Entangled with the Mafia Don

ITALY, ROME:      The hot Italian ground scorched Melissa’s bare feet as she moved in haste. The ground felt like hot coals to her feet, but in that kind of situation, not even that could stop her feet as she ran through the tarred streets of Calle. She could feel the rush of her blood in her ears, and the pounding of her heart could be compared to the tribal belly dancing beats she had watched somewhere, a long, long time ago. Adrenaline cursed through her veins, she loved the chase, it was quite exhilarating.      Melissa knew that the three men were not too far behind her. She could hear them as they shouted after her.  “Ferma laden!” She heard one scream. Melissa was absolutely frightened out of her wits now. Her shirt was now soaked in her own sweat and her small feet were getting tired. She was sure she was bruised but that was the least of her concerns.      “Help! Catch that girl!”           The sweat was already getting into her eyes and she blinked rapidly to get the stinging sensation away. She knew that she would not last for long in the state her eyes were in, so she ran around blindly, though with a bit of confidence.      Melissa knew this place like she knew the back of her hand. Touching her pants pocket, she felt the scrunching of the paper used to wrap the expensive necklace and she smiled. At least it had not fallen out in her hurry to escape. She rubbed at her eyes again, they still stung, but she could open them a bit now.      Melissa darted to a florist store, hoping to hide somewhere around there. The owner of the shop, a young dark man looked at her with disinterest and continued to lock up his store. There was nothing around for her to hide in, or behind. She continued to run, as she suddenly caught a glimpse of the two men, searching for her. Melissa paused to get on her knees, and took large gulps of air, wiping some sweat off her brow.   She had to get to the blacksmith in time. These men were not joking around.      She climbed a ladder to her to the roof of a building still in the process of being built and she surveyed the expanse of land around her for a good  hiding spot. The bakery would be too easy for them to spot, as that was the first place thieves who were children ran to. She saw the automobile repair shop and smiled a little, licking her chapped lips.      With a new destination in mind, Melissa climbed down the ladder and saw the men behind her, their backs turned searching for her in the other direction. Melissa hoped that luck would be on her side as she decided to ‘tip toe run’ her way to the automobile repair shop.       Melissa straightened against a barrier around the curve in the road and took a quick glance up the walkway to make sure she had gained enough distance from the two pursuing men. She licked her lips together, which were pale and didn't have the usual dark red coloring they always had, the men were out of her sight. Hopefully, they had decided to forget about the chase and had left her alone to her own fate.      There was a gleam, and she caught the reflection of the men as they wound their way past the stores. Melissa set off again, never looking behind and continuing to run. In her haste, she collided with two children who were laughing and eating cannolis. She swerved as they collided, trying to avoid falling on them for the most part. The two children retained their equilibrium for the most part, but Melissa staggered and fell horribly. Her black pants were ripped at the knees, and her peach patterned top was smeared with filling. She glared at the children who were looking at her curiously.      “Don’t you have things to do? Do you want me to beat you up?” She seethed, angry because of the rip in her pants. The children looked at her with fear filled large doe eyes, and then Melissa felt bad almost immediately. The children dropped their cannolis and began to wail loudly.      “Cattiva zia! Cattiva zia!” They screamed, running away. Too concerned about her safety to think of the welfare of some crying kids, she got up again and sped up, going into the dark alleyway, hoping that those large, terrifying men were finally gone.      “Ci ha spinti giù e ha detto che ci avrebbe picchiati!” She heard those loud children shout.      “Please help us, uncles!”       “Where did she go? Dicci!” Melissa heard the voice lord and clear. It was one of the men who were chasing her. What kind of luck did she have exactly? The bad kind she was sure of it.  “She is over there! Come.” The children replied, as she sucked in a deep breath. Those tiny, mangy kids were leading those horrible men to her! They were bringing her doom closer to her! She closed her eyes for a second, every part of her body had began to hurt but she saw the face of the person she cared about the most and knew she had to keep pushing.  Melissa said a prayer in quick Spanish and ran out of the place.  “I see her, come. Run Vince!” One of the men said to his partner, and so they ran, hot on her heels.  Melissa had the audacity to smirk. She knew that she was going to beat them at their own game. She had done it before, had she not?  Unfortunately, Melissa lost her balance once again and she skidded into yet another road and felt the agony of her knee injury.   Her eye liner from earlier in the day had smeared, and she knew that she was in very bad shape. Her Mexican black hair was overly self-evident, but some of it stuck to her face, the sweat on her skin acting as some sort of temporary glue. She needed to put her stolen possession in a secured place, and her eyes caught a shopping bag which was hung outside a shop. She picked it and dropped the beautiful necklace she had stolen earlier into it, carrying the bag along with her. The shopkeeper yelled, but her efforts were futile because Melissa had already run a long distance away at the time.  Where might the scary men be now? Melissa’s mind raced as she ran? Had she really lost them like that? Either way, she intensified her speed, proud of her small but strong legs. Her leg muscles ached but she didn’t relent in the pace. She looked back to view her distance between the men, it was far enough thanks to her tremendous speed. In the moment of gauging the distance between her and the guards, her legs hit a heavy stone. But this time around, she somersaulted and landed on her backside without getting much injury.  She finally got to an alley and jumped inside, she had escaped with her possession. She jogged further into the dark alley and finally rested her aching legs.  She said a quick prayer. She saw a bucket with grimy water inside and gagged. She was thirsty and she needed to wash her face badly, but she was not desperate enough to use that! She listened  intently for any coming footsteps and didn’t hear any. She relaxed her tensed body and tried to normalize her fast breathing and her racing heart. She sat on the floor of alley and inspected her knee injury, it was bleeding but wasn’t something that needed immediate medical care.  She had escaped!  She waited for a while before getting out of the alley, and headed for the local blacksmith with a smile, knowing that the jewelry would fetch her a good amount.  “How much? I do not get so much time?” Melissa asked the middle aged man.  “How much you want for the necklace?” The man said, scratching at his beard.  “I take Fifteen thousand. No less.” Melissa said, knowing that the man would bargain.  The man frowned. “It has much beauty, I know. But fifteen too much. You take nine thousand dollars, si?” Melissa pursued her lips.  “Ten. If you do not take that, then I go to sell another place.” Melissa narrowed her eyes.  “Alright. Good price.” The man stood up and went into his shop, coming out soon after with a dirty envelope and handed it to her. “Count and check.”  Melissa counted the notes. Ten thousand in total. She nodded and gave the man the necklace in it’s low quality wrapping paper.  “Grazie.” He said, nodding. Melissa did not reply, but ran straight down to where she lived.   She stopped at a dinghy building and frowned, wishing that she could live in better conditions. She jumped as a large rat scurried under her legs, running off into the sewer. The air reeked of human waste, but Melissa was already used to the smell by now.   An old woman seemed to come out from nowhere, charging at her. Melissa remembered that her rent was long overdue. The old woman screamed at her.  Melissa nodded quickly. “I’ll be back Sandra, do not me annoyed please.”  The old woman continued to barrage her in a fit of insults and shaking her fists.  Melissa ran into the apartment, shocked into silence by the sight that greeted her. There on the ground, was her boyfriend Marcus, lying on the ground, unmoving.  With a sound that sounded like a twist between a cry and a strangled scream, Melissa hurled herself onto the body, laying on the floor, checking for a pulse.