by Rose Haven
“I will not tolerate such behavior Arianna. Today onwards, you shall help your mother in the kitchen and do whatever she tells you to do, do you hear me.”
I meekly nod my head and wipe the tears off my red face. When I go back to my room, Rio rushes to me and hugs me tightly. He cries non-stop all the while.
“Ary… I hate it here. Why did daddy hit you? He has become just like our new mama. I don’t love him anymore,” he says between sobs.
“Shh….. stop crying Rio. And please don’t say that about daddy. He still loves us, okay? I…I did something wrong and that’s why he hit me,” I lie to my little brother.
“Don’t lie, Ary. I know he hit you because you are with me when I am sick and not with that horrible woman. You know Ary, our new mama is very bad. She pinched me so hard yesterday when I vomited,” he says hiccupping and shows me a dark blue bruise on his left arm.
My blood boils on seeing this. But what can I do? As much as I want to, I cannot leave this place with Rio. We have nowhere to go.
“Why did God take away our mama? He too doesn’t love us anymore….just like daddy.” Rio has stopped crying but he looks so sad that my heart breaks.
I promise myself that day that I will do whatever it takes to make our lives better. I will get Rio admitted to a good hospital where he can get the best treatment. Daddy wants me to work for mama, doesn’t he? Well, I will do that, I will do whatever she says. But she will have to pay me for my services. And as soon as I earn enough money, Rio and I shall flee from this living hell!
With a new determination, I decide to go to daddy’s room to tell him that I will obey his order. I knock at the door a few times and when no one answers, I push the door open.
********************************************
“The memory of what I saw when that door opened is still afresh in my mind,” I tell Alberto and Mrs. Antoni. The expression on Alberto’s face is unreadable while Mrs. Antoni is wiping her tears time and again. I focus on the wall behind them so that I can continue with my story. Though my throat is choked with emotion, I somehow manage to speak.
“I saw daddy’s lifeless body hanging from the ceiling fan. He had killed himself. Apparently, his guilt had moved him to take such an extreme step. Although, we resented the man he had lately become, we still loved him. His death came as a huge blow to Rio and me….especially Rio. He sort of went into a shell after daddy’s death. Sammy’s harsh words, her abuses, her occasional beatings…nothing seemed to affect him.
Sammy aborted her baby after daddy’s death. Though she didn’t throw us out of her house, she made sure we worked day and night to earn our stay there. And contrary to what I had hoped, she didn’t pay us a single penny.
Rio was entrusted small tasks like taking food to the guests’ rooms, cleaning their cars, bringing laundry and stuff like that. Thankfully, he had gotten a little better with time. He didn’t fall sick as much as he used to. I don’t know how this miracle happened…..probably God took mercy on us after all that we’d been through. I knew that cancer could not be cured without proper treatment, but somehow I hoped that my Rio’s case was different. But I didn’t know that it was the quiet that comes before a raging storm.”
Chapter Five
“Jesus! Cara, I must say you are a very strong girl,” says Mrs. Antoni with a sad smile on her face. I notice that her eyes are red and swollen. “Any lesser woman would have crumbled under such circumstances.”
“Thank you Mrs. Antoni. I had no other option. I had to stay strong for Rio’s sake. Though Sammy mistreated both of us, yet I’ll always be thankful to her for giving us shelter and food. If she wanted, she could have thrown us out on the streets and…..”
“She kept you for her own selfish interests. You both slaved for her day and night goddamn it! It was the least she could do,” Alberto interrupts me. He looks as if he would happily strangle Sammy if she were here this moment. His eyes are shining with unrestrained rage.
“I know that,” I carry on. “I helped her in the kitchen. I washed utensils, swept floors and did all sorts of tasks she asked me to. I remember one night, she came to my room and asked me to accompany her to the kitchen. Rio was fast asleep, so I decided to go with her.
When we arrived there, I saw Andrew waiting for us. As soon as we entered, Sammy stepped back and locked Andrew and me inside. I didn’t understand what was happening. I banged on the door and asked her to open it but apparently, she had already left. Behind me, I heard Andrew laughing in a menacing tone. I looked back and saw him standing right behind me with bloodshot eyes. He had been drinking, I could smell alcohol on his breath.” I let out a deep breath. I don’t know how to recount that horrible night in words.
“Andrew had often leered at me and tried to touch me inappropriately at various occasions in the past. But I had never taken his actions too seriously. He was such a skinny fellow that I thought I could easily overpower him if he resorted to anything more than that….but I was wrong. Though he was very thin, he still was much more powerful than me. I realized it that night.” I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat.
“You don’t have to reveal anything that you don’t want to…” Alberto says softly, though his hands are fisted tightly with anger. I can feel his love for me in these words. That he doesn’t want me to relive those horrific moments shows that he still cares for me.
“Hmmm… I’ll just skip out the details then, I guess,” I wipe my tears that have again begun to fall from my eyes. “He….he tried to rape me that night. I thought…I thought I would die. All I could think of at that time was Rio. What would he do if something were to happen to me! I could not die and leave him alone in this cruel world. This thought gave me strength. I somehow managed to get hold of a pan and hit him repeatedly on the head with it.
After a few hits, he was lying motionless on the ground with blood coming out from his head where I had hit him. At first, I thought I had killed him. I was horrified! I slowly went near him to check if he was still breathing. Thankfully, he was. I frantically banged the locked door with my fists and somehow it opened. I rushed to my room, changed my clothes that were splattered with blood and woke up Rio. We left that place in the middle of the night. Rio kept asking me why we were leaving but I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Mio dio,” Mrs. Antoni says with her hand clutched to her heart.
“I just had a few bucks in my pocket that some of the guests had given to Rio and me as tips. We both ran aimlessly on the road. I just knew that somehow we had to reach Florence. I had heard one of the guests talking about a Cancer Hospital there that treated patients almost free of cost. I wanted to get Rio admitted there. His condition had again started to deteriorate.
As we were running on the road, a truck stopped in front of us. The driver was a kind man who gave us a ride to Florence. We somehow convinced him that we had missed our last bus to Florence. He dropped us at the bus station and that is how we reached this city.”
Chapter Six
“That was six months back, right?” asks Alberto.
Though I am surprised how he knows this detail, I remain silent and nod my head in agreement.
“We knew nobody in Florence. One of our distant aunts lived here, but I had no clue where she lived. I didn’t even know her full name! Rio and I spent the first two nights on a bench in a park. It was really cold at that time of the year and we held each other close for warmth. I did carry some biscuits with me when we left Murlo, but we finished them the first day already.
On the third day, Rio came down with a raging fever. We had not eaten anything for the past two days and Rio’s condition was worsening with each passing minute. He was unable to stand even. I begged one of the passersby’s for some food and he gave me some apples which I fed him. After feeding him and putting a blanket on him that I found in the park, I went in search of some work.
Taking pity on me, a woman employed me at her flower shop. She was a young widow and she even allowed
Rio and me to stay in a small room at the back of her shop. We stayed there for about two days but Rio’s fever just wouldn’t go down. I had to find that hospital and get him admitted there before his condition worsened. I asked that lady if she knew where the hospital was. She had no idea herself but she called up a few friends of hers to get some information. At last, I got the address of the Cancer Specialty Hospital. You both must know about the charitable hospital. It is quite nearby from here,” I ask Alberto and Mrs. Antoni.
Mrs. Antoni is about to say something but Alberto gestures her to stay quiet. I notice this silent exchange between them but choose to ignore it.
“Yes…yes, we know about that hospital,” says Alberto at last.
“I took Rio there and literally begged Doctor Amaro to admit him. He is the head doctor there and a renowned oncologist. I had no money for his treatment but still that kind hearted doctor admitted Rio and started his treatment. It was such a special day for me. Finally, my dream of getting Rio admitted to that hospital had been fulfilled. My instincts told me that he would get cured there. My heart filled with hope for my little brother,” I say as I smile at the memory.
How ecstatic I had been that day! Rio had initially refused to stay back at the hospital. He wanted to go back with me! He felt I would leave him too like mama and daddy. It had taken me about two hours to convince him that I was leaving him behind for his own good.
“Life became a little more normal in the next few months. In the daytime, I used to work at the flower shop and in the evenings, I worked as a waitress in a small hotel. I tried to visit Rio as often as I could. I even rented a small apartment with two of my fellow waitresses at the hotel. Most of my salary went towards paying the rent and Rio’s medical bills. But he was getting better……..and that was the only thing that mattered to me. He was responding favorably to the treatments. Doctor Amaro called him a fighter. He was also amazed at the pace at which Rio was getting better. Finally, our testing times had come to an end and life was beginning to look beautiful again.”
“How…how is Rio now?” asks Mrs. Antoni.
“He is much better now, all thanks to Doctor Amaro and the people who are behind that hospital. I pray to God each day to bless those noble souls. Had it not been for this hospital, so many poor, helpless people would have died a painful death fighting with this deadly disease.”
Alberto clears his throat and looks a little uncomfortable. For the first time in the past one hour or so, asks me a question. “So why were you running in the middle of the road that night when my car hit you?”
Chapter Seven
“Well… As I told you I had started waitressing at a small hotel. I thought I had left my bad luck back in Murlo but apparently, it had followed me to Florence too! That night, I saw Andrew at that very hotel. He was with some friends and all of them had been drinking heavily. I told Sheena….she was one of the fellow waitresses with whom I had rented the apartment……I told her that I had a bad headache and I quietly slipped out of the hotel. I was on my way back when he suddenly appeared and approached me. I think he had already seen me at the hotel.”
I recall the sheer horror I felt when I saw his face strangely twisted with anger and revenge.
“At first, I just stood there in front of him, frozen. I didn’t know where to run, what to do….I was plain horrified. Then, when my mind started working again, I just ran. He hurled all sorts of abuses at me and started following me. I lost all sense of direction….I was so scared! I was just running away from that nightmare, I had no idea where I was going. That is the time when I accidentally rammed into your car.”
Alberto looks at me with something akin to sympathy in his eyes. We all remain silent and you could hear a pin drop in the room. After a short while, he asks me, “Why did you lie about losing your memory?”
“At that time, it was the safest option for me,” I confess. When he looks a little confused, I explain in detail.
“I had heard Doctor Bellini talk to you about the side effects of the head injury that I had sustained. He was telling you it was possible that I may have suffered some brain damage or a short term memory loss. I thought if I act perfectly normal, I will have to leave your house and go back to that place where Andrew could easily find me….and perhaps kill me too. I had to stay alive for Rio’s sake. I could not abandon him at this stage. So I thought I would fake this memory loss and stay here for a while. In the meantime, Andrew would get sick of looking for me and perhaps return to Murlo.”
There…..I have said it all! Every lie of mine, every half-truth that I’d said….just about everything is out in the open now!
I am finally relieved of the huge burden that I’d been carrying with me this past one month. Now it is entirely up to Alberto and Mrs. Antoni if they want to believe my story and understand the intention behind my lies. I didn’t want to harm anybody….I just wanted to stay safe for Rio’s sake.
“Oh cara! I cannot even imagine what all you’ve been through. And the fact that you survived it all on your own at this tender age………I just want to say this Rio of yours is one lucky man to have a sister like you!” Mrs. Antoni says to me with a small smile. She comes to me and gives me a huge hug. I finally let myself go. I cry on her shoulder and I cry hard this time. It’s like all the grief and misery of the past years have finally found an outlet. Mrs. Antoni keeps patting my back while making soothing noises. She doesn’t tell me to stop.
After I’ve cried to my heart’s content, I finally let go of her shoulder. I look at Alberto a little apprehensively as I am unsure of what I might see in his eyes. I want him to understand me but I don’t want him to pity me. He looks deep in thought when I finally gather the courage to look at him. He’s not even looking at us. I feel my heart sink.
“I am going to the hospital Mrs. Antoni. Please make sure that Arianna doesn’t leave in the meantime,” he orders. Without so much as giving me a glance, he strides out of the apartment.
I look at Mrs. Antoni helplessly. I know I have wronged him by hiding the truth but somehow I had hoped that he’d forgive me after listening to my story. After all, I am not some gold digger who is after his money. But the fact that he’s left without saying anything fills my heart with despair.
“He doesn’t love me anymore, Mrs. Antoni. He hates me,” I wail.
“No, Arianna. You are wrong. If he hated you, he would have asked you to leave immediately. But he asked you to stay back, right?” Mrs. Antoni consoles me.
I wipe my tears and wonder why has he gone to the hospital.
“Which hospital has he gone to? Is he alright?” I am beginning to worry. Mrs. Antoni gives out a small laugh.
“You’ll come to know cara…..very soon! Until then, go wash your face and try to relax.”
I am confused at her words but do as she says. I wonder what this mystery is all about! After about an hour or so, the doorbell rings and Mrs. Antoni rushes to open the door.
As the door opens, I see Alberto holding the hand of a young child…..and that child is none other than RIO!!!!
Chapter Eight
Upon seeing me, Rio comes running and wraps his arms around my waist.
“You know Ary, this gentleman here,” he points at Alberto, “he says that now I get to stay with you. I’ll never have to leave you again, Ary….NEVER!”
I have not seen him this excited and happy for so many years! I look at Alberto and find him already looking at the both of us, grinning from ear to ear. Oh Jesus! Is this some kind of a dream or actual reality!
“And you know Ary, that big hospital where I was staying? That hospital belongs to HIM!”
I am completely dumbstruck by this revelation. I knew Alberto had a kind heart, but I had never imagined him to be a philanthropist. It proves that behind his super successful, ultra-rich, party loving persona lies a compassionate and caring human being.
Now I start understanding how he found out about my lies. He had probably seen me with Rio at the hospital!
>
“Yes, my dear,” says Mrs. Antoni gently. “Now you’ll stay here with your sister. Nobody is going to send you back to the hospital.”
Rio looks up at me questioningly. When I smile at him, he jumps with joy.
“Yay!” he literally shouts. And then he notices his surroundings. “Wow Ary, you live here! This house is so huge…..and sooo beautiful! Are we no longer poor Ary?” Then sensing he had probably said something wrong, he snaps his mouth shut.
Before I can respond, Alberto comes and kneels down before him. “Rio, your sister and I love each other. She has been staying with me and Mrs. Antoni here for the past few days. And now since Doctor Amaro has given you permission to stay with your sister, you’ll be staying here too.”
“Is this your house?” Rio asks Alberto innocently.
“Well, it used to be at one point of time. But now it is OUR house!”
Alberto’s words fill my heart with joy and hope. Once again, tears start threatening to fall from my eyes, but they are tears of happiness this time. Alberto gets up and looks at me straight in the eye.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this before? You didn’t trust me enough?” There is hurt in his eyes.
Sensing that we need some privacy, Mrs. Antoni tells Rio, “Come on young man, I’ll show you your new room.” Too excited for words, Rio happily leaves my hand and follows her. I mouth a silent ‘thank you’ to Mrs. Antoni and she nods her head.
“I wanted to tell you Alberto….I wanted to tell you everything. But I was scared…..scared that you might not understand my situation, scared that I would lose you forever. My life had become worth living after so long and I became a little selfish.”
“Still Gemma, you knew that I loved you. You could have tried at least,” he says softly. I love it that he calls me Gemma and not Arianna.
“I tried Alberto. You remember that night when we came back from the party? I really wanted to disclose all secrets that night. But when I was about to tell you the truth, you silenced me with your kiss. I couldn’t think straight after that.”