Page 173 of Rome: The Ballerina

“We never made it by there. A detective called me two hours ago.”

“A detective?”

“Yes, son. They wanted me to come down to identif–” she choked up, “to identify the bodies.”

“Bodies?”

I pressed my back against the wall. This news was crippling.

“Aliza didn’t just take her own life, son. She murdered Aleena, Neil, and every living thing in their home. She then killed herself.”

The wind left me. I landed on the floor with my legs bent and a hand on the side of my head. Nothing made sense to me. Trying to process any of this felt like trying to work my way through a maze blindfolded with a broken spine.

“Tell me you’re not mes–”

“I would never, Sac. They’re all de– dead. Authorities didn’t find Aliza until Wednesday. The condo had begun to smell. The scent concerned a neighbor. When the police investigated, they found Aliza’s head against her neighbor’s bedroom wall. It was the only thing separating them.”

Wednesday was two days ago.

“How long had she been there?”

“Since the night of the championship.”

“Sinc– since last Sunday?”

“Yes, son.”

I pushed out a heap of air.

“And, they contacted you?”

“They went to her parent’s home to inform them and that’s when their bodies were discovered.”

I rubbed a hand down my face repeatedly as I digested every detail.

“There’s no way. There’s no way. There’s no way Aliza was that fucki– that bad off.”

“But, there’s more,” my mother cried into the phone, piling on detail after detail.

My stomach was in knots.

“I don’t know if I can hear ano–”

“They found poison in her home. Lots of it. Likely purchased illegally.”

I sat up straight, listening intently.

“Poison?”

“Yes. Plenty of it. According to the detective, a lot of the containers were empty. She’d been using it for some time now.”

“For some tim– for–Rome,” I concluded, standing on my feet.

“Yes,” my mother sobbed. “Yes, son.”

What was once pain quickly turned into rage. Unfiltered, uncontrollable rage.

“That bitc–” I paused, quickly remembering who I was on the phone with. Disrespecting my mother wasn’t in my deck of cards.

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