The Mafia's Butterfly (Rewriting)

[37]

Josephina

"Don't move."

I groan as I open my eyes, quickly shutting them when the light coming from the ceiling blinds me. Like seriously, why do lights need to be so bright? People hardly ever use ceiling lights, so why make them so bright?

"Josey, he said don't move." 

I let my eyes adjust to the light, now not moving. Once I can see without being blinded, I look around me and realize that I'm lying down on a bed, in a room that I'm not familiar with. Xander is on the side of the bed closest to me and Clara is sitting on the other side of the bed, holding one of my hands.

This is not something I want to remember. Too soon, too soon. 

"Where am I?" I whisper. My head is pounding, so much so that it feels like my heart moved from my chest into my skull. I know the human body has arteries everywhere and therefore you can feel your heartbeat in multiple places but I mean this literally. It feels like my entire heart decided to up and move house from my chest to my skull. 

Clara and Xander exchange some worried glances, well as worried as Xander can get considering the man never really lets anyone know how he's feeling, and then they look back down at me. "You collapsed, farfalla." Xander says softly, bringing a hand towards me and running it through my hair. 

"I collapsed?" I ask, eyebrows shooting up in shock. Clara nods as well and then motions to the desk that sits against a wall a bit further from the bed, a letter resting on the edge. I take in the surroundings, we're definitely in someone's bedroom but I don't know who's nor where the bedroom is. My mind is kind of blurry right now. 

"We're in my bedroom. Do you not remember?" Xander asks now looking increasingly concerned that I don't remember this piece of information. I look again and nod, I do remember it, well sort of. I mean when we first got to Italy, there was no furniture in the home and so I might've been in here a few times but it looks different. 

So much has changed in my life that I can't even focus now on the difference of his room. I mean come on, I made with friends with strangers and then they essentially saved me from something that I was trapped in. Heck, I don't go to school anymore and neither does Felix or Clara. Do you know how insane that is? I was so close to finishing school and now I don't even do it. I've spoken with Clara about it though and we're debating whether or not to finish high school online because it's something that we genuinely want to see through. 

I also actually phoned Ava and Belle. I was sitting in the new home alone while everyone was out on some mission or something. Clara had mentioned that Xander found leads on who attacked us back home and so they were going to go follow through on their theory. I was left with nothing to do and remembered that recently Xander bought me a phone, one that I had no idea how to use properly although I did have some idea. I made myself learn Ava and Belle's numbers a while back so that if I needed them desperately then I knew what number to call. So, I phoned them both because I've been a shit ass friend for not calling them and letting them know I'm safe. We chatted for hours, us three. They were so worried that something happened to me because both of them knew enough about my home situation and were so relieved to hear my voice. They were my closest friends before I met Clara and I still consider them like sisters. 

I finally filled them in on everything, another reason why we were talking for hours. There were some tears from all of us but mostly we were laughing and enjoying each others company. They told me that quite a few people were missing me and wondering where I had disappeared to like Mrs Buckenham and Mr Ellis, plus the owner of the restaurant I used to work at. A few staff members at each place I worked and even Ivy, saying she missed seeing me after school. Never did I expect to have so many people worry and care for me. I promised them that I'd fly them over to Italy soon so that we could see each other and they were just as excited as I was for the idea.