Finding Georgia

Prologue

Since he could remember silence was a luxury that he always appreciated; when Aiden was a child he never had that luxury. Aiden never got the chance to experience a real childhood, he never got the chance to run around; free to imagine. He never got the chance to run wild in the park, he never dared to dream big about what he could possibly become.

He was faced with a much bigger issue than his future,  Aiden never had a normal childhood; he never got to experience scary movies, or being afraid of a monster in his closet or under his bed. For him the monster was someone he knew so well and once worshipped. To him the monster was his drunken father, to others his father was someone who would never lay a hand on his family, someone who was praised by the community.

But that was the thing, to the public he was a proud successful father who loved his family. But behind the red door of his childhood home hid something that would haunt him till this very day; it held the ugly truth of who his father really was.

Aiden remembers the day he became free, the day everything changed. The night where he finally slept peacefully without the shouts of his drunken father or the loud sobs of his broken mother, that seemed to echo throughout their home.

It was the day he swore to never be weak again.

It was a rainy cloudy day in Seattle which wasn't a surprise to anyone; what was the surprise on the other hand was the picture perfect Bertinelli family that held a deadly secret.

Aiden refused to talk about that period of his life, from what he could remember of it, he tried to block out. He was ashamed to admit that he waited till what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life to finally stand up, not for himself but for his mother.

There was a time when Aiden's mother Regina was the most important part of the Bertinelli business, that was until the summer of '76 when she met Enzo Ferrari. He was a nice Italian boy who she'd known since she was a child, Enzo had moved away the start of high school which left her sad and without a friend.

Years went on and there was not a day where she didn't miss him, they didn't reconnect till the spring of '86 and by that time they had both grown up and they were open to the idea that they could fall in love with each other. Her father on the other hand thought Enzo was nothing but an Italian punk who didn't deserve the heir to the Bertinelli business.

Unfortunately her father was right.

But as time went on her once cold father softened up and welcomed Enzo to the family and they were married that following August of '88. For the couple everything started to look up; they were happy, in love, and pregnant with their first child Stephanie.

Not soon after they were blessed with their second child. A boy was born and for Enzo everything changed.

Regina never knew how her once sweet and loving husband could turn so cold and distant towards not only her but their son. His son and heir to the family business. The only one who seemed to brighten up Enzo was their daughter.

Regina would often think maybe it was just stress from the work he did with her father; but as the years went by she was once again pregnant with another son. The same day she went into labor was the day Enzo and Regina will never forget, the day they lost their darling daughter and youngest son.

Enzo would never completely heal from the loss of Stephanie, nor would Regina from Lucas who was stillborn at birth. They both tried to grieve the lost of their children while caring for their last remaining child.

The loss of Stephanie who was only Five at the time cracked Enzo. He blamed Aiden for everything, in his eyes she would have never ran out into the street chasing after a ball if it was not for them playing kick ball. He never cared for the other child he had lost, he blamed Regina for that. He thought it was karmic justice, he had lost his favorite so she needed to lose hers.

Enzo started drinking and beating on his loving wife soon after they returned from the funeral. The day they buried his sweet girl was the day he became the monster behind the red door.

When Regina's father found out what was happening he tried to intervene and on that night while he was racing over to put a end to Enzo permanently, a drunk driver ran him off the road.

It seemed all hope was lost for Regina and her son. She would often pray at night for someone to save them but no one would come.

The day of Aiden's seventh birthday Regina caught Enzo in his room; the same room that once belonged to their daughter, beating the poor boy, he was no more than a baby, a child. He didn't deserve to already have bruises and broken bones that will never be completely healed.

She did what she could to try and stop it but on that day; that day full of so much pain and suffering, Enzo snapped; he was going to kill them both. Regina for giving birth to the boy and Aiden for killing his daughter.

It wasn't Aiden's fault his birthday fell on the anniversary of his poor sister's death, that was just another reason Enzo resented the boy.

Aiden was a walking reminder for what had happened to Stephanie. The older Aiden got the more Enzo resented the small boy for the fact that he would never get to watch his little girl grow up.

He felt as though it was both of their fault. If Regina hadn't gone into labor and screamed he wouldn't have been distracted and took his eyes off of Stephanie.

He took his eyes off her and she wandered into the middle of the street to retrieve her ball and that was it. In the blink of an eye, her life had ended, all because of them.

The day that was supposed to be the happiest day of Aiden's life held so much pain and suffering for his family. He hated his father and mother, but more importantly he hated himself. He hated the fact that he killed his siblings.

But as his small body laid on the ground curled up in a tight ball begging for mercy, pleading for his life; something happened. Enzo looked down at his son and for a second he stopped, he contemplated his life, how he had gotten this far. How an accident of his favorite daughter caused him to become twisted.

He glanced at the sobbing, beaten boy and sighed, he couldn't believe this was his life now. But as Enzo stared at his son contemplating if he should spare the boy, Regina came up from behind with a glass vase.

She had been watching from the hall too ashamed to even move; but something inside he snapped. She smashed the vase over her once loving husband, as tears streamed down her face.

Aiden was on the brink of loosing consciousness as he prayed for something to happen to that twisted man, however as he started to make his journey to the great beyond, his mother started pleading and begging for her life and something happened.

Maybe it was the protective instinct or just the fear that something would happen to the only person who loved him, but his eyes shot open and his little body struggled to get up but somehow he made it into that kitchen to see that shell of a man, he once adored with a knife charging at his mother.

Aiden ran up to his father with the only weapon he could, his bat. Sure it was small and dainty but when he got to swinging; it was hard as a rock, and on that day he didn't stop swinging. He had taken care of the monster who constantly terrorized him and his mother.

As the rain pelted down on their heaving bodies, Regina couldn't help but be relieved as the rain washed away all their sins. While the rain was seeping into their sores and bruises they buried the evil man that terrorized their life; Aiden gave up baseball that summer and when the time was right they got out of the house with the red door and they never looked back.