MEET YOU AGAIN, MY MAFIA

THE BREAK-IN

FIORELLA BIANCHI

I had a long day and what I need right now is a good warm bath and an early bedtime. I got home not so long ago, and I am already cooking up my son’s favourite dish, chicken lasagne stuffed with creamy spinach. Massimo is so much better than the other days, and I think he will be ready to go back to school, but just not tomorrow because I am going to drop the car at the mechanic’s before I head to work. Gosh, I just hope they do not charge me madly. I already cannot afford car insurance, so please.

While I am cooking up a storm in the kitchen, I start reminiscing about the man that helped me with my car. Gosh, so stupid of me for not asking who he is. That man could have just passed me while I was so stranded, but he chose to stop and help me with my car. Not many men would do that unless they wanted to take advantage of me.

For some reason, I felt so comfortable around him. I think I might be having a crush on him – on someone that I don’t even know. He could be a murderer for all I know but I am so happy to imagine him being my boyfriend. What is this stranger man doing to me? I have never felt like this ever since Massimo’s father and I were separated by the accident, but that man sure ignited the spark again.

“Mommy, is the food ready yet?” Massimo walks into the kitchen, looking drained.

Guilt kicks in, and I regret all the thoughts about the stranger who helped me with my car earlier. When I look at Massimo, all I see is Benjamin. I still love him so much even in his death. I always make sure that every year on his birthday and the anniversary of the accident I light up a white candle for him and just talk to him through it, hoping that he hears me.

“It’s going to be ready soon, my pumpkin. Come and tell me what you and aunty Leta have been up to today?” He calls Violeta ‘Leta’.

“Aunty Leta kisses Simo on the face, mommy,”

That’s my son for you. He hates being kissed all over his face. He hates it even when I-his mother is doing it, but I still do it anyway. He will have to accept it because I will not stop until I die.

“Ooh, is that so, my love? No lasagne for aunty Violeta, okay?”

“Yes, and no biscuit for aunty Leta,” He pouts his lips, folding his arms against his chest. I never thought I would get to see my son being so dramatic and make me laugh.

***

After our dinner, Massimo and I went to brush our teeth before I tucked him into bed. Violeta had already bathed him before I got home, so I only changed him into his pyjamas.

I have filled up the bathtub and I am stripping off my clothes before I set my one foot inside the warm water before stepping in the other. I slowly sink inside the water and just relax my whole body in the tub and close my eyes, allowing my body to soak in the water.

Before the water could get cold, I start taking my bath, and as soon as I am finished, I dry my body with a dry towel and put on my bathrobe. As I am standing in front of the bathroom mirror, doing my night face routine, I hear a quick shuffle, but I pay no mind to it. What caught my attention is now Massimo’s scream.

“Mommy!!!”

I drop everything and run out of the bathroom, almost falling along the way and I get into my bedroom, only to be pushed so hard by a male figure wearing black clothes and a bandana covering his face. I screamed, rushing to my son without even worrying about who they were or how they got in. My son is my priority right now and I am so scared that the man might have done something to him.

“Massimo, are you okay, baby? What happened, what did that man do to you?”

“He scared me, mommy,” He cries. I pull him so close to me and cling to him.

My son is going to have nightmares.

“Ms. Fiorella, where are you? We heard you screaming, and your door is wide open, are you okay? Ms. Fiorella?”

Those are my neighbours.

“I’m in here,” I announce, and two of my male neighbours walk into my bedroom.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I don’t know, it all happened so fast. I was in the bathroom when I heard my son screaming, and that was when I rushed in here, but a man pushed me so hard and ran out. He was wearing black clothes and had a black and white bandana to cover his face. Someone broke into my apartment,”

More of the neighbours came to check if we were okay and some called the police. Violeta also came with Carlos, her husband. Carlos looked around the apartment to check how they could have broken in and he discovered that the man removed the window glass without breaking it and then put it back in, but it was turned the wrong way which did not quite fit properly, and when the man escaped, he unlocked the door normally and walked out.

The police later arrived to take my statement and checked for fingerprints. Two of them stayed to watch over my apartment overnight just in case the thief comes back. I am also told that the new landlord will be here to see through things personally. To think of it, I have never seen our new landlord and I have been missing community meetings with him.

The good neighbours started leaving, and Violeta and Carlos stayed behind.

“Are you sure that you want to stay here, I mean you can come with us and stay in our apartment for the night,” Carlos says.

“Thanks, but I will be fine, I promise, plus I can’t let such heavy protection go to waste,” I refer to the two policemen.

“Then I am staying, at least just to feel at ease that you are both safe. If that is okay with you, hubby,” Violeta says to Carlos.

“Even if I said no, you would still go against me, so yeah it is okay. Just take care, alright?” He hugs me, then hugs Violeta and kisses her before he leaves. We lock the door, and the police promise to watch the apartment through the night.

I was not even done putting on lotion on my body, but that is not important right now. My son is traumatised so much that he won’t let me put him down on the bed and he is taking so long to sleep now. I can’t help but wonder what happened before I rushed into the room. Who was the man and what did he want? I can’t even see what he stole, but as soon as Massimo falls asleep, I am going to check for any missing items.

Violeta and I make our way to my bedroom and we both get in bed with Massimo in my arms and I let him sleep on me.

“Sorry about what happened, sis,”

“It shall pass,” I smile weakly at her.

“On the contrary though, you still need a man,” She jokes.

“Maybe I do. You know, something happened earlier today…” I start telling her about how my car started making crazy sounds, forcing me to pull over, to the man that stopped by to help me.

“Ooh, this is getting hot. Tell me more,” She keenly says.

I describe the man and tell him how the car talk went about.

“To be honest, I somehow felt some weird electricity between us, and I knew if I got too close to him, I was going to get dazed,”

“Oh, so you are finally unlocking your heart, huh. What’s his name?”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t get his name or number,”

“WHAT!”

***