If Looks Could Kill (Sideshow Bob Fanfiction)

Chapter Forty Six

Author's Note:

I accidentally got the timing completely wrong in the last chapter! Oops! Gino has been deceased for two, nearly three, months, not a year. I've amended my mistakes back there. Sorry. Okay, enjoy! Included at the top of the page is an image from Google Images of Manarola beach. This will probably be quite a long chapter; apologies for any inconveniences. Enjoy!

Chapter 46

Bob sat on his bed, reading one of the books off his shelf, of which happened to be a well-thumbed copy of David Copperfield, by a rather well known author, Charles Dickens. Having come to chapter nine of his well-loved paper-back, Bob bit his lip nervously, knowing what was to befall the poor young David.

'Mr. Sharp entered and said, "David Copperfield is to go to the parlour." ' Bob read. Bob already felt saddened by this line or golden literature; it was just lines before the young David Copperfield learnt of his mother's death. It was quite an upsetting chapter, if Bob was honest,

' "She is dead." There was no need to tell me so. I had already broken out into a desolate cry, and felt an orphan in the wide world. ' 

David's reaction to the tragic news reminded Bob painfully of his own reaction upon hearing his own tragic news. Bob set the book down, sighing. His finger-tips caught a stray tear from his eye and brushed it away before it had chance to fall.

"Why, when I was already upset, do I persist in upsetting myself further by reading a book with so many deaths in it?!" Bob snapped quietly.

Then a thought-or an idea rather- came to Bob. He had tried to avoid talking about, or even thinking about Gino, because it truly depressed him, knowing that he'd never see him again. But then at the same time, he missed talking and thinking about Gino. After all, Gino was someone who he loved more than anyone else in the entirety of Bob's world, and someone who Bob wanted to show off about, and feel proud of. Everything that Gino had accomplished, whether it had been great or small, he had moved a mountain in Bob's eyes. Sure, he wasn't always the best behaved, and he had his moments when he had made Bob so frustrated that he could have killed him-metaphorically- but in the scheme of things, Gino was near un-flawed. Gino was everything Bob had wanted; as much as it hurt to have him taken away from him so suddenly, and forever, it maybe hurt Bob more that he couldn't even reminisce about his son, for fear of his own emotions.

He was alone now, so no-body else would know how he had felt anyway, and he would be alone for another hour or so. And he was already sad, so there was no point trying to cheer himself up; it didn't work half-an-hour ago, so what made anyone think it'd work then?

Bob got up off his bed and went to open his wardrobe. From the pocket of his suit-jacket that he'd been wearing previously that day, Bob pulled out his wallet. After closing the door, Bob went back over to his bed and sat down. He riffled through his wallet until he found what he was looking for. There were two photos of Gino between Bob's trembling fingers.

He put the wallet down beside him and began looking at one of the two photos in his hands. In the first one, Gino looked about nine. It was a photo taken in Italy, during a summer holiday that Bob had taken Gino on. Though it had taken a lot of paperwork-signing and was quite costly, it had definitely been worth the hassle. Bob and Gino had taken a two week holiday to Manarola, a seaside town on the coast of Italy. It had been fantastic. In the photo, Gino was splashing playfully in the navy coloured shallows. He was wearing a pair of yellow and blue swim trunks that hung down to his knees. His hands were slicing enthusiastically  through the water like knives, creating a tidal wave that hid most of his torso in aqua-blue. His hair was as frizzy and wild as ever; it was just like Bob's. Even in a photograph, Bob could see the excited glimmer in his son's eyes. It was so mesmerising; so memorable.