The New Student

Chapter 39

Naomi's POV

As Maria led me to wherever we were headed, I observed my surroundings. It was a big place, as big as a my high school. It had this golden ancient times type of aesthetic to it. It was nice. I know he's my enemy and all but what can I say, man's got good taste. 

The walls were just golden with eccentric designs on the wall but nevertheless, the looked pretty. And every now and then, we would pass a painting of a family. His family. I could tell that the kids in the paintings were Maria and Mateo, even if they were children. Not shocked, there was no denying they were even more beautiful as kids. 

I took the moment to use the paintings as marks, helping me remember what turn we took at  a certain photo or if we kept straight. This place was like a maze. How could someone grow up in a place like this? 

As we took a right, I studied the painting we turned on. It wasn't like the rest of them. It was but wasn't a family portrait. It showed a man and a woman. The man held a cold stature while the woman smiled brightly, showing her rows of pearly whites. And in between them, stood a boy, about maybe between 8 or 9. He also held a smile, except one of his teeth on the top left were missing. It was adorable. 

Who could that be? It didn't look like Mateo but I could see the resemblance. Could it be-

"We're almost there, try to keep up. We're a little behind on time. Father isn't going to like that." Maria worried, talking to herself more than me. I tried my best to pick up in speed, but with a migraine running laps in my head, and a churning stomach ready to reject any food that comes its way, I didn't get much faster. 

As we took more turns, I began to notice a change in the pictures. They became more cold looking without much of a family. The next picture I saw had the same child but he was older. He was now about 17 or 18, and he no longer had that adorable smile on his face. Instead, it was replace with blank face, showing no emotion, just like the father that stood behind him. And this time, there was no mother. 

Things began to add up when I saw the next picture, just showing the boy but he was now a full grown adult. About in his late 40s. His face was even colder. Not even a straight face, but a frown was built in upon his lips as well. But above these frowning lips, rested a long mustache that twisted upwards. This has to be Salo. It can't not be him. 

We took one more turn to the left before walking down a long hallway, where I saw two men standing on the right side. I'm guessing we were about there. Another thing that made me believe we were here was the fact that along the walls, weren't just one or two pictures, but a whole row of them all the way down to where the two men stood. 

All were pictures of the same man, who I'm guessing is Salo, and him shaking hands with another man, every photo holding a different person. And at the bottom of each picture, said a different country or state. Allies. As we got closer to the door, I realized the frames of the pictures changed colors, and some of the countries had stars next to them. They must be special. 

Carefully, I read each name as we passed by them: Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Ireland, and counting. Some of them were countries I didn't even know existed. But one. Just one, was enough to make me stop in my tracks. 

That's not possible. In disbelief, I looked up to see who Salo was shaking hands with this time, not believing the country I just read. And then, I could barely believe my eyes. What the fu-

"We're here!" Maria announced as we approached golden double doors; two armed guards with the same masks that I'd seen before adorning their faces stood on both ends of the doors. They stood straight, holding their guns with both hands, remaining unmoved like statues.