Page 6 of The Devil's Deal

New tears fill my eyes, the hurt building.

“I don’t have the answers to that, baby. I wish I knew.” She wipes her own tears away as she sniffles. “But right now, we have to focus on your friend and his family. They need us.”

* * *

DOMINIC

THREE DAYS LATER

I keep punching my arm, thinking this is a dream and Mom isn’t dead. That the officers never came to the house three days ago to tell us she is gone forever. A car accident, they said. That’s all anyone will tell me.

“I just saw her,” Dad had cried while I hugged him. “She told me she was going to go and pick up Matteo from kindergarten so he didn’t have to take a school bus. She can’t be dead.”

He wasn’t really talking to me. It was like he was talking to himself or something and I was just there to hear it.

My belly wobbles as I remember the two officers showing up at our house after my brothers and I got home from school. They didn’t want to tell me anything, asking for my dad. They came inside while I called him.

Then I called Chiara because I needed her. I’m glad she stopped by with her mom. They stayed with me while the cops were there waiting for Dad to come home, and they stayed after too. Her mom helped put Enzo and Matteo to bed while Dante and I stayed up to take care of Dad.

Tears drip down my eyes and I hate them. I practically knock them away. How can she be gone?

“Mommy. Please come back. Please.” I cover my face with my hands, sobbing into them. My entire body shakes with all the hurt.

Once my father got home, he knew something awful happened to Mom. He yelled at the cops for answers, and then he got them, wishing he hadn’t.

How can she be gone? How is it possible we buried her today? Why my mom? What did she ever do to anyone? She was the best.

My heart races while I hold on to my chest. I can’t breathe. My throat hurts from all the crying.

I miss you.

The tears continue, and I don’t stop them. I don’t think they’d go anywhere even if I asked nicely. I grab a pillow from my bed and put it over my face, screaming and crying all at once.

There’s a small knock on my door before the handle turns. I quickly put the pillow back and swipe under my eyes.

“Dom?” Chiara’s voice calls out from the crack in the door.

I clear my throat. “Yeah, I’m in here.”

Everyone is downstairs at the house after Mom’s funeral, and I couldn’t take being there with them all. They’re crying like she was their mother.

She was ours.Welost her, not them.

I escaped to my room, wanting to be alone. But not from Chiara. She’s the only person I’d never want to run from.

The door swings open a little at a time until I see her face.

“Is it okay if I’m here?” she asks, sounding unsure.

“Yeah, of course. I just couldn’t be down there.”

She nods, clasping her hands in front of her as she walks toward my bed.

“I got you something.” She opens her hand, revealing a silver necklace with a heart.

I stare curiously at it, peeking up to find her biting her lip as she takes a seat beside me.

“It’s a friendship necklace,” she explains, cracking it in half and handing me one half of her heart. “That way, no matter where we are, we’re always together.”

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