Mind Over Matter

Vacation //2

My head was aching, as if someone was  banging a gong in my head, over and over. I rubbed my eyes and opened them; where was I?

It was some sort of basement, a wine cellar. The whole room was made of brick, very rustic and vintage. On one side there were shelves filled with wine, disguising the wall and a single light hung from the centre of the small room, filling it with a warm glow. I basked in it for a moment, before a wave of panic came over me, snapping me out of my daydream. This wasn't a place I knew or remembered.

I sat up on the concrete floor and leaned against the wall behind me. My eyes searched the room for some type of door or exit, there was a small passageway to my left. It was dark and eerie; like something from a horror film. Cautiously, I stood up and walked to the passageway, it wasn't very long and a dim light at the end lit up a brown, wooden door. I continued walking, calling out a few times.

Hoping it would open,I tried the handle, it was locked. My continuous efforts to open the door failed so, afraid it would break, I clenched my fists and began banging on the door.

In the hopes that someone would hear me, I screamed and screamed until I couldn't anymore. In defeat, I crashed to the floor and cried, more than I ever had in my life. I hugged my knees to my chest and kept crying. I felt like a 5 year old again and I needed my mom, for once I needed her. Slumping backwards and hugging my knees even tighter I eventually fell back into my sleep.

There was a loud creak and a bright light appeared, stinging my eyes. I squinted my eyes and a saw a dark figure in the doorway. He said something to me, in Italian, I just stared at him; hoping he would repeat it in English.

''English?'' I asked after we'd stared at each other for 5 minutes.

''Come with me'' The man grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.

We walked up a set of cold, stone stairs, and through another door. The door opened and revealed a long, grand corridor; similar to the ones in my grandparents house.

Pure white marble, polished to perfection, covered the floor. On one side the walls were lined with arched mahogany windows, and the other was covered in grand oil paintings. I stared out of the windows, it was dusk and beautiful; the sun was covered by some large hills, were a few twinkles of light appeared.

As we reached the end of the hallway, the man opened a double mahogany door and ushered me in. He pointed to a seat at the end of a long table, also mahogany, I shuffled over too it and sat down; saking like a leaf.

At the other end sat a man, he was around fifty, he wasn't very tall, quite bulky and he had an air of kindness about him but at first glance he was really quite frightening. Two other men sat at the table, whilst a few others stood around the edge of the room.

The man pointed towards me and said something, again not in English. I recognised one of the men at the table, he had been my ''driver'' earlier that day; whilst another man sat opposite him, dressed like he'd just walked out of a Milan fashion show. The men started arguing, and I still not understanding anything, sat there awkwardly attempting not to cry. The whole scenario felt like a dream, not something you'd ever see in real life.

The man opposite me, silenced everyone, like he was about to make a great speech.

''Giuliana, I am Mr Giamotto, it is lovely of you to join us''  He introduced himself, but he called by my mothers name.

''Uh..I'm Sofia'' I said in a tiny, baby voice. Mr Giamotto, seemed outraged by comment. He yelled some more at the men at the table and then composed himself before lighting a cigarette.

''You're a Castaletta, no?'' The ''driver'' asked me.

''Yes Sofia Castaletta'' I answered with as much confidence as possible. Straightning my back, and sitting up in the chair.

Mr Giamotto smiled and then said something else in Italian, he patted the two men on the back who gave out a big, but silent, sigh of relief.

''Well..Sofia, it is lovely to make your acquaintance'' his smile was grim and he looked like he hadn't visited an dentist in weeks. He spoke to the younger, fashionable man at table as I awkwardly smiled at the other men in the room, to which I got no response.

They both stood up and walked over to me.

''Frankie, Sofia. Sofia, Frankie'' he introduced us but Frankie showed no emotion, no blinking, no smiling, nothing. I don't think he was a very sociable person.

The doors behind me opened, I stood up and followed this Frankie guy. He was young about 19 or 20, and he wore a Charcoal Grey Versace suit and white shirt, with a skinny tie. He walked with one of his hands in pocket, the other swinging beside him. His hair was jet black, shorter on the sides, longer and tousled on top.

The house, or rather mansion, we were in was huge, we must of been walking for at least 10 minutes before he brought me to a room.

''Per Voi'' he said bluntly in Italian, one of the few Italian phrases I knew ''for you''.

As I opened the door it was like a fairytale, the room looked like it had been pulled out of a story book. The floor was marble, they seem to like marble in Italy, with a big white fluffy rug covering most of the floor. The furniture and decorations were all mostly a laurel green and white colour. There was a four poster bed, with no canopy, covered in pillows and an grand fireplace in front of it. Adjacent to the bedroom was a bathroom, made almost entirely of marble. I felt like a princess and I didn't even know where I was.

''You will stay here. I will get you in the morning'' Frankie dryly said as he closed the door. I heard a lock click, and ran over to the door to check if it was, and it was.

''Excuse Me'' I called out, knocking on the door trying to be polite.

''Sorry'' I heard Frankie call out, but he continued to walk away, why were these people so obsessed with locking things. I walked back over to the bed and took off some 90 pillows and bundled myself up inside the covers.

I continued to wonder why I was here, a holiday? Were these my family? Does my mother know I'm here? They hadn't hurt me, except for hitting me, so should I be worried.

For about the millionth time today I started crying, I needed my mom and my dad. Everything, all my questions, my worries, everything was swirling around in my head.

'Just go to sleep Sofia' I kept telling myself 'It's all a dream'.