Connections

IV ~ Making Connections

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

I woke up to a nostalgic sound; the small beeps and noises of medical equipment reminded me of many occasions in my childhood where I visited the hospital with my father. He always cared for me...

"Miss? Are you awake?" 

The nurse's voice hardly registered to me, and yet a 'yes' found a way out of my lethargic lips. I shimmied my elbows underneath me for support as I finally opened my eyes. The light seemed to encourage me to close them again, but I forced them to remain awake as I groggily spoke to the nurse. "What is it? How long have I been asleep this time?" At my last remark looked slightly concerned, but she cleared her throat and continued: "You were admitted yesterday afternoon. It is now 10:36 in the morning. As soon as you're feeling better, the police would like to take you in for some simple questioning. They-"  "Where is Leo?!" I exclaimed. My mind was awake then, and I remembered what had transpired the previous day. I remembered Leo being taken away by the police, and that was now my utmost concern. "Ma'am?" The nurse inquired. "The guy who..." I paused. "Did the police arrest anybody last night?" "Well, they did hold a guy overnight by the name of...." She trailed off, searching through her papers. "Ah! Leo. Leo Lucchese..." I stopped listening after that. That name... Lucchese. I had heard that name before.

That was the name of...

No, that couldn't be it. I bet it's a common Italian name - there's plenty of people named Lucchese. Nevertheless, I hated it. It didn't fit Leo. He was too sweet. 

But so was the thought of my father's blood and fortune. Or so thought the members of the Lucchese "family." My head suddenly became clearer: clearer than it'd felt in years. The blood of my father soaking piles of money in a bleak safe room. The red ruby crosses adorning the necks of his murderers. The midnight concrete hurtling towards my half-conscious and childish face as the murderers attempted to have away with the only witness of their crime.

The young boy at the scene, watching it all.

And below my shy exterior were my father's genes, and my father would never have left a question or doubt unanswered. He would never have left any misdeed unpunished.

"...I mean, according to my papers, he was actually-" the nurse continued before I interrupted her. "Excuse me, I'm ready to go."

For the first time in over a decade, I walked outside with little recognition of people's stares. As soon as I reached the clear glass doors of the police station, my mind was contrarily clouded with new  emotion I was just beginning to discover: anger, and desire.

I stormed up to the front desk with no shyness or decorum left in me, cutting off the receptionist in a stern tone I never thought I'd hear from myself: "Where is Leo??" Startled at my sudden appearance, the receptionist directed me to Leo's location and asked two guards to escort me through stutters. Despite my petite stature, determination filled me to the point of walking so fast the guards struggled to keep up with my accelerating pace. Finally, we reached a hallway of low-security holding cells. At the end of the hallway sat none other than Leo. His head hung dejectedly and the ruby-bedazzled cross he wore hung in a similar fashion below his arched shoulders. However, when he heard my footsteps he raised his head; I could see his eyes light up at the sight of me. Unfortunately, at this meeting I couldn't feel the same. Leo stood when I arrived at the end of the hallway, wrapping his hands around the bars, his eyes asking me to place my hands on his, a request I didn't accept. He spoke first: "Grecin... Hah, you wouldn't believe how glad I am to see you. No offense, officers," he added, gesturing to the guards before turning his gaze back to me, "being with you is a lot less smelly. That's all I'm gonna say." I tried to respond with a grin. It must have worked, because Leo returned it with one of the largest smiles I'd seen from him yet. Almost as if he was nervous. Maybe he knows. I opened my mouth to ask him, attempting to summon the determination I had moments before, but it was nowhere to be found. Leo saw that I wanted to say something, but that I was struggling. "That's okay." He spoke a little softer now. "I actually, uh, *ahem* wanted to tell you something too, if it's alright."       I froze. Was he going to admit what he knew? After all I'd realized, I still had a little bit of faith in Leo; he was the best friend I knew.

Leo sucked in a shallow breath. "I, uh, hehe, know we haven't known each other for long, but I.... I've been thinking, and I thought I'd better tell you. You can kill me either way." He paused for a nervous chuckle. I was growing more and more anxious by the minute. I didn't want to believe it was true. Leo - the sweetest person on the planet - having a part in my father's murder?                   Maybe he'd been lying the whole time. But if he could just tell the truth this one time...                     Just one time... 

Leo took in a breath again. "I...."

"I have f-feelings for you."

I stood for a moment, tormented with conflicting emotion. Leo.... had feelings for me? What did that mean?

No.

He was probably lying.

Again.

And one decides emotion took hold of me once again.

Without even thinking, a scream tore from my lips as I turned to the guard behind me and swiftly took his gun from his belt. In a second I had it pointed right at Leo's forehead. Right between the eyes. Like my father. That was all I could think as I screamed at Leo. "Liar!!!! Liar!!!!!!! You lied! You lied about my dad!! You lied about where you came from!!!! You - about everything! You liar!!!!! LIAR!!" I felt tears streaming down my face as the guards took me by the arms suddenly, tilting my shaky aim towards the ceiling. Startled, I fired the gun in my hands. The bullet ricocheted off of the ceiling and right into Leo's tricep. He barely flinched. The guards had a firm hold on me now as they picked me up, confiscated the guard's gun, and began to "escort" me off the premises. As I left, 5 sharply-dressed men entered the hallway and walked straight to Leo's cell. I watched as the remaining guard opened the gate for them after receiving something from one of the men. They then began to escort Leo out of another door which I hadn't even noticed before. My screams had by then died as I was carried out of the hallway by the guards. I watched Leo cry for the first time as I left the building, and that seemed to be the most genuine thing he had ever done.

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Hey what up it's me ya boi and welcome to the one and only edition of help I start school in like ummmmmm oh yah FOUR DAYS SJSJSWISJJSJKEBRJDJDNNSKSNDDKSNKWONAJWKA

but I'm chill

Really I am

But this chapter wasn't hahahahaha 

Okay but seriously I just wrote this on my phone so imma prolly edit it later. Also I'm prolly gonna put some filler chapters after I finish the story so you can see the relationship develop cuz like rn it's like hard to get attached for you amirite? Maybe not correct me if I'm wrong 😂

But yeah! Good luck with smart things and school and stuff and pray fo me so I don't like die or something k? Thaaaaanks ❤️

Ok but honestly READ MY STORY JUST SO YOU CAN SEE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT:

MARCUS WARNER IS THE BEST ONLINE MUSIC COMPOSER AND NOBODY CAN CHANGE MY MIND

ok but please check out his music - especially A Matter of Time and Among the Giants (last paragraph + dat one got me like oof idk why) in that order. Or not! Either way, you prolly won't regret it!

Ok imma sleep and get some sanity bacc(?) hopefully. Gn!