifetime and a half, we have been stuck and isolated god knows where. Santiago cries silently in a ball, we take turns staring at each of the four walls we lay between.

It took time before we saw our captor, Iris. For a moment, I thought we'd be free, her face reminding me of my own. That was before she fired a shot next to my head.

The little she has said to us had been hateful and angered. This was all done out of spite but to who. I can't ask her that. She'd fire again and I know she wouldn't try to miss.

Tanya's dead and has been for days. Her rotting corpse lays only a few feet away from me, close enough to smell the decay but far enough to not have to face the maggots.

The three of us were thrown into a single cell, barred and chained. The little food we were given may only last a few more days. We ran out of water this morning.

It's safe we are totally fucked.

"Do you think someone's looking for us?" I'd like to think someone is.

"No." Santiago mutters from beside me.

"Not even Isa?"

"She has Rico." No.

"Don't say that. Please, don't say that."

"We're going to die her Mia. Get over it."

"I think she's looking for us."

"We passed the window." It's really frustrating behind kept with someone so god damn morbid.

"What window?"

"The seventy two hour window that separates searching for a live person or their corpse."

"I thought you said no one would be looking."

"Shut up and die quietly. Please." He whispered, his voice cracking as each word is passed. So I did. I lean back against a cold slab as my mind goes quiet and death begins to settle in.

Alessandro Marino:

"Com'è che in questo piccolo lasso di tempo: due eredi di una mafia sono scomparsi e gli altri due sono nella tua fottuta casa? Per non parlare del fatto che uno di loro è in un letto d'ospedale." My mother scolds.
(How is it that in this small space of time: two heirs to a mafia have gone missing and the other two are in your fucking house? Not to mention, one of them is in a hospital bed.)

"You're acting like I asked for this shit. Mama you have to take this with a grain of salt."

"Oh, he wants me to be calm. How easy." She mocks before a glass flies from her grasps, smashing on the floor.

"Mama-"

"Don't you mama me! Your sister is meant to be the one I'm disappointed in."

"Thanks Mama." Andrea buts in.

"Don't get me started on you."

"This is not my fault nor is it Andrea's. We are in power of this mafia now, not you nor Papa."

"I squeezed you both out and it nearly killed me. Now I get told to calm down in the house that I paid for. Show your mother some respect and stop being i figli di tuo padre." The Italian accent makes her sound that much more angry. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wary.
(Your father's children.)

"Alessandro, tell your mother that you are sorry."

"Shut the fuck up Andrea. She just told you how disappointed she is is you and your bullshit."

"Don't curse in front of your mother." I want to strangle her.

"Andrea stop sucking up and Alessandro stop being- well, you." What.

"You don't want me to be myself?"

"You're pissing me off."

"Oo burn." Why do younger siblings love to get involved in every-fucking-thing.

"Anyways, Mario tells me that you are looking for the Rose children."

"Yes, we are and I think-"

"You're only lead is a five year old." My mother kindly adds.

"Actually, Mama, he is six." Now she wants to back me up.

"Ah he's six. Wonderful."

"From what we know already, the captor is a Rose and most likely Iris Rose."

"I haven't met that one but the name is familiar. I thought she was the good one, it seems I thought wrong." That's a first. A mother admitting her wrongdoing.

"How does the five- oh sorry, six year old fit into this?"

"He was in the apartment when the children were taken along with their babysitter. He must've seen the person who took them or at least heard something."

"I see. Have you spoken with him about this?"

"What do you want him to do? Interrogate the minor who can't even spell his own name."

"Not now Andrea-" I try to say before my mother cuts me off.

"That may be a good idea." Is she out of her god damn mind?

"Who in their right mind would interrogate a child?"

"Tristan's not in his right mind. He could do it." I think Andrea has a thing for him. She brings him up a hell of a lot.

"Tristan?" My mother has never heard of Solo by that name. Not many people have. He likes to keep it for close relatives and the odd friend.

"Solo."

"Plus he knows Rico very well. It's not like we could get Isadora to do it." She's awake but refuses to speak. Especially to Tristan and I.

"Do it. Bring Solo in for the interrogation."

"Please don't call it that." It feels weird to say we are going to interrogate a kid where we would killers and traitors.

"I'll go get the kid, you get Tristan." With that, it is just my mother and I seated in my office.

"Andrea tells me something has been going on with you and the Rose girl."

"Mama, please just-"

"I'm happy that you aren't around Juliette in that way, even though you still allow her in my house." Wasn't my idea. Believe me.

"But I'm not happy that you're rebound is a Rose."

"Isadora is not a rebound and what does it matter that she is a Rose." It shouldn't matter to her.

"Roses and Marinos shouldn't be together. It's just the way it is."

"Since when?"

"Since forever figlio. I'm sorry."
(Son.)

"No you're not. Don't say your sorry when you're not sorry."

"It's not like I made the rule."

"There is no fucking rule saying I can't be with Isadora." I can't stay in this fucking room anymore.

"Alessandro Marino don't walk away from your mother or-" I slam the door behind me with anger in my step.

This would all be so much easier if I didn't fuck the girl I met at a funeral.