The First Time
banner: seraphina ashford
sta 7 ; eva 9 ; str 8 ; wis 1 ; arc 0 ; acc 10
obnoxiously strong
obnoxiously strong
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"Ma dove stiamo andando, in fin dei conti?" 1 his voice broke the silence, making his father look up from the documents in his hand. The older man gestured to the driver to raise the glass partition, who immediately acted on the command.
"Ho del lavoro da sbrigare," 2 Vincenzo's deep and masculine voice answered his son's question. The man could feel them getting nearer to their destination. He looked at his silver watch and continued, resta di sopra finché non torno," 3 he said when the car stopped in front of what seemed to be an abandoned house.
***
The floor creaked under Vincenzo's polished black leather shoes, Theodore walking quietly behind him, wearing sneakers; something he was told could embarrass the family, but who was he to care about what the old men his grandfathers said when his parents didn't have anything against his chosen attire?
"Father?"
Vincenzo didn't look back at his son, but he stopped in his place, bringing his hand up and gesturing for him to stay right there. His dark eyes looked around the living room of the house and analyzed as much as he could without needing to move his head. His eyes settled on a closed door to the right, Theodore could feel his father's aura getting darker, and suddenly he felt like the house was freezing.
Stay.
Vincenzo scoffed and opened the door, wiping his hands from the dust that had sat on the doorknob after he stepped in. He waited, his back to the living room, and when he made sure Theodore wasn't going to follow him, he disappeared downstairs, two of his men who'd just walked in following him.
"Ridiculous," Theodore muttered, "what's the point of me coming when I can't even see what he's doing?" For an eleven-year-old who didn't have English as any of his native languages, and was homeschool with people who now spoke English less fluently as he did, Theodore didn't have an accent when talking the language.
Bang.
Theodore flinched involuntarily. dammit. A little luck was with him, since nobody saw that. But then again, what was the loud bang that came from downstairs about? Was his father hurt? Was anyone else hurt? He knew he shouldn't go down; he knew he might get yelled at if he went there; he knew-
Bang.
Okay, he was going. Nobody was there when he went through the doorway, which he counted as his father's first mistake that day (because leaving nobody as a guard? What if someone was hiding, waiting for Vincenzo to turn his back, then attack? But his father wasn't stupid; he wouldn't leave for the cellar without checking the rest of the house if he wasn't certain that nobody was there. He knew he didn't need protection from anyone, because he could protect himself, and he knew his father knew that, too, and that was why he had left without leaving anyone with him so confidently.
He took the steps down quite fast, but not loud, never loud, and when he reached the cellar, he froze.
***
"I told you to stay upstairs," angry, enraged, frustrated. Theodore had never seen his father's jaw clench so tight, and he'd never heard his voice come out hissed, "how can you be so incapable that you can't do a task as simple as that?"
When Theodore got downstairs, the sickening sight in front of him made him hold his breath in shock, letting out a quiet and muffled sound at the same time, which made his presence known; which made his father look behind him and see his son; the son who saw a body covered in red on the floor for the first time. Theodore couldn't feel the scare he'd given his father; he couldn't understand why his father would do this; and he couldn't remember why he'd run downstairs.
"Well, how could I have known that you were capable of doing something like that?" He yelled back at his father, "how could I have known you were a killer? How could I have known? Does мать 4 know?"
Killer.
That word hit Vincenzo hard. Not because he wasn't one, but because he had heard that word from Theodore; from his son. And that hurt more than he thought it would. "I can't be near you anymore, padre5, I really can't."
Theodore didn't know Calabria like the back of his hand. That was the reason he didn't just leave right there and then, because how could he get home without someone to give him a ride? "Andrò a quel campo di cui mi hai parlato. Ho appena cambiato idea 6
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mentions: -
note: everything is translated, I'm not fluent in Italian and I don't know any Russian yet :>
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1 Where are we even going?
2 I have some work to do.
3 Stay upstairs until I come back.
4 Mother
5 Father
6 I'm going to that camp you mentioned. I changed my mind.