Desires

•CHAPTER XXI•

He looks at me with his eyes set in mine. The swirling green behind them is still and I can't help but think that he's more afraid than me.

"What are you talking about?" I say in astonishment and frown but keeping my voice low as if I was worried about someone listening in.
He sighs and groans in frustration. "Oh god." He says in an irritated tone. "You really don't know do you?" He says as if I should be catching onto something but I don't.
I shake my head.
"Well can you tell me? Can anyone tell me what's going on? Why was she going to kill me?" I ask in a burst.
"Azra, things in this town are weird." He whispers, his face getting closer to mine. I can hear his plosives.
"Things in this town are things you are never ever going to get anywhere else. Forget everything you ever knew about anything." He said putting his palms in front of me.
"Well I know that." I say sarcastically but he's being serious. "What has this got to do with Mrs Elm?" I ask and feel stupid because I still don't know what he's saying.
He sighs. "Azra, she's not Mrs Elm. Mrs Elm doesn't exist."
"So who is she then?"
"She's what we call a Vedovela."
"A what?"
"It comes from the word Vedova, meaning widow in Italian."
I look at him blankly still not understanding.
"She's not a Mrs. And she's certainly not Mrs Elm."
"Oh yeah, I noticed she has no ring." I say adding some information because I feel useless again and even more stupid.

He looks at me, astonished, with wide eyes. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asks, surprised.
"Well who would I tell? What's anyone going to do with the information that my housekeeper has no ring on her left hand?" I say sarcastically and he shrugs in defeat.
"You should have told me at least." He mumbles.

I don't have anything to say then. I obviously wasn't in the place then to tell him anything. But now, since we covered up the body of Mrs Elm, or whoever she was, maybe our boundaries have been pushed. It would have definitely been the weirdest bonding activity I have ever done.

"So? Big deal Mrs Elm is a Miss she's a...vedo.."
"Vedovela" he finishes. "This isn't going to set well but listen. A Vedovela's only purpose is to kill whoever it surrounds itself with. It stays with its host family until they can't resist anymore and need to feed." He says like he's reading me a text book.

I stare at him puzzled and I smirk. Almost wanting to laugh.

"Your 'housekeeper'" he said making speech marks with his fingers "was going to feed on you and probably your mother." He finished, waiting for me to respond.
I let out a chuckle because of how serious he looks about all this. There's some sort of childlike wonder about him when he's talking like that. It makes him look cute and adorable.

His mouth opens and his eyebrows set.
"I'm sorry." I say between laughs.
"Azra." He says, getting my attention.
"Yes?"
"This is serious, you can't take this as a joke."

My laughing mood had stopped. If this was a joke then it has gone on for too long. Is he delusional? I mean he did just murder my housekeeper and he's now telling me about some Vedovela crap so he could be crazy. Then again I helped him cover his crime, so am I crazy too?

"Uhm Romeo I don't know..." I start, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
"Azra, believe me." He says.
"I'm trying it's just I don't know how I feel about all this."
He bites his lip like he's trying to hold back something. I can't hear him breathing anymore and he seems so still. Almost like he's dead.

He turns away from me and walks over to my shelf of books. I wonder if he saw anything he liked there, from 'Looking for Alaska' to 'Pride and Prejudice'.
He turns around again.
"If I provide you enough evidence, that the Vedovela in your house was real, will you believe me?" He says and puts his hands into his pockets.
I shrug. "I guess." I feel guilty that I can't believe him. He believed me when I thought I was crazy and I can't seem to do the same.
"Romeo, I do want to believe you." I add hoping he wouldn't be so disappointed.
He nods slowly and walks over to me in soft movements that my eyes can't even catch.
"I know." He whispers and tucks a piece of hair away from my face.
"You're mother is coming. You better get in the shower." He says though I can't hear her car. "Remember, stay calm okay? Nothing happened."
I nod in submission and swallow. The tingles from his fingers create a warm vault in my chest.
"When will I see you again?" I ask and catch his  arm as he's just about to leave. I regret this bold move and remove my arm. He doesn't seem fazed, instead that signature smirk appears.

"Very soon" he says before he's out of my reach. He walks toward the large window on the other side of my bedroom wall and opens it to the full capacity it can before stepping a foot outside onto the roof.
"Romeo! Just go round the back!" I whisper shout just in case my mother arrives.
He chuckles, his grin creating these crinkles of joy at his eyes.

"Goodnight Azra." He says and tilts before his body falls and I run to the window with my heart in my mouth.

He's no where to be seen.

"Romeo?" I whisper and clench my windowsill and duck my head out my hair blowing in the slight breeze. I hear footsteps and I see him walking down the path. He stops and waves at me in a cool fashion before sliding his hands back in his coat pocket. How did he get to the kitchen to get his coat so fast? I didn't even hear the doors at all.

I wave back slightly before reaching out to shut the window. I hear a hum of a car and look out the other window to see the familiar black car with a female inside. My mother.

My heart beats in its chest out of nervousness and I shut the curtains. I grab my clothes and run into the bathroom, locking the door and then turning the shower on full blast so that she knows that I'm here and occupied too.

I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. My hair was windswept and my skin looked paler than ever. The temperature of my shower fill fix that. I look into my eyes. My deep blue oceanic eyes that have seen death now. They don't look doll-like with shared innocence anymore. They look taunted and curious, maybe too curious for their own good. My face becomes blurry as the steam from the shower creates a sheet over the mirror, indicating that I should get in.

♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎
authors note:
i'm so glad i got to squish this in before i'm about to pass out.
what do you think about what Romeo said?

please vote/comment if you enjoyed it!

-kiim