Bella Ciao

Lia

A smile graced the lips of the young woman as she bounced about the house with more energy than she'd seemed to have in weeks. Her thick auburn curls were tied up in a ponytail by a ribbon that her sister had let her borrow many years ago, and now her ponytail swung wildly behind her as she raced to get the dining table clean and set up ready for the new arrivals.

Lia Pasqualigo had been living alone in a formerly abandoned farm house for the past six months, and during that time her only interaction was with the shopkeepers in the village when she went to buy more food, which wasn't very often considering she was only one person, and didn't need to eat all that much. Last week though the little radio kept in the main room had finally seemed to come to life, and she'd got the message that today there would be two more resistance fighters joining her in the farmhouse.

To say she had been excited was an understatement. Straight away she had busied herself with cleaning all of the bedrooms in the house, a task she hadn't needed to worry about since she had mostly kept to either her attic or the kitchen on the whole. Now the house was almost spotless, save for the garage. Of course, the stairs still creaked and the walls could do with a fresh coat of paint, but all in all the house was fine.

Lia stepped back from the table she had just set out. She'd even bought some tea lights from the village to put on the table, along with a vase of flowers she had picked herself earlier. Smiling to herself, she turned and headed to the kitchen where the lasagne sat, waiting to be put into the oven. Her Mamma had always taught her to leave the lasagne before it went in the oven to let the flavours marinate, and so the lasagne had been left on the side covered with some cling film since eight o'clock this morning. Now that it was safely in the oven she turned to the clock, and smiled at her good timing. The new arrivals were due to turn up in about fifty minutes, giving her enough time to quickly get changed and apply some make up, before she got to work on the garlic bread and made the finishing touches on dinner. She ran up the two flight of stairs with excitement, and picked out a plain moss green dress that her mother had given her as a gift two years ago. She let her hair down, and used a pretty leaf hair-clip to keep it out of her face. Then she stepped into her dress, smiling as she span in a circle, childish delight written all over her features.

Forty five minutes later, Lia was ready for the guests. The lasagne had just come out of the oven, there was garlic bread on the table and a glass of wine made locally too. The candles were all lit, and she herself was looking pretty, as Mamma always told her she should when she was acting as  a hostess. She sat herself in the main room now, large almond shaped hazel eyes watching through the window, worried that she couldn't see anyone turning up. Were they safe? What if they never came? What if they were late and dinner was wasted? 

Well, she could always reheat the lasagne, she supposed. Where once her eyes had shone with delight and excitement, they were now filled with worry and concern.

Not two minutes later and she saw two figures walking up the path, both with heavy looking bags on their backs. The young woman sprang to life then, running to the door and unlocking it so she wouldn't waste a single second in welcoming them. Then she checked herself in the mirror, making sure that her hair still looked nice. When there was a knock on the door she was there in an instant, and she grinned at the two young ladies who looked a little tired from their journey.

"Welcome! I am called Lia! Please come in!" She gushed, taking the taller one's hand and leading her inside, the shorter one following behind. "Let me take your bags and coats, and sit down in the dining room! I've made us all some lasagne so I hope that neither of you are vegetarian because it's got beef in it but I can always make up some sandwiches if you need me too because there's plenty of bread and cheese in the kitchen." She then bounced through into the dining room, pulling out the chairs to let the two bewildered looking women sit down. It wasn't until the lasagne was put on the table that Lia remembered her manners.

"Oh no I'm so sorry! I don't know what you're called!" She hurried to apologise, hands flying to her mouth. "What are you called?" Her question was greeted with confused silence, and the two ladies looked at each other before the smaller one said something, but the words were foreign to Lia and she didn't understand it at all. Her smile only faltered for a second though. It didn't matter if they didn't speak Italian, she'd find some way to communicate with them! This time she pointed to herself and said "Lia" clearly, and the pointed to the taller one to let her know to give her name. The black haired lady smiled and replied with "Victoire" before pointing to her friend and saying "Rose." 

Victoire was a tall woman who's black hair was well styled even now. Her accent seemed... French, if Lia had to take a guess. She wore a smart looking shirt with plain black trousers, but she had the air of someone who always well dressed no matter the occasion.

Rose on the other hand was short, with soft curly blonde hair that fell down and finished just where her rib cage did. To contrast with Victoire she wore a hideous green jumper that looked like it had been knitted by a five year old (and probably had been).

Lia took in all she possibly could from their appearances, trying to figure out what sort of people they were from how they looked, considering that she knew there was no way they could communicate through speech. Still, she decided to say a prayer before they ate. Rose was about to pick up her cutlery when the auburn haired Italian pressed her hands together and spoke as fast as she could.

"May the Kind of everlasting glory make us partakers of the heavenly table. Amen!" She did the sign of the cross quickly, and glanced up shyly at the two women, before nodding and smile to signify that they could start their meal.

Dinner passed by in silence, and soon it was time for everyone to go to bed. Lia showed Victoire and Rose the bedrooms available, and they both decided to share a room to keep each other company. Lia inwardly bristled with jealousy. She had been alone for months yet these two seemed to be able to share in each other's company constantly. Once Victoire and Rose had been settled into their room Lia finally made her way up to her attic. Her hands quickly removed the dainty hair clip from her curls and flung it across the room before she fell onto the mattress on the floor without even bothering to remove her make up. The pillow was grabbed and used to bury her face in as tears leaked from her eyes.

She'd thought that finally she wouldn't be lonely. Hoped to high heavens that she'd finally have some actual friends again, yet the language barrier was proving to ruin everything. 

Lia stayed like that for a while, crying silently into her pillow until finally she'd exhausted herself and she fell asleep.