My Tragic Mafia Life | ✔️

10

Blood slid down the curve of Camillo's jaw beneath the milky moonlight below. Thick, red drops bellowed down a hateful face. Two drops —three. Four.

Josephine held her breathe. Mother above.

In the courtyard at dusk, an hour more to midnight, Josephine's fingertips tightened around the filmy borders of her phone far up beyond the chaos below, hidden safely in a balcony tucked squarely away. Pressing the video camera down below to whatever monstrosity Josephine had laid on, she pointed, and continued filming.

Camillo didn't dare look away from Dante, a calm smile so uneven and a brutal slash of white. "I'm surprised. The little boy now knows how to defend himself." He wiped the stream of blood. "At least your aim is getting better."

Utter silence. Only the crunch of pine-colored leaves was heard in the teetering wind.

Camillo waited for a response. Dante didn't have one, not as he brushed his knuckles full of blood, Camillo's blood, down the panes of his shirt, and smiled.

"Seems you've brought your little friends," Camillo said, his gaze hardening under the starlit night. He looked beyond Dante, in between webbed branches and old brick walls. "But so have I."

Josephine observed as the armada around the boys indeed grew in numbers. Six students joined each side, covering the courtyard entirely. Josephine couldn't recognize any of them except Beatriz that stood squarely to Dante's left, an all too familiar glare set in stone.

Standing in the foyer, Josephine couldn't see any adults. Only students. Both groups, especially now as each took their stance aggressive and hateful that threw ugly slews and curses, were just children. This was childish. Their fight was probably a squabble of some sort, something utter dull and dramatic.

Sneaking into the school was something easy, especially as she had done so before. The school closed earlier on, but there wasn't a stroke of genius in climbing over the fence. Anyone could have done it. But while Josephine had found her earrings, she had found this. Whatever the hell this was.

Josephine had questions, and their interaction had answers. So at the din of their first bloodletting, Josephine peeled her phone from within her pelt coat and began filming. For answers. For blackmail. For whatever it gained her.

She would be lying if it wasn't entertaining.

The voice of a boy clad in blue, guarded to Camillo's right, drowned out the slur over the crowd. He heaved towards Dante. "How dare you harm nuestro príncipe,"  Pure, unrelenting hostility laced every word.

Beatriz cringed at the name. So did Josephine. Josephine had to cover her mouth as if to swallow the laughter in her throat. Her phone captured everything.

But a girl with onyx hair laughed, her tongue soft and sweet. "Ah. Naughty Dante, have you forgotten what our families said?" Perhaps there was a bit of mania as she strolled forwards Camillo, tittering long thick locks between dipped shoulders. Each movement a slow, delicate, pant and purr as she gestured to the courtyard. "This is a safe zone. For both of our families. Innocent students aren't to be involved."

Another female with large hoops befalling the gurgle of her throat bellowed. "You call yourself an innocent student?"

A twin from the other end replied. "At least she doesn't go and randomly punch people with no reason."

Beatriz snarled. "He wouldn't have punched him if you didn't have to resolve to that horsehit, which your bitch of a sister threw us in."

The twin moved to protect his look-a-like, a much shorter female. Similar reddish hair, crooked noses and small lips, however on the female yielded into a state of nothingness. The boy was angry, but the girl was amused. Josephine decided in that moment that she liked her.

The twin let out a dark laugh. "The oath didn't say we couldn't have our fun, Beatriz. Or did your little stunt last month mean otherwise?"

Beatriz sketched a bow. "Oh I'm sorry that your príncipe," She hurled the word with such revolt, such disgust, it was strange to see that it could have been caused by someone other than Josephine. She jerked an angry point. "got caught in the aftermath of your doing."

The twin smirked once more which lead to Beatriz tensing. Josephine saw it. The effort to not leap out at the laughing girl and rip into her, let courtesy be damned.

"Then why are you here?" A boy with the softest voice said, his stare full of pain and anguish.

A girl of dyed russet green hair avoided the boys gaze like a plague. "We need your help."

Dante had not said a word through each strain and hurl of insults. He kept watching Camillo, bristling his fists and steadying his knees over each angle. Preparing to attack, Josephine observed. A part of her wanted them to fight.

See what would happen, who would win.

Who would dominate. And who would fall.

Now it's time to meet everyone is this Tragic Mafia story!

I'm really excited. All of these characters are going to become very important in the future.

What do you think of Camillo and Dante's dynamic? Why do you think Dante hates Camillo so much?

Josephine is pretty hilarious in this situation, ignoring the tension and relationships between the groups. You're going to see what happens in the upcoming chapters.

-Mel

Vote. Comment. Enjoy.