Pieces of Time

Piece 8- Time will Tell

Sebastian

"Madame Ferroni is your mother." 

I hesitate before answering. As much as I wish it weren't possible, she looks exactly like the woman in my crumpled photo. 

"Yes. Ali, let me explain. Please." I lift the coffee to my lips with shaking fingers, relieved that Ali's finally talking to me. The walk back from the Academy had been excruciatingly tense, and I was desperate to explain.

"I don't blame you, Seb. But I want answers- I need them. I need the truth about what happened 13 years ago, without the damn sugar-coating." Her voice is barely a whisper, but it doesn't diminish the intensity of her words. But the truth... even I need time to process it. Re-write it in my own mind. But time is a luxury we can't afford.

"My father was a wealthy man. From what I've gathered these past few years, he had an affair with a woman- Madame Ferroni, as it turns out- who in return left him with me: a newborn baby dumped on his doorstep. But that's not all. As revenge for leaving her pregnant and alone, she stole his bank card, found his details, and emptied the contents of his account into her own. He lost everything. Then she changed her name, moved away, and began some sort of charity business it seems." The Academy of Light.

I pause for a moment, unsure of how to carry on. But Ali's eyes have softened and silently urge me to continue.

"My father, after a few years of attempting to rebuild his life, gradually turned into a bitter, drunk, and violent man. I spent my childhood crouching in the shadows, terrified of his voice but too young to escape. But... but then he came across your mother, and, by some miracle, he began to change. He loved her. She was a single mother with 2 daughters, a stable income and one hell of a personality- for the first time in my life, he saw a future for all of us."

Tears begin to cascade down Ali's cheeks, dripping like blood onto her clenched hands. Max whines as he sees her pain, and lays his head gently in her lap. With a broken sob, Ali buries her face in his fur and shakes uncontrollably. I want to stop right there, pretend we both had a happy ending. But we both know what happens next; the past in unchangeable. She lifts her head in determination as I carry on.

"But then she grew ill. My father tried all he could to save her, but there was no way of slowing the disease. He told me we were leaving in order to find a better doctor, but in reality, he was trying to escape the earthquake before it came. Your mother died just two days later, and I never saw you again. He gave me all the money he possessed, along with a photo of my real mother, before leaving me in the very woods I found you in and telling me never to turn back. I discovered later on that he had been found lying on your mother's grave. He had died peacefully; he was with her once again." 

I glance over at Ali. She strokes Max's fur in slow, rhythmic circles, eyes fixed on me as I continue. I gulp down the rest of the lukewarm coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste.

"I found a job as a woodcutter, working for the man- a woodcarver- who used to live here. I never spent the money my father had given me, in the hope that one day I would find you and be stable enough to protect us both. After 3 years, I searched for you after hearing a rumour that 2 homeless girls had been found living on the streets nearby. But I was too late to get to you. I saw you walk through the Academy doors before my very eyes, and you never came out. The woodcarver I worked for died a few years later- he left me this cottage, a few savings, and Max."

"That was 10 years go," Ali murmurs, "you mean you've been waiting since then?" 

I nod. "Only a week ago, the same day I found you in the woods, I had been invited mysteriously to a community dance at the Academy of Light- one of the charity events Madame Ferroni puts on."

Ali stills. I look at her questioningly, but she shakes her head in disbelief, and holds out her hand.

"Do you still have the invitation?"

I rummage in a drawer and hand it over to her wordlessly. She gasps, and meets my eyes in shock. 

"That writing is Sophie's- I would recognise it anywhere! She must have discovered you were around, but had no safe way of revealing herself." Her eyes glitter with pride and hope. "Seb- we must save her. And- and there's something else you should know about the Academy of Light."

I lean back in the chair. "I was under the impression it was a charity that took in homeless girls and taught them to dance, giving them a future." I chuckle darkly, remembering Ali's bruised skin and broken ribs. "Obviously, after finding you, I realise there's a little more to it." 

She smiles tightly. "You could say that. The Academy doesn't only train girls to be dancers, it trains them to be, how shall I put it, 'ladies of the night'. I was thrown out after I refused to meet the client she had set up for me- instead, I went to the 'charity' dance that night in the vain hope I could escape. But she saw me dancing with you, and I had to leave immediately. I didn't even recognise you."

I sit perfectly still, fury rolling through my veins like fire. I had no idea. No idea at all. And the mere thought that Ali had endured it for 10 years...

"Was he your first... client?" I demand through clenched teeth.

"Yes. Luckily I was thrown out when she realised I wasn't playing by her rules. Most girls would submit- desperate for a roof over their heads and 3 pathetic meals a day. I chose dignity, even if it would lead to my death." 

I prowl over to her and kneel down, taking her hands in my own. Her warm eyes gaze down at me and a plan begins to form in my mind.

"There's another charity dance on at the Academy tomorrow. But this time it won't end quite how Madame Ferroni expects it to."

Ali smirks, her eyes glittering with mischief.

"Go on."