Family

FIFTY-THREE

Waking up to a new reality is hard

Present || Leo

Waking up in cold sweat has become some sort of a daily routine for me.

My tired, sunken eyes glance around the hospital room, it's uninviting interior only worsening my mood.

This is so depressing.

My mind runs back to what's happened these last few days. So much new information and yet I don't feel as if I understand it all.

Matteo is dead.

I've been hallucinating his entire existence, his voice, his touch, his comforting words- everything for the past seven years.

Alonzo was the mastermind behind their deaths but was it really his fault? If I hadn't insisted on going out that night, maybe things would've been different.

Suddenly, Antonio's words ring through my head, "They would've died either way, if you hadn't had left, the entire house would've eventually caught fire. It wasn't your fault."

It wasn't your fault.

Four words I had desperately yearned for.

Four words that could've changed everything.

"They really could've changed everything." I whisper into the darkness.

That night, I slept alone in my hospital room, never-ending tears cascading down my pale face, endless thoughts on what could've been circling around my head like a train.

Why did it all have to end this way?

***

Pushing around the bowl of porridge on my lap, I sigh at nothing in particular. The hospital gown on my body is not comfortable at all.

Three harsh knocks on the door make my body jolt, the bowl almost falling onto the floor.

"Come in." I mumble, unsure if the person knocking even heard me.

The slow turning of the doorknob tells me they did, Luca's head peering in.

"Hey Leo." He says, nervously biting his lip, "Can I come in?"

I don't respond to his question, choosing to stare at him and wondering what his motive is for being here.

Every morning one of them comes and greets me, every one of them has come except Alfonzo and father.

"Where's Alfonzo?" I ask quietly, looking closely at his face for a reaction.

Luca tenses in his spot at the doorway, "He's still getting treatment.."

"He means to say that he hasn't woken up yet." Giovanni states bluntly, walking into my room and sitting down in one of the chairs in the corner.

"You can't come in without permission!" Luca snaps, glaring at Giovanni.

Giovanni raises an eyebrow at him, "Wanna come here and say that?"

"I'm telling Dad." Luca says before stomping off, slamming the door behind him.

Flinching at the loud sound, my eyes drop to my lap as an awkward silence fills the room.

He wouldn't hurt me here, we're in a hospital. There's people everywhere-

"Alonzo is here." Giovanni speaks up quietly, his eyes trained on my face.

My body tenses at his words, Alonzo is in this hospital?

"He's been restrained to his hospital bed." He reassures after seeing the distressed look on my face, "Dad just didn't want him anywhere where he couldn't keep an eye on him. He still hasn't figured out what to do with him."