Man at Arms

Chapter Twenty-Four: House of Horror

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Watching the same house that I had burned in my head still stand proud and taunting brewed an enormous rage inside me. I wanted to consume it, burn it to the ground, and watch it be devoured by fire.

Darkness was spreading in the sky, the sun had been defeated and cowered behind the thick masses of dark clouds, heavy with foreboding doom. A doom of my past, present, and future loomed before me, snickering at my powerless fists.

A bolt of lightning flashed above the house's roof, spreading like veins. Its high-pitched cry brought me to the night her voice became a nightmare for me. How her sweet, gentle tune, which she sings to us every night to chase away bad dreams, was tainted by anguish and pain.

I blinked my hazy eyes, and the house melted before my eyes, and then I saw her. She collapsed on her knees, clutching her redden cheek, tears welling up in her eyes.

A young twins stood in the corner, terrified, the taller one's arm protectively wrapped around his twin, who held a glass of milk he had made for him. The glass slipped from the smallest boy's grasp.

The glass shattered, and milk strewn on the polished floor, reaching the twins' bare feet.

Their mother's eyes widened with fear. Although her skin was as white as a milk, she seemed to have lost her soul. Her pale, trembling lips opened and closed, and she knelt in front of the man who had struck her, begging.

"Guilio is dead. He's dead. He's not here anymore. Please, don't hurt my kids. Don't hurt them..." she said desperately. She turned to me. Tears streamed down her delicate cheeks, which she used to brush against ours to physically express how much she loved us.

Now it was tainted.

Guilio was my father. But why would mama tell them he's dead?

"He went to Sicily," Callus said. His innocent voice was laced with fear and confusion, just like what I currently feel.

The big man sneered, flashing his teeth, and struck Mama in the face once more.

"No!" I cried, but my small voice was unheard. I was trembling.

Mama fell again, but she put her hands on the floor, lifted her head, and her eyes, which were the same color as Callus', chocolate, found my dark one.

"Go..." Mama mouthed to us, blood dripping from her lips. "Hide..."

And she let out a horrifying scream that made us cover our ears. The man yanked her hair and slammed her to the ground. Mama vomited blood again after he kicked her in the stomach. Too much red. Too much blood.

They're making my knees weak and making me dizzy. I clutched Callus' shoulder tightly.

"Calix...hide..." she begged, her breath heavy.

I listened. Not only because she asked for it, but blood makes me weak, and men scare me. They have guns. Where was Papa? What happened to Nonno? Uncle Lucian? They should be here. They should stop those thugs from hurting mama.

We hide behind the bookshelves. I put Callus behind me and gripped the side of the bookshelf, peering. Mama was lying on the floor, her chest moving up and down, and her breathing was painful.

"Liar."

A voice said, which sounded like it came from beneath the floor. The man who had struck Mama stepped to the side and bowed his head low. It was too dark, but a bolt of lightning flashed outside the window, catching a silhouette of a man. He was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, a cigarette on his lips, and something glittered when he tucked it between his index and middle fingers.