by Rose, Willow
"What happened?" she asked confused.
"You fainted," the doctor said and put a pillow behind her neck.
"Alberto," the woman suddenly cried. "Is he back?"
"You need to get some rest," the doctor said. "Where is Mr. Colombo?"
"He went downstairs to look for our son. He’s been missing since last night. We thought he just went to the casino. We know he spent some money there last night, but he never came back. I guess I got a little upset and forgot to eat."
"I'm sure your son is fine," the doctor said. "You shouldn't let yourself get upset like this. Now let us get ahold of your husband and get him to come back here."
"I can call him," Mrs. Colombo said. "If you'll just hand me my phone over there."
15
April 2014
MR. COLOMBO WAS CLEARLY distressed when he stormed through the door to his own suite. His wife was still lying in her bed.
"Ivana," he yelled. "Are you alright?"
Ivana explained to her husband what had happened. He grabbed my hand and shook it. I felt slightly star-struck. Alonzo Colombo was probably the biggest star in race driving in Europe right now. Not that I knew much about the sport, but I did know that he drove for Ferrari and that he was a seven-time Formula One World Champion. He was regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time.
"Thank you for being there," he said.
I smiled and blushed. "No problem, Mr. Colombo. I'm just glad I could help."
"Call me Alonzo, please. Let me know if there is anything we can do for you in return."
I shook my head. "I don't need anything, thank you."
Alonzo Colombo turned to look at his wife. "I told her all day to eat. But she's been so upset over Alberto's disappearance that she could hardly get anything down. I had a feeling something like this might happen. I never should have left you."
"Did you find him?" Ivana asked nervously.
Alonzo bit his lip and shook his head. "No. I talked to a guy working at the casino who dealt black-jack cards for him early in the morning. One of the cabin-boys told me he helped Alberto get into the suite around eight in the morning. Alberto told him he had lost his key. The bartender at the casino served him a drink around eight-thirty. After that, the leads end. No one has seen him since then."
"So he was fine this morning? That's a relief," Ivana said.
"Yes. It is. But what worries me is that no one has seen him since. And I’ve been all over the place. The upper deck, the pool area, the wave pool, all the bars and restaurants in this place. Even the tennis courts. He was nowhere." Alonzo Colombo sighed. "I don't understand where he can be. I mean, he was drinking in the morning hours…maybe he's passed out somewhere?"
"Could he have left the ship?" I asked. They both looked at me. "Not that it’s any of my business."
"Oh my God, Alonzo. The woman is right. What if he came back here, saw my note and knew we were angry, then left the ship?" Ivana had tears in her big eyes. "Oh my God, Alonzo. What if he has run away?"
"Now don't get yourself upset again, Mrs. Colombo," the doctor said. "You need to get something to eat right away. Let me order some food for you."
Ivana didn't answer the doctor. She kept looking at her husband. Alonzo Colombo was getting red cheeks. "He knows he's not allowed to leave the ship on his own," he hissed angrily.
"Oh God, Alonzo. It's all our fault. We've been too harsh on the boy and now he has run away."
Alonzo's anger turned to sadness. "It's me isn't it? I've been too selfish. I know I have. It's been all about me the last several years."
"You think he ran away?" Ivana asked.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Alonzo said. "He could still be on the ship passed out somewhere, drunk." Alonzo hit his fist into the dresser next to him. "I can't believe they would give alcohol to a fourteen year-old. I'm gonna sue those bastards."
"You really think your anger will help get our boy back home?" Ivana asked.
I looked at the doctor, who was still on the phone ordering food for Ivana Colombo. Meanwhile, the couple was fighting heavily now and yelling at each other. I was starting to get really uncomfortable.
"Why would he be drinking in the first place? He's just a kid," Alonzo said. "It's all your fault. You should have kept an eye on him."
"Typically, you to push the responsibility over on me. Aren't you the father?"
"You tell me. You’d been with so many guys when I met you, he could be anyone’s, couldn't he?"
"How dare you?"
This was getting to a point where I was no longer comfortable in the room.
The doctor hung up. "There. Food is on its way up. Shouldn't be long. Now, remember to eat. I don't want to have to come up here again."
Ivana wasn't listening to him. She was snorting and staring angrily at her husband. Alonzo grabbed a vase and threw it against the wall in anger. It shattered all over the floor.
"Maybe it’s time to call the police?" I said. "The ship leaves tonight and, if you want to find your son before that, you might need some help. Especially if he’s gone into town."
They both looked at me like I had overstepped some boundary and entered where I didn't belong. I shrugged. "Just a suggestion. I don't know if they'll do much when he hasn't been gone for longer than he has, but it's worth a shot. After all, with your name and status, they might be willing to bend the rules a little. What if it was a kidnapping? It wouldn't look good on the city's reputation would it? Sorrento is known as a place many celebrities and rich people spend their vacations. They’d want to have a reputation for being a safe place wouldn't they? Anyway, it was just a suggestion. I need to get back. I left two children all alone in my suite. Hope you feel better soon Mrs. Colombo."
16
April 1978
HE HAD KEPT THE twins. No one else wanted anything to do with them, so no one questioned it when Officer Maraldi decided to take them back to his own house and lock them inside his basement. At first, he had no idea what to do with them. He kept them locked away and fed them using a bowl he placed on the floor like they were animals. They didn't speak at all. They never told him where to find the rest of the Slovenski Gang and it irritated him that he had come so close to nailing the gang, but still hadn't succeeded. The gang still roamed the streets of his district in the city of Rome and there were days when he was certain they were laughing at him while they did. Every day, he had tourists come to his station and report stolen passports, wallets and cameras. And every day he had to tell them the same thing.
"We'll look for your stolen goods, but I'm afraid I can't promise you much."
It annoyed him immensely and, at first, he thought that if he brought the twins to his house, he would be able to get them to talk eventually and they would tell him about the gang's whereabouts, but it never happened. He tried everything. He beat the crap out of them, he fed them and promised ice cream for dessert if they told him, then beat them again because they didn't answer. He tried it all, but they had shut up and refused to speak a word.
Officer Maraldi knew they were capable of talking. He heard them at night speaking to one another. Lying in his bed upstairs, he could hear their puny voices through the ventilation shaft. But he didn't understand a word they spoke.
Two years had passed now since he brought them to his house and he had found a new way they could be of use to him. It was actually his colleague, Luigi who had come up with the idea. He was the only one who knew that the twins were in Maraldi's house.
"We could make money off of them," he said one night when they were hanging out in a park nearby playing Bocce.
"How so?" Officer Maraldi asked, then threw his metal ball. It landed in the sand with a thud.
"Fights," Luigi said and walked to the end of the lane, lifted his ball, aimed and threw it. It landed closer than Maraldi's. Luigi smiled. "We can arrange fights with them."
Maraldi liked the idea right away. So one Friday late afternoon, he walked down into the basement.
Afraid of getting beaten up again, the twins crawled backwards into a corner as soon as they saw him. Maraldi covered them up in a blanket and tied them down, then carried them into his old truck and drove them downtown. Luigi met him behind the old building at the harbor. Maraldi opened the truck and they carried the twins out.
They didn't remove the blanket from their faces until they were inside the ring. Then Maraldi and Luigi both walked behind the closed gate. The twins both looked at Maraldi. For a split second, he wondered if this was going to be the last he saw of them. There was no way they would survive this, he thought to himself.
When the pit-bull entered the arena, the twins turned to look at it. Then they whimpered loudly. The crowd laughed and then clapped. Bets were made and people were watching the spectacle with great enthusiasm and fascination. Never had they seen anything like this.
"Quite the crowd those Spider-boys of yours can draw," the guy arranging the fight said to Maraldi. "It's the biggest crowd this year. Too bad we can only do this once." Then he left laughing.
The pit-bull growled. It came closer to the twins. It was drooling and snarling. The twins crab-walked backwards. The crowd cheered on the dog. The twins looked up at Maraldi like they expected him to step in.
But, of course, he didn't. He watched the spectacle with as much joy and captivation as the rest of the crowd. The dog roared, then jumped them and let its teeth sink into their back. Blood gushed out from the wound and the twins both screamed. The dog drew back, then circled them before it attacked again, biting one of their arms, forcing them to fall to the ground. The crowd was cheering…yelling and screaming for the dog to kill them.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
Maraldi felt a chill of joy. This was truly enjoyable. More than he had ever expected it to be.
But, as it turned out, Maraldi and the cheering crowd had completely underestimated the twins' strength. Just as they had both of their faces in the dust and were bleeding from their many wounds, they did something officer Maraldi had never seen them do before. Something he wasn't even aware that they were capable of. Somehow, they managed to rise to their three legs and stood tall in front of the dog. They clenched their four fists and started hitting the dog non-stop. They swung their arms like cartwheels and knocked the dog back with such strength, the crowd went completely quiet.
A few seconds later, they burst into another cheer. This time for the twins.
Spider-boys, spider-boys!
Maraldi watched with a strange enthrallment as the twins threw themselves at the dog and, with their bare hands, grabbed its neck and strangled it till it fell to the ground. People held their breath while waiting for the dog to get back up. But it didn't move. It lay on the dirty floor completely lifeless.
The twins crumbled back down and started walking on their hands again, crawling like a spider while the crowd cheered and clapped.
Maraldi was clapping wildly too. He couldn't stop smiling and was hearing nothing but that clinking, clanking sound of money inside of his mind.
A buck or a pound is all that makes the world go 'round.
17
April 2014
THE MAN WAS TIRED, but he hardly noticed it anymore. He had been working all night on his project, cutting and sewing…Bits and pieces, making it all fit together nicely.
The boy's skin turned out to be even nicer than he had dared to hope for…Soft and smooth, very elastic. Perfect for his purpose.
The man smiled as he carefully held parts of it up in the light and turned it. He sat down with a piece of the boy's skin and looked at it for a moment, as if it was a present he needed to enjoy. Then he sewed it onto another piece.
He was working hard, but enjoying every single moment of it. On the table next to him lay the remains of a skinned body…something that, to most people, would represent horror and their worst nightmare, but to the man it was pure beauty.
The man yawned, but it was not time to sleep yet. First, he had to finish his project. Even if it was the middle of the night, the man felt energized as he looked at his finished product. He stood up and held it out for a better look, smiling from ear to ear at his accomplishments. A few spots of blood were removed with some rubbing alcohol. The finished jacket was put on the bed and the remains of the boy thrown inside the bathtub in the bathroom. Wearing thick gloves, he poured acid on the remains of the boy, covering the entire body in it. Slowly, the bones and the meat started smoking and melting and soon there was nothing left. The man then opened the plug and let it all wash out, knowing it was going to end up in the ocean.
"There, Deedee. All traces are gone. No one will ever know."
"Are you done with my present?"
The man put the acid and the gloves back in his suitcase with the rest of his equipment. Then, he smiled from ear to ear. "Yes. Yes, I am, Deedee. It's all finished. I'm certain you will be pleased."
"Can I see it? Can I see it?"
The man went into the bedroom of his lower deck suite. There was a case on the bed. He was struggling slightly with the pain in his shoulder, but decided to ignore it. He had, after all, just cleaned the wounds. Of course it was going to hurt a little. It didn't matter.
The man sat on the edge of the bed. He put a hand on the case and opened the lid.
"I hate being in this thing," Deedee said.
"I know," the man answered. "But take a look at this."
He held the jacket up in the air for Deedee to see.
"It's beautiful," Deedee said with a gasp.
"I know. It's perfect for you. Let me help you put it on."
The man carefully placed the jacket on Deedee, making sure it fit nicely. "It's a little too big, but I can adjust that if you like," he said.
"No. It's perfect," Deedee said. "How do I look?"
The man couldn't stop smiling. "You look great, Deedee. You look really great."
He grabbed his camera and took a picture.
"Don't," Deedee said. "I don't like looking at myself. You know that."
"But I really want to take your picture. You look so good. Don't be shy."
"Okay then. If you must."
The man smiled and took a series of pictures. He showed one of them to Deedee.
"How handsome I look," Deedee said.
"Yes."
"Thank you."
"We're not done yet," the man said. "There is still a lot of work to do. This is just the beginning, Deedee. Soon, I'll have all of you dressed and then we go for the most important thing. Do you know what that is, Deedee?"
"My face."
"Yes. We need to get you a new face. And I know exactly who is going to give you that."
18
April 2014
NONE OF US SLEPT well that night. Except for Christoffer who slept like a baby and never even noticed that Victor kept having nightmares and woke up screaming in the darkness. I did what I could to calm him down. When I asked him the next morning what he dreamt, he simply said…
"That I didn't have a face."
We took off on our trip to the Isle of Capri. We saw the Blue Grotto and all the other sights the island had to offer…like the small famous harbor Marina Piccola, the Belvedere of Tragara—a high panoramic promenade lined with villa, the Faraglioni—the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea, the town of Anacapri, and the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas. I found everything very interesting, especially since I had never been there before. But Victor didn't find any of it as alluring as Pompeii. He was very quiet most of the day and I wondered if something was bothering him…If it was those dreams that wouldn't leave him. Christoffer, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy this trip more than the one on the previous day. He thought the Blue Grotto was spectacular and wouldn't stop talking about it afterwards.
We came back to the ship late in the afternoon. I was exhausted from all the walking and threw myself on the couch and took off my shoes as soon as we landed. I had paid for a nice big lunch at a wonderful small Italian place on
the island, so none of us were hungry and we decided to meet up and eat a late dinner on the boat.
"We could use a nap," my mom said when we said goodbye in the hallway. She poked my dad in the side with her elbow and winked. "Right, papa bear?"
Papa bear?
"That sounds nice," my dad chuckled. "Mama bear."
Oh my God!
Now I was just lying on the couch while Victor indulged himself in Christoffer's book. Christoffer watched TV. I closed my eyes and dozed off. I was awakened by a message on the speakers from our captain.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have to postpone the departure from Sorrento till later tonight. We hope to be able to set off towards Sicily before midnight. Thank you for your understanding."
I looked at the boys. Victor didn't seem to care, but Christoffer looked at me for an answer.
"Postpone the departure?" I asked and sat up.
"Why?" Christoffer asked.
I shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe it’s something technical."
Or could it have something to do with Mr. and Mrs. Colombo? Hadn't they found the boy?
I heard voices in the hallway and got up. "Stay here," I said to the boys and left the suite.
As if Victor would ever leave the suite. If it was up to him, he'd stay in there the entire trip.
In the hallway, a crowd had gathered, surrounding a man in uniform. Voices were debating vividly. I walked further down and realized there was turmoil near the end of the hallway, down by Alonzo Colombo's suite. I walked faster and suddenly spotted a flock of police officers standing outside his suite. Some walked inside, while others worked outside. Some were wearing blue plastic suits. I’d been around long enough to know a forensic team when I saw one.
So they finally called the police for help. Good for them. It seemed like they were doing a very thorough job. A guy was dusting for fingerprints on the door. As I was about to turn around and go back, I saw Alonzo Colombo coming out of the suite. I smiled until I noticed he wasn't walking willingly. He was flanked by two officers and had his hands cuffed behind his back. I gasped.