The Prison

by Stefano Pastor

  He takes his gaze away, he turns, looks behind himself, towards the door of horrors.

  He’s astonished, he can’t understand: now that door is white and behind it there’s a room, with a bed, white too. But the girl is still there, sitting on the ground just like in the monitor, and she’s wearing the pajamas, only there’s no chain. She waves at him again with one hand.

  “Do you remember Daria? Do you know who she is?”

  The boy blinks. The girl gets up and comes to them.

  “Who is Daria?” the father insists.

  “My…my sister.”

  “She’s the one who saved you!” screams his mother, in tears. “They said there was nothing left to do, that they couldn’t help you. They only spoke of medicines and forced feeding. But not her, she believed she could do it.”

  The girl is right in front of him, smiling, and the boy is even more confused. “You hate me!”

  She shrugs. “So, what, I’m your sister. This is what a big sister is supposed to do.” Then she turns to their parents. “If you’d listened to me, this would have been well and done two weeks ago, before he got like this.” She points at the men wearing white. “But nope, they thought I was a little girl! What does she know about such things? They had to wait until he was almost dying, before recognizing I was right!”

  The boy looks at his own hands and trembles, he really does look like a skeleton. “How…”

  One of the men dressed in white speaks up. “It was very risky, miss, we could have lost him forever. You were lucky, but I still think the risk was too big…”

  “What luck!”, the girl answers. “Luck has nothing to do with this! There was only one way to make him get out of that damn cellar, and that was if the orc took him away! He would never have the strength to free himself, not after what he went through. He clung to that cellar like his salvation. As long as he stayed there, he would keep living.”

  “We hadn’t the slightest idea how to take him out. Not even you. You improvised.”

  “I told you I would do it, didn’t I?”

  “We didn’t know what happened in there, your brother never said a word.”

  “But he did to me. I made him talk.”

  The father says. “How did you…”

  “Beat him? Be careful or I’ll be offended! I hope you don’t think he’s better than me! I’ve always beaten him at any game, why would this one be different?”

  “We knew almost nothing!”

  “Well, somehow he survived. He was the first one to be kidnapped, but he was still alive. There must have been a reason. We just had to find it.”

  “If…”

  “Enough with the ‘if’s. I did it, right? Thank God you finally decided to listen to me!” She turns to the nurse who played the orc. “The disguise was perfect.”

  “They were his real clothes, the ones he wore when they arrested him.”

  “But you stopped too far, you risked ruining everything.”

  He puffs. “How could I know? Anyway, I understood your signal.”

  The girl smiles. “The bowls with the corn flakes were a stroke of genius. How did you know?”

  Another man dressed in white says. “He refused to eat. Then we saw your brother’s reaction when you asked him.” He points at the monitors. “There were only those, in the house: two big dog bowls. But he didn’t have dogs, only cats. It was full of cats.”

  The girl admits it reluctantly. “You’ve done well too.”

  The boy has almost been forgotten, in the midst of them, he looks around stunned. “Is he dead?”

  His father has already told him he’d been arrested, but he didn’t understand. He’s about to repeat it, but the girl precedes him, lying. “Yes, he’s dead. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  The boy’s dilated eyes are fixed on her. “And the others?”

  The father exchanges a look with a man dressed in white, probably a doctor, who nods. “They’re all dead”, he answers.

  “I am alive. They are dead”, murmurs the boy. “What did he do to them?”

  The father is uncertain. “This is not the time.”

  The girl cuts short. “He cut them in pieces and gave them to his cats.”

  The father blanches. “Daria! What are you thinking!”

  “Come on, dad, he knew it, that’s why he was so scared. He was out of his mind, completely bonkers!”

  The boy trembles. “Did he…do something else, first?”

  Nobody answers. His father kneels before him. “It’s not your fault, don’t even think it.”

  The girl makes him get out of the way. “I’ll do it, you’re no good.” She looks in her brother’s eyes. “Yes, it’s like this. They’re dead and you’re alive. You think you can’t bear it?”

  The boy is the first to lower his eyes. “I didn’t want to die.”

  “Good, great choice. It’s not your fault you were smarter. If they really wanted to live they should have done it too.”

  The father is scandalized. “Daria!” He bends in front of his son. “How do you feel? Can you remember now?”

  The boy nods, then sees his mother to the side and runs to her. He hugs her and hides his face in her chest. He bursts into tears. The mother hugs him back and cries.

  “It’s over”, the mother says. “It’s gone, it’s all over. You’re safe now, you have nothing to fear.”

  The girl puffs. “Oh, my God, here come the pathetic scenes! They’re not for me. I’ll go change and then home.” She addresses her brother. “Hurry up and heal so you can go come home too. Aren’t you sick of this hospital?”

  The boy raises his eyes, watches her go. After a few steps, she turns and gives him a mischievous smile. “And remember, you owe me big. Big. Sooner or later you’ll have to return it.”

  On the boy’s face the shadow of a smile, barely there. He nods.

  March 2010

  PRINCESS

  Translation by Talida Mantegna

  The princess is lying on her soft bed and looks at the moon. She cannot sleep, just think of his Toby.

  She is consumed by love. Well, not the kind of love you could imagine, after all, Toby is only twelve years old, just like her. But for her it is love, she considers it so, for her it is really important.

  An abyss divides them.

  The princess is surrounded by affection and affection, with governors and waitresses who deal with her continually, but it is not enough. Her mother is never there.

  Yes, in the beginning she loved her so much, she did not leave her for a moment.

  She kissed her on her forehead and always remembered how much she loved her. Then everything is over. She has fallen in love again, and now passes all her days between parties and dances, and evenings at theater or at work, with her new companion.

  If she suffers, she does not show it, however, she is too proud. And then there’s Toby.

  Toby has just arrived, just a couple of months. Toby lost her mother, whereby she did not know, and he lives with his father, hired at the chauffeur villa.

  In theory Toby is not there to work. It’s even summer, and he should be on holiday now that schools are closed. He lives with his father in a small annex, just over a cabin. He is always alone and he is bored. He is no one, only the son of a housekeeper. When someone sees him, they immediately afflict him some task, even if it is not right. Even though he is not paid.

  Toby is beautiful, and that’s a fact. Perhaps not everyone would agree, but she sees him so. He’s as agile as a monkey, running like a lightning strike, he can climb the trees.

  The princess spent days and days looking at him from the window, dreaming of being at his side.

  Then the desire to stay with him has become something physical, a need, as the need to drink and sleep. To reach him, to know him, to play with him. Want him well. Maybe even more, be loved.

  She tried to escape from her crystal tower but failed. A host of soldiers stopped her. Oh, sweetly, with so many gentle words. On ho
w it is dangerous for her to go out into the park, how her mother would be disappointed and disliked, how important she is to be responsible and appropriate to her role. She begged, even weeping, but there was nothing to do.

  Sometimes she hates being what it is: a princess. They make it weigh as if it were a divine blessing, but it is the most horrible of curses. A prison.

  Toby. Day after day has become an obsession. Worse.

  The light goes on, from the windows. Run from one to the other to never lose sight of it. She sees him playing alone, and goes crazy. And when he gets some heavy or boring task, and he can not play anymore, she feels inside herself a fierce rage that frightens her.

  They always tell her that she is the mistress, that they are there to serve her, nevertheless she feels like a prisoner. Why can’t she have toby? Why not give him to her?

  She knows they are united. A broken soul in two. She knows that he would recognize her immediately if he could only see her. She knows, she feels him in the blood, she is certain.

  They treat her as a child, especially mom. Little girl spoiled, they call her, and she finds hateful. She does not feel like a little girl anymore.

  She knows what she wants, and she wants Toby.

  She hates Toby’s father, hates him with all herself. He does not love him, he treats him badly. He often ignores him, but when he realizes he does not have a kind word for him. She is certain that Toby suffers. Because of his father’s loneliness, because everyone takes advantage of him. He plays less and less, and he does not laugh anymore.

  She has always loved her, mom, daddy, governors, all the female universe around her, and she felt something natural and pleasant to her. Until she saw Toby, and there something changed, she discovered that true love is suffering.

  And the situation is gradually degenerated, until the princess is in front of a crossroads: to go crazy or to act.

  She is a princess, and princesses do not do it. They repeated it until nausea.

  Type to climb the trees.

  Yet she saw Toby do it dozens of times. It does not seem hard at all.

  What can happen to her? The tree is right in front of its window, and the room is only on the first floor. The jump to the nearest branch is not excessive. But if she failed? If she fell to the ground? Could she be hurt?

  Everyone is asleep. The lights are off. Even in the nearby annex. Toby’s sleeping. His father. All servitude.

  The moon is high in the sky, a full moon, electrifying. The princess feels excited, full of strength, as it had not happened for a long time.

  The jump stands out.

  She lands on the branch, and that folds, letting her lose instantly the balance She runs, without stopping to think, until she reaches the trunk, then, before dropping, she slides down. She loses her grip, knocks against the lower branches, tries to cling to, but she fails. Slides along the trunk, touches the ground heavily and rolls away.

  She stays motionless for more than a minute.

  Then she gets up dented, all bruised. It was definitely not as easy as she thought, but Toby will have to give her some lessons on how to climb the trees.

  She breathes the night air and finds it wonderful. How much time has passed since the last time they allowed her to go out? More and more, it is weighing the conviction of being a prisoner, beyond all the gentleness with which they are pester.

  But now things have changed, now she’s out, she’s free.

  The dependence is just in front of her, just a few feet away. She approaches with caution without making any noise.

  The windows are all open, and the temperature is torrential. Here they do not have that dingy air conditioning, as in the villa.

  Spy them. Toby’s father rushed heavily to his head resting on the pillow. Search Toby. She slams her head in his room.

  He sleeps quietly, naked, just covered with a sheet. She looks at him. She takes an interminable time only to look at him. Not because she has no courage to do anything else, but because contemplating it is the most beautiful thing in the world.

  Would not it be better to stop there? And if it was not true? If he, knowing her, could not love her? If it was completely wrong?

  Eventually she abandons any delay and penetrates inside.

  She is approaching the bed and again paralyzes. She is right next door, as she has always wanted. She could touch him, wake him up, but She can not. Now she has lost all his courage. He is perfect, and she loves him.

  Take off the sheet, carefully. Toby is wearing only a pair of underpants and nothing else. The princess leans on the bed, then runs down to him as gently as possible, trying not to wake him.

  The bed is so tight, and Toby lies right in the middle. She can not stop leaning on him. Touching his skin is something unique he never experienced before. The boy smells of green apples and pine needles. She runs straight, her head resting on the pillow right next to him.

  Toby grumbles in sleep.

  He is waking up, and she can not do anything to stop it. His body is hot, hot; In that mournful night, he must not have noticed, his skin is reacting, he is taking consciousness of her.

  The princess is terrified. What will happen now? Everyone tells her she’s beautiful, the nicest girl in the world, but why keep her segregated, then? What if she was a monster? If she does not like him?? If it was all an illusion of her mind?

  She feels a tear running over her face. It is the most important moment of her life, it could be the most beautiful. If only he accepted her. If he just did not send her away.

  She wore his head to watch him. He’s already blinking his eyes, but he has not turned to her, his gaze to the ceiling. He is not yet completely awake, his mind recorded something unusual, but he cannot understand what it is.

  How nice it is! Be tight in his arms, be kissed by him. Can run together, play together. No, he cannot be just an illusion, he cannot accept it.

  Then, suddenly, Tony retracts, and revives the body, leaning on an elbow.

  “But what…!”

  Moonlight lights them both, and Toby never seemed so perfect.

  He sees her, and the princess trembles. Now that you feel a little girl, a stupid little girl.

  Then the miracle happens, and Toby smiles. He has a wonderful smile, that inebriate her.

  “Hello!”

  The princess does not dare to bark.

  “Where are you coming from? How did you come in?”

  She indicates the window.

  Toby chuckles, and lowers him voice.

  “And you came for me? Where do you live? In the villa? I’ve never seen you. Well, they never let me in, inside.”

  The princess cannot resist and caress him. He touches his neck, and then down to his chest.

  “You should not be here, you know? If they find out they get angry.”

  Continue to caress him, on his hips, right on his legs.

  He laughs.

  Then the princess does something incredible, with a courage she does not know she has. She protests and kisses him. Oh, it’s not a big kiss, just a buzz on a cheek, the rest is too scared to do better.

  He does something just as incredible, puts it in place. He pulls back, in that bed so tight, to make her feel better.

  She does not want to see how she is upset and shrugs. She relaxes completely, but does not resist, looks for physical contact. She sticks to its skin, make it adheres completely. She forces herself to silence, not even a groan.

  Now he will send her away, she is certain. Instead, Toby embraces her, feels his arm around her. Then his hand moves slowly, explores her.

  “We should not”, she murmurs.

  His head right next to her, whispers in her ear.

  “You are beautiful. The most beautiful in the world.”

  The princess cannot even breathe. This is better than she had dreamed of. Her desires had never go far.

  He kisses her right under her ear.

  “You will not shoot, do you? Are not you a dream? Will we stil
l see you?”

  And finally, finally: “Do you want to play with me?”

  She does not resist, turns and embraces him.

  They cling to each other, and Toby chuckles, happy. The princess fills him with kisses, she does not even let him breathe. And he does not reject it, anyhow, the narrower hug, the caress of the whole body at every kiss.

  Laughs. “Damn! You’re gloomy!”

  It’s the perfect moment. The most beautiful of her life. The very fulcrum of existence. Nothing after this will be more important, soft beds and fragrant bathrooms, waiter and manicure, perfumes and jewels. No, she decided, she would never return to that prison.

  The nut is drawn.

  And then it opens the door.

  Dreams end always, and this is reality.

  Toby’s and Princess’s dream lasted only a few moments. And in those precious moments they ran happy among the meadows, one beside the other, under a warm sun, driven by a sparkling breeze between pollen vortices and flower petals.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” screams Toby’s father.

  They are in bed embraced. The sheet is overlaid and can no longer cover them.

  “What makes you here? How did she come?”

  The voice of that man is hateful, like all of him.

  The effect he has on Toby is tremendous. The kid begins to stammer. “I…I…”

  “Did you bring it in?”

  “No! She was her! She came from the window and I…”

  His father sighs. “She, eh? And should I believe it?”

  Advance toward them. The princess is paralyzed, she cannot move. That man is a giant in front of her. Toby is struggling to get rid of her hug. “It’s not like you think, I do not…”

  “Do you want to fire me? Do you know what they do if they find you brought her here? Fuck, they do not even let her get out of the house, not even Queen of England, and you bring her to bed?”