Four
Ilay on the floor outside the Viper’s suite, and don’t move for a long time. Well, it feels long anyway, as I will myself not to burst into tears, even though that’s what I really want to do, while hoping my sore head stops spinning soon, and wondering if I have a black eye.
Eventually, the cold of the floor seeps through my thin clothes, and I start to feel cold and hungry.
I guess I might as well explore, since it looks like the Viper’s done with me for the night.
And besides, I haven’t eaten since last night, so I need to scrounge some food from somewhere.
Although I haven’t seen anyone else, so I have no idea where I’m supposed to sleep or eat.
I’m also kinda worried about not being able to find my way back, so I start counting doors and turns so I can make a map in my head.
I find myself back in the huge marble-floored entryway and turn around slowly to see what my options are, coming to a stop when I see a girl sitting on the floor near one of the other hallways that spur off this stupid-big space.
I wonder for a moment if I’m just imagining her after the bashes to my head.
“Hello?” I ask, my voice uncertain.
The girl looks up from the sketchbook she’s drawing in. “Hi,” she says, and her smile hits me in the chest. “I’m Aspen. Who are you?”
“I’m Kaiden,” I tell her, taking a few steps forward. “Do you live here?”
She shakes her pale blonde hair, which is startling against her tan. I think she might be an angel. “No, I come with my mamma. She comes to visit her best friend, Miss Therese. Why are you here? I haven’t seen you before.”
I shrug, not sure what to say since I don’t really know what’s happening myself. “Eduardo brought me. He’s my dad. He’s an asshole. I think he’s left me here because he owes money.”
Aspen nods, perfectly serious. “Does your face hurt?”
I put my fingers to my cheek. For a moment, I’d forgotten. Poking it brings back the pain in a rush. I nod.
Her eyes, which are a pale green I’ve never seen before, catalogue my face, and I feel like she’s looking into my soul.
Then, without saying another word, she climbs to her feet and walks over.
Aspen is tiny, like a fairy. She stands in front of me, then takes my hand and pulls me towards another part of the building.
I do my best to keep making the map in my head, even though the feel of her fingers around mine makes me want to forget about it.
“Mamma is also good friends with Rosa. She works in the kitchen, and sometimes I stay there with her. She’ll help.”
It’s good to know not everyone in this creepy place is as nasty as the Viper, and a relief to find a friend.
Me and Aspen are definitely going to be friends. I’ll make sure. Something tells me there aren’t too many other kids around here.
“How old are you?” I ask, curious.
“Nine,” she tells me. “But it’s my birthday soon.”
“I’m ten,” I offer, although she didn’t ask.
It’s noisier in this part of the building. We pass a few people, but none of them take any notice of us. I guess they’re used to seeing her wandering around.
An older lady with a round, smiling face looks up from where she’s cooking on the biggest stove I’ve ever seen. “Aspen, I didn’t think I was going to see you tonight. Your mamma told me you have homework,” she says with an accent.
“I finished,” Aspen replies. “And then I met Kaiden, and I thought you could help him.”
The lady looks at me and frowns. Then she starts talking fast in a language I don’t understand and tutting to herself. I wonder if I’m in trouble again.
“Erica!” she calls out. “Come and mind the pots for me.”
An older girl comes scurrying in and takes over at the stove, and I stand my ground as Rosa comes around and looks me over.
“Well now, what do we have here?” she asks, moving closer and reaching towards my bruised and painful face. I flinch before I can stop myself, and her frown deepens, but her touch is gentle when she tilts my chin up to examine me. Her hands smell like garlic and something sweet.
“Who did this to you, ragazzo?”
I don’t answer. Something tells me ratting out the Viper isn’t going to make my situation any better, even if Rosa seems nice enough.
She makes another tutting sound and shakes her head.
“Have you been brought here to work?” she asks, bustling away, then returning with a bag of peas which she wraps in a tea towel and hands to me.
“Press this against your cheek,” she tells me, before wiping my face with a damp cloth.
It comes away bloody, and my lip stings. I hadn’t even realized it was bleeding.
She looks at me expectantly, and I remember she asked a question. All I can do is shrug, since I’m not even sure myself. “Are you to stay tonight?” she tries instead, and I nod, then wince as I press the makeshift icepack to my swollen cheek.
“And where are you to be in the morning?”
“Outside Mr. Vito’s room at 7 am,” I tell her, and her eyes narrow to my face.
I bite my lip, wondering if I’ve said too much, since she’s got a scary scowl on her face.
“Hmph.” She turns away and mutters under her breath. “Avrei dovuto saperlo.”
I have no idea what she’s saying, but thankfully, Rosa doesn’t seem to expect an answer. I make a mental note to find out what language is being spoken so I can learn what’s being said around me.
“Come, sit. Both of you.” She points to a small table in the corner, away from the main cooking area. “You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”
My stomach growls at the mention of food, betraying what I wouldn’t have said. Rosa’s eyes go soft, and the beginning of a tiny smile moves her lips. She makes me feel like Ma does sometimes.
I miss my Ma.
The thought makes me want to cry, but I push it away, not wanting to seem like a baby.
“That’s what I thought.” Rosa bustles off and returns with two plates piled high with pasta and some kind of red sauce. The smell makes my mouth water so much I have to swallow.
Aspen sits across from me and picks up her fork like this is totally normal. Maybe for her it is.
I dig in without waiting, barely tasting the food as I shovel it into my mouth. It’s the best thing I’ve tasted since Eduardo took me. Maybe even before, since there were times, even with Ma, when food was scarce.
“Slow down,” Rosa chides gently. “The food isn’t going anywhere.”
But I can’t slow down. Everything here is foreign. I don’t know what’s going on or how long I’m supposed to stay. And after my ‘chat’ with the man they call the Viper, I don’t know when I’ll get to eat again.
Aspen watches me with those strange pale green eyes.
She’s eating at a normal pace, like a regular person, and I force myself to slow down a bit, knowing I must look like a slob.
Rosa’s clearly in charge of this kitchen.
I need her to like me so she’ll feed me again, not think I’m an untamed animal.
“So, where are you from?” Aspen asks between bites.
I swallow hard, the pasta suddenly feeling like a rock in my throat. “Upstate. I’m not from around here.” I don’t want to talk about Ma or our tiny apartment or how Eduardo just ripped me away from everything I knew.
She nods like she understands, even though there’s no way she does.
This girl with her clean clothes, who looks like an angel and draws pretty pictures like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
“It’s not so bad here,” she offers. “Once you figure out the rules.”
“Yeah? And what are those?”
“Stay out of the way. Don’t ask questions. Don’t go where you’re not supposed to. And if someone tells you to do something, you do it.”
“That’s it?”
She shrugs. “Pretty much. Although really, the most important rule is to stay away from Mr. Vito when he’s in a mood, which is most times.”
Too late for that, I think, touching my throbbing cheek again.
“So, your Mamma’s visiting her friend? Why aren’t you with her?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
Aspen scrunches up her face, and Rosa makes more tutting sounds before she marches away.
“Sometimes she has to go see Mr. Salvatore. I don’t really know why; she doesn’t talk about it much.” Aspen twirls her fork in the pasta. “But those times I can’t go with her. And Miss Therese has her own family to take care of, so I just do my homework, or draw, and have dinner with Rosa.”
Rosa returns with glasses of water and sets them down with a gentle pat on my shoulder. “Finish eating, then I’ll show you where you can sleep.”
I nod, grateful even though I’m not sure I trust anyone in this place yet. But Rosa seems kind, and Aspen’s been nice to me even though she didn’t have to be.
We finish eating in silence. Well, mostly silence. The kitchen is full of sounds - pots clanging, water running, Erica humming something under her breath. It’s almost nice - normal in a way that makes the rest of this nightmare feel even more unreal.
When our plates are empty, Rosa collects them and gestures for us to follow. She leads us out of the kitchen and down another hallway, which I add to my mental map. Seven doors on the left, three on the right, turn left at the painting of some miserable old guy in a suit.
“This is the staff wing,” Rosa explains, as she bustles around, collecting sheets and bedding from one of the many doors that line the hallways.
“Most of Mr. Rossi’s people sleep here when they’re on duty.
There are a few empty rooms.” She opens a door to reveal a small space with a narrow bed, a dresser, and not much else.
But it’s clean, and there’s a window, even if it has bars on it like a cage.
“This can be yours for now,” she says. “Bathroom is two doors down. Don’t make a mess, and don’t make noise after ten o’clock. Understand?”
I nod, taking it all in. It’s not much, but it’s more than I expected when I thought I might be sleeping on the floor of the corridor outside the Viper’s door. It’s more even than when Eduardo cut out on us, and we moved to a place where Ma and I had to share a bed.
“Thank you,” I manage, and Rosa’s expression softens even more. “Umm… when is ten o’clock?”
Rosa purses her lips, then her expression lightens. “Un momento.” She whirls around and disappears, only to return a few minutes later with a small alarm clock in her hand.
“Here.” She passes it to me. “It’s old-fashioned, so it doesn’t need batteries. Just remember to wind it every day, and you won’t be late.”
I cradle it like it’s precious. I’ve been worried about how I’d know when to go to the Viper. I’d planned to just stay awake all night and leave when it was light.
I can’t help myself. It’s all been too much, and I throw my arms around Rosa’s thick waist and blink more tears away.
“You’re a good boy,” she says, reaching out to ruffle my hair. “Tomorrow morning, you come to the kitchen first. I’ll make sure you have breakfast before you report to Mr. Vito.”
She says his name carefully, like she’s trying not to say what she really thinks. I wonder what the Viper’s done to make even the kitchen lady scared of him.
After Rosa leaves, Aspen lingers in the doorway. “I should go find Mamma,” she says, but she doesn’t move right away. “Will you be okay?”
The question catches me off guard. Nobody’s asked me that since Eduardo showed up at our apartment. Nobody cared. “Yeah,” I lie. “I’ll be fine.”
She studies me with those weird eyes of hers, and I get the feeling she knows I’m full of shit. But she doesn’t call me on it. Instead, she just nods.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says finally. “If you want.”
I nod vigorously, because I really do want that, but then I try to play it cool and shrug. “Yeah. Okay.”
She gives me that smile again, the one that makes my chest feel odd, and then she’s gone, her footsteps padding softly down the hall.
I close the door and lean against it, suddenly exhausted.
The room is quiet except for the ticking of the alarm clock Rosa gave me, but the sound is somehow comforting.
I set it on the dresser and wind it up like she showed me, setting the alarm for 6 am.
That should give me enough time to wash up, get to the kitchen and still make it to the Viper’s door by seven.
The bed is harder than the one I shared with Ma, but the sheets are clean and smell like detergent. I sit down on the edge and finally let myself think about everything that’s happened.
Eduardo sold me. Like I’m a thing, not a person. Not his son.
And Ma... does she even know where I am? Is she looking for me? The last image I have is of her running after the car, arms waving, mouth open in a scream I couldn’t hear through the window - it plays over and over in my head.
I lie back and stare at the ceiling, which has a water stain shaped like a bird. Or maybe a plane. It’s hard to tell, but I pretend it has wings that can fly me away from here.
My face throbs where the Viper hit me, and my shoulder aches from being thrown. I should probably be scared about tomorrow, about what he’s going to make me do. But mostly I just feel empty, like someone scooped out my insides and left nothing but a hollow shell.
That’s when the tears finally come. I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to give Eduardo, or the Viper, or any of them that satisfaction, but I can’t help it right now.
I swipe at my cheeks angrily, determined to push them away, and instead, I think about how Aspen looks like an angel, and how kind Rosa has been, and the way the pasta tasted, like maybe everything in this place isn’t completely horrid.
Small things to hold onto during this nightmare.
Eventually, exhaustion wins out over the pain and fear, and I drift off to sleep with my clothes still on, too tired to even take off my sneakers, as I wonder how long I’ll be here.