Beyond the lies

Chapter 5

Desperate to escape the situation, Sofia looked around until she noticed a photograph placed on the side, it was...their family. 

It was an old picture, judging by the fact that all of her siblings in it were children, including herself! Everyone looked a lot more happier, the smaller Sofia in the photo was smiling brightly, something she would never do today. Even her mother was in it, she looked very different, with a healthy complexion and strong, long, blonde hair; it was nothing like the stringy hair or the deathly pale face she had grown up seeing her mother up until she died.

What had really drawn Sofia's attention, was a man standing in the centre. He was tall and handsome, with a few grey hairs scattered across thick, black hair. She assumed it was their father, and realised only she had fully inherited his features. Although Vincent shared the same black hair, Sofia was the sole person to have his admiral eyes, a much darker shade of blue compared to Remo, Vincent and Dante's eyes.

Roberto Carmine was not smiling, yet she could tell he was happy, he was holding little Sofia, and looked at his wife and children as though they were his pride and joy. The only people he'd ever need in his life, how quickly that bliss had ended.

"He loved you a lot." The comment came from Vincent surprisingly, his eyes holding nostalgia in them, he sounded more kind. Sofia almost felt moved, nonetheless she wasn't.

She didn't believe it. A man who had willingly let her stay with an abusive, neglecting mother didn't deserve to be called her father, or have her love.

She ignore his words and asked, "mother once told me Roberto died when I was about six, is that true?"

Her brothers stiffened, and Luca briefly informed her it was and did not give any details. Sensing that it was painful for them to talk about, she decided not to pry any further.

At least her mother hadn't lied to her about that.

Remo looked at her carefully before saying, "he was your father too Sof."

"It feels weird calling him that, it's not like I have any memories of him." Her voice became cold enough to rival Vincent's, and the brothers were shocked at her change in attitude.

"Still! He cared a lot for you, everyday until it was his last." Remo persisted, wanting his sister to understand there was so much more to it than she believed.

Sofia was piqued by this and answered sharply, "why can't you call Maria mother then? She cared for you just as much."

It was a lie, though Sofia didn't care. The only reason she called that woman her mother was out of habit, not affection. Maria Jones may have been a good-natured person at one point, except it changed after what caused her to run away with the only daughter of the Carmines.

She cursed in her head as she realised she had made the atmosphere become awkward and tense again, and asked Vincent if she could leave now, feeling resentment and couldn't tell if it was towards herself or them.

Hurrying down the stairs and walking so fast it could be considered running instead, she rushed to the end of the corridor before suddenly stopping. Sofia knew better than to pry, in spite of that she couldn't help listen into Marco's room as the older twin spoke to Dante. The door was ajar, making it easy to hear everything.

"Seriously, what was Vince thinking making her come back here?" It was Marco, and her heart sank as she knew they were talking about her.

"I agree-don't get me wrong- of course I was happy when we found her again, but this is no place for a little girl."

"She's nothing like what I remember though, are you sure she laughed a lot when we were kids? I don't think I've seen her even smile once!"

"Look whose talking, you used to be so nice and now you're a jerk. Everyone changes Marco."

"Whatever...Ugh and I'll have to see her round school, so annoying." The feeling's mutual, Marco.

Dante laughed, "as long as I won't have to babysit her a lot, I can put up with it."

Not wanting to hear anymore, she walked as quietly as she could to her room and closed her door. Although she regretted being nosy, Sofia now knew what her brothers thought of her, or at least two of them anyways.

She had wanted to finish the movie with Rocco, then decided against it. Besides, she had a TV of her own now and he'd probably think she was a bother too. Once she did watch the rest of the film and did some reading, she checked the time to see it was 10:30. After changing into her pajamas, she took and had out her sleeping pills before stashing it at the back of her bathroom cabinet.

Sofia definitely didn't want to risk getting any nightmares and her brothers finding out.

Luca and Rocco then came in to wish her goodnight and ensuing the same to them, she climbed into her soft bed and waited for the pills to do their job.

In the morning she woke up fairly early. Ok very early. It was 3am. Sofia wasn't used to sleeping for so long and she had slept for a few hours during the day yesterday so techncially she was well rested. There was no point in going back to sleep so she wrote some more music and listened to some songs all wrapped up in her duvet.

She stayed like that until it was 5, before getting up and taking her time to get ready. The bruises she had from her mother kicking and punching her in one of her frenzies were starting to fade, for which she was grateful. 

Another week or so and most of her injuries would clear up so nobody could find out. It shouldn't be too hard to hide, most of it was on her stomach and ribs. 

Picking out a plain black shirt and a matching hoodie she wore almost all the time, she paired it with the same jeans she had worn yesterday. Apart from her school shoes, she only owned a pair of boots and cheap converses, and so decided to wear the latter.

It was now 6am yet she wanted to waste some more time before going downstairs. During these past few hours she heard several voices and people constantly walking up and down the stairs and along the corridors. It was like no one slept and there were people apart from her brothers wandering around. Not wanting to run into these people, she went on the laptop she found at her desk and messed around on it for a while.

Now that she was bored out of her mind and only half an hour had passed, Sofia didn't care anymore and went downstairs to the kitchen without a care.

What she didn't expect was to run into the person she never thought she'd see here.