Weeks had gone by now... and it only seemed like things were getting a lot harder in terms of me trying to forget everything about Salomé. I tried to keep myself distracted and the times that I was distracted... it was because I was sat at home trying to figure out how to get this shelter up that I promised Salomé whether she was here or not. If there was one thing I didn't want to do, was break this promise. Because I knew how much the idea meant to her and if I had to do it all by myself I would.
I usually did anyway. I didn't want so many hands in a project I wanted to do and the only one I may have told was my father. My siblings know aside from that too, but I didn't need them to change anything or mess up my plans. I told them to not intervene unless I needed them to. /I/ needed to do this because this was my mistake. That's the way it was in my eyes.
But that's what I've set my mind to.
I've been putting the contracts together... contacting people... getting the resources and I didn't want this to be just some small shelter no. I wanted it to be grand. To be able to hold as many people needed and expand on it to other places in Italy. That would... take some time but I was trying. Gettong approvals and what not... none of it was too hard. They know my name and what power it holds behind it.
When the business asks for something to get done, they do it if they know what's good for them but... there was no need for me to threaten anybody. And I was glad. I didn't want this thing to go up and the story behind it is because I beat it out of them. I guess that's one perk about the Aurelio name... people hear it and they'll basically do whatever I ask. But at least this was for good cause and not a greedy one.
........
Although... in between the back and forth and getting things ready to go up...
There was a night where... I swore I heard something. Like something very faint, like a harsh whisper in my thoughts. I couldn't necessarily make out what it was.. or who... and honestly I thought it was just me going crazy. I already felt insane with this thing inside me now.
[And little did he know that was Salomé from afar when she thought very loudly about how he wished he would move on. Because Caius heard it. He did. But it was hard to tell.]
That whisper sounded angry about something. I thought it was me, angry in my own head about everything. That or.. nightmares. And... I did have dreams, dreams about her. Ones where... we were fishing together... hanging out in the village... that.. sweet dinner night by the campfire we had that night. The night I wanted to surprise her and I was hoping that was reality and that this... was a dream. It wasn't. And when I woke up from it, it just tore my heart to pieces. I wish I wouldn't hurt myself like that but it happens...
Restless nights. So many of them.
But dreams like that... were better than the nightmares. Ones where we would fight.. yell at each other... and where I've cost her everything. There were times where I would dream about her haunting me. Being trapped in a bad storm I couldn't get out of... the trap in the woods... seeing her cry... be in pain..
It always caused me to wake up in a sweat. Heavy breathing. And I could feel my heart racing afterwards. But then in that moment I'm wishing she were there beside me. To comfort me... gently stroke my hair... her delicate fingers along my cheek... only to see.. no one there. Just barren territory.
Me. Myself. And I.
That constant mind game... it has put me in such moods to where I'm closed off in my room a lot. If I'm not working on that shelter, I'm not doing much of anything else aside from my usual work, which... I tried juggling in-between all of that.
.......
But.... after some rough days and nights... Scarlett actually messaged me. I didn't expect it but I was glad for it honestly. She... asked if I was doing alright, checked on me and well... at that time, the answer was no. I was doing terrible and well... I told her the truth. There was no reason to lie.
And surprisingly she invited me out... to have a couple of drinks with her and well... Nero. My friend Nero, if I could've told you right there that you have a wonderful wife. She's great, even with her crazy antics... but I'm glad that you kept her happy. She's a real keeper.
And of course I wouldn't have said that to her... not yet. But, I do think she's... a good person. Especially to me when she didn't have to be.
Though we went out for drinks and she told me some things.. and it was a lot to think about at that time. I mean, we went from talking about my problems to talking about women and what I like. I wasn't always so fond of meeting women at a club. A lot of the times they were drunk off their ass or just wanting whatever they wanted. They were having too much fun and it wasn't just women, guys did it too. I wasn't one of those guys.
But, Scarlett encouraged me to get out there and find a woman... see if anyone caught my eyes and after a few moments of looking around, this fair-skinned woman, with brown eyes, dark, curly hair... yeah. It sounds like I'm talking about Salomé, but it wasn't her. She didn't look like Salomé at all, but she was beautiful. I was almost too intimidated to even go over there and shoot my shot. Especially with her drunk friends around.
It was a... crazy feeling. But I invited her over to buy her a couple of drinks and we sat at the bar and had a decent conversation. Conversations about where she was from... how she got here.. Ava. Ava Alvarez was her name and it flowed sp smoothly off my tongue. Venezuelan she was. I told her.. it was next door to Columbia.
Right...
Those thoughts made their way back into my head and I knew I needed to immediately push those away and somehow... I managed to play it off. It worked out and I even got a few laughs from her.
Though at the end of it all...
We exchanged numbers and well... she told me her days off and I would take her around town, show her some things.
In my head, I was nervous. Nervous on whether this would work or not but it was always nice to... give it a go and see how it works out. I was excited too. Very. I'm just thankful Scarlett took me out...
Got some fresh air and had a nice conversation outside of the bar. If there's one thing I'm grateful for... it's her helping me to find some type of medicine to help me deal with this better than I can now. Again, she didn't have to, but she is. If she ever needed anything, I'd do it for her. And none of this is speaking in a romantic sense but just... I do consider her as my friend.
