Seams Undone

Prologue

It was dark.

The power was out again. "Merda," he said, and clicked his flashlight. No battery.

He huffed a much ruder word. His sister exclaimed from the front hall, "Watch your mouth!"

"Sorry," he called back, moving to a candle. He struck a match and lit the candle, tilting the jar to give him easy access to the wick. Lighting the candles was his job during a power outage. "Stupido pioggia."

"I agree with that," his sister yelled after a moment.

There was a sharp rap. He heard her shuffle to the front door and open it, letting in the sounds of howling wind and splashing rain. He set the candle he'd just lit back onto the shelf.

"Why are you out in the rain?" he heard his sister say in a shocked voice.

There was a bang, the sound of breaking china, and a string of curses in English and Italian. He winced. His sister had probably knocked something over. She was clumsy like that.

"Lingua," he called to no answer. There was another bang. He assumed that the stranger or his sister had knocked things over in the hall. He grabbed a candle.

He sheltered the flame with his hand and walked slowly into the hall. The front door was open and letting in rain, but there was no sign of anyone in the swirling storm just past the door. His eyes slowly traveled down to find her body lying spread-eagled on the tiled floor. Her eyes were open and glassy. The candle tumbled from his grasp, burning his hand with the flame. The glass case shattered on the floor and hot wax spilled everywhere.

"Bianca?" he whispered, kneeling next to his sister. His hand sank into a pool of blood and touched the cold stones below.

For a moment, he saw life in her eyes, but it was just the lightning, against the rainy sky.