Monsters and Men

Chapter 12: conversations under the stars

Once dinner was over, Maria, Ercole, and his friends go back to her room to hang out, and giving a little tour. Her room had one bed, a desk, closet and dresser, hand-made drawings that were on the wall, and a small balcony that was outside."I know that I only have one bed, but luckily I have some sleeping bags that you could barrow." She said, and goes to her closet, and pulls out three sleeping bags and hands it to them. Guido looks at his sleeping bag, confused and says "umm...how do you use this? probably a really dumb question to ask." Maria, being the sweet heart that she is, says "no don't worry, it's not. You just have to open it up, crawl inside from the top, and close it." When Guido and Ciccio had done what she told them, they thanked her and both fell asleep. Maria whispers "wow, they were really tired." Ercole looked at them as they slept and said with a soft smile, "yeah, we had a long day, I'm just glad they're safe now." She looks at him and asked "are you not gonna sleep?" He looks back at her "I don't know. I don't feel that tired." There is silence when he asks "want to talk outside?" She smiles "sure. I want to know more about you anyways." They both go outside to the balcony, and sat on two chairs that were there. "So, what's it like in Oceania? Is there a lot of things to see? Things To do?" Maria asked him. He starts to think about it, trying not to act suspicious "Well, not really. It's very small country, you know that already, and there's not a lot of people either" he continues "but do you want to know the truth?" She becomes curious and asked "what is it?" He then says "me and my friends don't have parents." Maria is Shocked by the truth of her new friends "you three are orphans?" She asked, and He nods his head in response. "Oh I'm so sorry, It must have been so hard for you guys." She said, putting her hand on his shoulder in sympathy. He gets a little sad, but smiles "I know, but at least we had each other That's all that mattered." She smiles back "well, I'm happy to hear that." But she becomes sad too and looks down at her necklace. It was gold and in the shape of a heart, in the middle was a flower with a stem, and an amethyst gem on the side with the initials MB written below it. She Takes it off for a second, and opens it to reveal a picture of her and another female human. "My mom passed away when I was a little girl, and she gave me this so I could remember that she'll always be with me...I miss her, a lot" Ercole looks at the photo and sees her Getting a little teary eyed, puts his hand on top of hers and said "don't cry, I'm sure you're mom would be proud of how much you've grown as a person." He continues "you're a kind, helpful, and amazing human being. And don't you forget it." She wipes the tears away and smiles again "thank you...that means a lot." Ercole looks off into sleepy Portorosso, where the people slept peacefully in their homes, with the distant chirping of crickets, and the gentle crashing sounds of the waves. "This town is very big, you're lucky to live with so many nice people, well except Luca" he said "you can say that again" Maria replied "Every summer that insufferable jerk has made my life miserable. Always saying that he's all that, and mocking me that I'll never be an artist or have a future, and being such an annoyance!-" she stops her rant before it gets her mad but also remembering that Guido and Ciccio were asleep, taking a deep breath. "But now you guys are here, and...I'll never be alone again, so thank you for stepping into my life" Ercole gives her a smile "your welcome" and looks back to the town. Then forms an idea in her head, and said "wait, stay like that, I'll be right back" Ercole becomes confused, but also curious as to what she's about to do. She comes back with a notebook and pencil in hand, and Ercole hears scratching of the pencil being pressed on the paper."What are you doing?" He asked her, as she's concentrated on his side profile, looking up every once in a while. "I'm drawing you" she replied "you have such a unique face structure, that I just had to draw it" he blushes a little, while she continues to doodle away happily. Once she drew the finishing touches, she had a smile on her face "and there! I'm done, take a look" and hands him the notebook with the drawing. "Wow, this is great" He said, amazed and fascinated that she had talent and was able to do this, given with the amount of detail put into it, as if it was taken with a camera "you did such a good job! you should teach me" Maria chuckles "thank you, My dream is to become an artist after all, and I'd be happy to teach you" He gives the notebook back and she puts it away, sighs with content and looks up at the night sky "the stars look beautiful tonight" Ercole replies "I know" smiling softly, but he wasn't looking at the stars above, he was looking at her.