Cursed Beneath the Shadows

New Start, Here We Come

The drive out of Italy was difficult, to say the least.

Passing by all of the memories that were created here so many years ago, and watching them vanish just as quick, was hard to see and accept.

I have lived here for the past Twenty and a half years and to just up and leave... I couldn't believe that we were actually doing it. It seems so unreal, like a nightmare that I can't wake up from. Leo, on the other hand, couldn't wait to leave. His dream was always leaving Italy and moving to America to be in the college that he loves, venturing out into the busy cities, and learning new things.

"Hey Via, don't be so gloomy! Think of it this way, we are going to America..America! Mom and dad always wanted better for us and I think now would be the perfect start."

Leo continues rambling on about how America will be the best for us, blah blah blah, but I just ignore him and continue looking at the rolling fields.

Florence, Italy, what an amazing place to be in. Only a little bit from Rome, we lived by the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The massive structure is about 400ft high and holds marble and brick all the way around. It was our favorite place to visit when we roamed the streets. Now i'll never see it again.

I glance at the car clock, 7:35p.m. reads the electronic device. Great only 20 more minutes until we get to the airport.

"Can't we put some music on, please?" Being in the quiet car for this long has my anxiety through the roof. I need something to offset the silence.

"Sure V, what do you want to listen to?" Leo asks as he continues driving.

"Anything, but American rap music." God. American rap music, that's one of Leo's favorite music genres to listen to. It's absolutely horrendous. I don't know how he even understands any of it.

"Yea, yea, I know. You really ought to try to listen to it, V, It's amazing!" He exclaims with joy.

Amazing my butt.

" I'd rather not, brother. I still need my brain cells for high school."

Ahh yes, high school. American high school. After leaving Italy, I guess i'll have to start high school half way through the year. Not only will that be extremely awkward, but i'm already the transfer student from another country. I hate attention like that.

Leo can tell that my moods have switched because i've stopped investing in what he's saying.

"Hey, you'll be fine! you only have half a year and then you can go to college with me!" His excitement is extremely intense. Too intense.

" Yea, but why are we going to America? I thought we had a few more years until..." It's so soon.. I haven't had time to accept it.

Mom and dad wanted us to move somewhere else that was safer than Italy. That I can understand, but after they got kidnapped, Leo has been insistent that we move as soon as we could. So after school one day, he came home and told me to start packing. We were leaving for America in less than a week. That was a few days ago.

"Via.. you know I can't tell you why, mom and dad told me that when the time was right to move, to get as far away as we could. That's what i'm doing. I'm following their wishes, V. I know it's hard, I do, but we have to accept it sooner than later."

He continues driving in silence until a broadcast comes on the radio, ending the song.

A grungy sounding man comes on the air and tells listeners that a pretty bad storm is heading right for the center of Italy.

The song comes back on quietly. Leo and I lock eyes for a second, we both know what this means.

There is a severe thunderstorm, and our flight isn't coming until 12:00a.m. For me that means I don't have to say goodbye to Italy for a little while longer.

20 minutes later...

We arrive at the airport. There is a lot of traffic buildup to get to the airport, probably due to the storm.

Leo stops the car in the shipping/loading section( Used for transporting cars from one country to another) 

I gather my bags and make sure everything is loaded into the compartments before walking into the corridor, a hallway that leads the the airport from the loading dock. Leo grabs his personal belongings and locks the doors with our information imprinted onto the front of the car for inspection.

The Airport Security Personel, or A.S.P. for short, are the guys that make sure every vehicle, personal belonging, and others are safe and ready to leave the country. They look for any information that might look bad on Italy or hinder their reputation. Passports and ID's are carried through an elite machine that determines who is allowed to leave the country based off of their back rounds and history. Of course with the information and technology that we have, we changed out backgrounds to pass inspection.

Can't have any Assassins anywhere anymore I'll tell ya.

We step out of the hallway and go into the main section of the airport.

People are everywhere! It's packed for a Friday, I mean: sleeping on the ground, eating standing up, in the gift shops, or just collectively in a group chattering among themselves. I've never seen soo many people in one place( other than tourists, that is). It's ridiculous, this many people are leaving the country at a time?

I walk next to Leo, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone before we leave. It's a rule when in a dangerous family like ours. Don't make eye contact unless you want trouble. Or a death sentence. Plus the retinal scans are a bitch. Stupid contact lenses.

Leo thinks I don't know why we are moving. He is afraid i'll flip out, and go berserk, but it isn't like I haven't figured it out already.

Mom and dad own property. A lot in fact, over half of Italy and a few other countries. Because they kill people for a living, they needed a lot of land( mostly for burning bodies, training, and of course, torturing).

Being assassins isn't easy, I mean we go through extensive training, studying, and on field practice. It's grueling work, but I never minded it, in fact, it came natural to me, like the blood flowing through my body. Both my brother and I have been raised to kill, quite literally in fact, so to hear from one of our accomplices that our parents had been taken by the Mafia leader, we booked it the fuck out of there. He's a dangerous man, cold blooded, and sadistic, I've never personally seen him, but the stories that have been told about him and his crew could not only send shivers up your spine, but stun you from pure fear.

He's raped, killed, torn down national treasures, executed leaders, stolen, and enslaved. There's nothing this man hasn't done. We knew he'd come for us, Leo is the next in line, so of course he'd automatically go for me, torturing me and using me as bait to get to him, forcing his hand and dragging him down from the League. To prevent that from happening, we left the Estate and grabbed enough cash to last us a few years in America.

Leo studied abroad for a few years to gain intel, and made some friends along the way, Along with a small family that we will be staying with. They told Leo that it would be no problem for us to live with them up in Pennsylvania, apparently they have a few extra rooms to spare and don't mind us living there for as long as we would need. They of course don't know that we kill people for a living, so Leo gave them a false background on the both of us and reassured them that we were very grateful for them having us stay with them. Leo told me a little bit about them on the flight over here, not much to be honest, but enough to give me an idea.

For now.

TIME PASSES....