Santino Romano
All day long, me and my brothers walked in and out of this room, we wanted to keep her company. She hasn't said a word.
Nothing.
She stares at the wall and for a moment I try to see what is so interesting in there. But it's just a white wall, plain.
I messaged Marco and he bought her stickers. Now I will put them there and she will be able to see something on that depressive wall. Butterflies, blue and yellow, some of them are even violet.
"You like them?" I point my index finger at the wall, smiling softly.
She doesn't react in any way. Her eyes are closing slowly. She is tired. For about two minutes she is sound asleep.
Suddenly she opens her eyes and looks at me, her eyes full of terror. She looks at the door, then at butterflies and her face expression changes. She calms down again.
"You can sleep, sorellina. I will be right here, all night long." I say quietly, she looks at me again and then away.
Her body relaxes and she falls asleep. This time she doesn't wake up until it's already early morning.
I was sitting right beside her the whole night, I didn't sleep for a second. I kept my eyes open, in fear that if I close my eyes she wouldn't be here anymore.
I know that it's Enzo's turn to be with our sorellina, but I don't want to walk away. She is my little baby girl.
Lissy whines while sleeping, her body moves around a lot. Her face is covered in sweat. She even tries to fight someone with her tiny hands.
I'm patiently waiting until she wakes up. She does, half an hour later.
"Good morning, sweetheart." I smile, trying to hide my tears. I want to cry, every time she looks at me it is not the same anymore. She used to look at me with pure happiness, now it's gone.
She blinks a couple of times before sitting up. Wincing when her right hand makes contact with the mattress.
"Hey, sweetheart, where did you want to go?" I ask, slowly approaching her, but still keeping a distance.
She looks at the bathroom. She wants to go there. She stands up, her legs shaky and body extremely tense.
"Do you want me to help you?" I ask, my hands ache with the urge to help her. She steps one step at a time, holding the bed frame.
She steps closer to the bathroom and almost falls, I manage to control the need to hold her hand. She is hurt. Badly bruised, her legs are black and blue, there is a big bruise on her left leg. I know that it hurts like hell.
She closes the door and locks herself inside the bathroom. I'm calm, because Domenico took everything that was sharp out of there. There isn't even a normal mirror, in case she decides to smash it and hurt herself once again.
Around ten minutes pass and she opens the door. Her hair is messy and long. I would love to help her with brushing or braiding, but I can't touch her.
"I was waiting for you." I smile sadly and she looks down at her feet. Her eyes swell with tears, but she blinks them away.
"Brothers will make breakfast for you. Are you hungry?" I sit on the chair and watch how she climbs into the bed again, wrapping the big blanket around her body.
I don't get a response, she just lays down and presses her head into the pillow. I don't lose hope, I try again.
"Enzo can bring Jax here, if you want?" I raise my eyebrows. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. "Jax wants to see you, I will tell Enzo to bring him." I add to reassure her.
While she lays on the bed and stares at the butterflies, I read all the information I can find about trauma, traumatic experiences and how to overcome them.
It is very common that people who have experienced traumatic events stop talking afterwards. It's called selective mutism.
"I'm here if you need me, Lissy." I say when she looks at me for about forty seconds. She thought that I didn't notice. But I did.
"I don't know what happened to you, I'm sorry that I wasn't there, Lissy." My voice is so soft, softer than expected.
I don't know why I expected different reaction from her, but she just turned around, away from me to face the other wall.
I just have to stop saying the wrong things. She doesn't need my talking, she needs my presence. At least I hope so.
Someone knocks, Lissy flinches at the sudden noise. "It's okay, sweetheart." I say before opening the door.
It's Domenico with food tray in his hands. He sends me an apologetic look and I nod my head. "It's just Domenico, I will come back later, sweetheart."
I leave without hearing her beautiful voice. Without seeing her pure smile. She is broken. And there is no one else to blame, just us.
I wanted to get in my car, drive home, shower and change clothes before coming back, but I notice Blake's motorcycle. Then I see him, the boy my sister adores. I don't know what she sees in him, but whatever makes her happy makes me happy.
He stops in front of me, his face expression full of worry. "Santino, I'm so glad that you are here." Blake says after taking off his helmet.
"Where is Lissy? I want to see her, no, I need to see her." He blurts out.
"Is your sister okay?" I question, Hazel went on a hunger strike, she ignores her father since the party happened.
"She's better. Listen, I know that I shouldn't have ignored Lissy's calls or messages, but Hazel wasn't doing good. I had to take care of my sister because no one else would help her. She started to take some pills, narcotics, I couldn't take my eyes off of her for a second because I was afraid that she will overdose." Blake explains. He doesn't know anything about what happened to Lissy.
"Then I wanted to call Lissy, explain everything, she didn't pick up, she still isn't answering my phone calls. She's mad at me, I know...I have to apologize." Blake says and I shake my head.
"No?" He asks, his face expression changes.
"No, Blake. She wasn't ignoring you, she was kidnapped for five days. And now she isn't talking to anyone, not even me."
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Author's note...
Hey!
I hope that you liked this chapter.
Poor Blake.
Poor Hazel.
My sweet, poor Lissy.
Do you think that Blake deserves to see Lissy?
Do you think that Lissy will want to see Blake?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Sending love,
XeniaAxi