Page 43 of Little Sparrow

She turns towards me after she turns off the stove, “Figlio mio.” How long has she been here? She looks starved and under her eyes looks sunken and dark like she hadn’t had a good night sleep in a long time.

“I thought they had killed you.” My heart is beating fast and I feel like I'm going to pass out again. I stumble forward.

“Here sit,” She pulls out a chair for me and rushes over to guide me into it. “Your father has been surprisingly gentle. I’m not allowed to leave this house though, not until he forgives me. She gives me a small smile.

She's trapped just like Rose.

“How long have you been here?” I ask. Wondering how long she’s alone out here while I've been in the main house, living as good a life as I could.

“I’m not sure, a while. Time goes differently here. Maybe a month or so. I stopped counting after a week. I didn’t see the point, it didn’t change anything.” She sighs and her shoulders drop. She looks tired and weak.

“That young woman, is she still here?” I nod but she doesn’t see because she gets up to pour me a glass of water. When she returns, she sits next to me. Her eyes are sad, she doesn’t have bruises on her face and I can’t see her full body but it makes me sick that someone could have been hurting her.

“Rose?” I ask after taking a few gulps, being drugged has given me a dry mouth.

“I don’t know her name, the young woman that your father wanted to kill me. She could have, but she saw something and kept you a secret. She’s not a heartless killer, but her face still haunts my dreams.”

I swallow the lump in my throat at the type of person my father had tried turning her into. A monster, like me.

“Yeah, her name is Rose. He has her right now. He intends to hurt her, or in his words- put her down.” My head drops into my hands. This is so messed up. Everytime I gain one woman, I lose the other. It’s like I can only have my mother or Rose.

“You’re father loves me still, he couldn’t do it himself. When she wouldn’t, he hit her and sent her away. I have been in the dungeons since then.” She shrugs like this isn’t important. I just got my mother back, I hold onto her and she brushes her hands through my hair, smoothing out the strands. Comforting me like she did when I was a child.

“Your father brought me in here telling me to take care of you and I would be able to go back to the house with you, be a family. After your wedding. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to be with you. Even if it’s just for a short while.” She grips my face, she frowns as though she is not happy about the wedding, she must know it’s arranged, she has to.

My eyes burn, I don’t get emotional but things have been changing for me recently. Thoughts and feelings I never thought I’d have. The need to get her out of here causes me to stand, I flinch from the pain of my leg and drop back into the chair.

“Don’t strain yourself, we are here until your father lets us out. It’s just the way it is now.” She frowns and she immediately looks older.

“No. I can’t leave her out there. I love her, my father will kill her just because I touched her, she is no use to him anymore. I can’t lose anyone else.” I stumble over to the drawers looking through them, scattering cutlery along the side.

“You’re father won’t keep knives in here. Anything sharp is gone.” I turn back to her, looking into her dark eyes, the same ones as mine. I slam the drawer, take a deep breath, of course he would, I’m an idiot. I need to give myself a moment to think.

Pick the lock.

I open and close every single cupboard, throwing things out. There has to be something.

I limp around the guesthouse, it’s never felt as big as it does right now. Every single room, when I can’t find anything small or sharp enough for it. She comes rushing around after me, until I get to a locked door. “You can’t go down there.” She whispers, eyes wide and full of fear while she stares at the door, not at me.

“Why?” I need to know, it’s locked for a reason. I start using my shoulder to force the door open, my strength isn’t what it could have been because of the blood loss. Fucking Franco, I’ll kill the bastard as soon as I get my hands on him.

“What are you doing? That is his dungeon. It’s where he kept me, I can’t go back down there Dante, please don't make me.” Tears drop down her pale cheeks as she hugs herself, I deflate at the possibility of something helpful down there but I can’t make her go back. Instead I search for what feels like hours, looking for anything I can pick the lock with. Finally in one of the rooms in the bathroom there were some hair pins in the cupboard. All I need is two.

“How long have I been knocked out from the drugs?” I ask as I sit back on the kitchen chair to pick off the ends of the hair pins, terrified I’m too late to save Rose. Her brows furrow, “A day, you slept all of yesterday afternoon and all night. You needed the rest.”

“Has anyone come here? To check on us? Or have you seen anyone outside?” I ask, frantically, a plan coming together in my head.

I take the painkiller I was given and wait twenty minutes, hoping it will settle in. My leg is still bleeding through the bandage, I need to clean and change it, tying off my belt above the wound. Mother watches me as I stand and limp toward the door. Her fingers clutch over her belly and she smiles.Fuck she’s too skinny.

I bend the hair pins to angle them in the lock, wiggling one of the pins to dislodge each part of the lock, I keep going until the mechanic parts inside makes a click and I can turn it. I twist the door handle gently to avoid any noise, listening out for any guards. My mother stands close behind me with any type of weapons she could find, a frying pan and we both shuffle out the door, standing low.

The smell of a cigarette comes from around the side of the house. “Stay here,” I whisper to my mother and I move away, creeping in the direction of the smoke. My teeth clench as I try to avoid too much pressure on my leg and being silent at the same time. It’s harder than I thought.

I tip my head around the corner and see the guard, Giovanni, puffing on his cigarette. Silently I step up behind him, grab his head and twist. Snapping his neck. He drops to the floor and my mother comes running around with her heart on her chest. “It’s okay, we need to run. Can you run?” She nods quickly, “I think so.”

I take the guard's gun and give it to her “Take this, use it if necessary. I need to find Rose.” My mother holds onto me, squeezing me tight. When she moves back she looks me in the eye. “I’ll run to the harbour, if I don’t get stopped, I'll hide on your fathers boat. Meet me there. But I’ll only stay there until dawn.”

“Shoot at everyone who isn’t me, okay?” Her head bobs again while clutching the gun before turning and running towards the woods. I limp towards the large circular driveway, my leg hurts so much, the cut fabric around my wound has started sticking to the blood.

---