Chapter 4 VALENTINA ILIAS

Amandla worked for a while before she decided to call it a night. After taking a shower, she lay on her bed, moonlight streaming in through the sheer curtains slowly swaying in the cool night breeze. She fell asleep, but instead of a peaceful slumber, the cold hands of a nightmare gripped her.

There was blood everywhere, blood and silence. The sight of blood didn't bother her anymore, she had seen more than enough of it in her lifetime. It was who the blood belonged to. Then the eery silence was broken by a singing voice, the same voice that lulled her to sleep every night when she was a child, the voice that had belonged to the unseeing eyes of the corpse in front of her whose blood she was covered in.

"Mother!" She jolted from her bed with a gasp, drenched in sweat, her fingers wrapped around the gun she always slept with. But she knew that there wasn't a physical threat, so she dropped it, it was just a nightmare. she got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom.

As she immersed herself in the bathtub filled with warm water to cleanse herself of the remnants of her bad dream, she remembered the last night she had heard her mother's voice.

FLASHBACK

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"Titi." Ten year old Valeria whispered, calling her identical twin sister Valentina.

"It's okay Ria." Valentina cooed as she got into her sister's bed and cuddled her.

"Just close your eyes and go back to sleep. The noise will die down eventually.

Their father was at it again and this time, unlike other times, their mother argued with him. The sound of something breaking startled Ria so Titi stroked her thick curls. They heard their mother's voice call out their fifteen year old brother Macavelli's name and theirs shortly after.

"Did we do anything wrong Titi? Is Mac in trouble?" Ria whispered and Valentina rocked her gently.

"I don't know Ria, just close your eyes." Valeria knew her sister was lying. Valentina was privy to everything happening in the house even though she was just ten. She had inherited her keen and observant nature from their mother. She always tried to keep Ria out of it, to protect her little sister. But it was hard to do when the 'it' was yelling at a hundred decibels.

"Can we go check? Make sure everything is okay?." She asked tentatively.

"Valeria." Uh-oh! Titi only called her that when she was about to be scolded.

"Just a quick look Titi, pleaseeee." She quickly said before she could be reprimanded by her older twin.

"I promise to sleep right after. If I see that Mac is fine, I will sleep peacefully." She said and Valentina sighed.

"Okay, just a peek. I'm worried too." She said

They both got out of bed and silently moved towards Macavelli's room. They didn't bother knocking, their father's rule was to never lock their doors so he would have free access at any time he wanted because it was his house. They opened the door and checked his room but he wasn't there.

"We have to go back before we're caught out of bed Ria." Valentina said to her sister.

"No Titi, let's go down. Father might be hurting Mac."

"What can we do Ria, we might just make it worse. You know we're not supposed to leave our room once it's bedtime, Mother will help him."

"He'll just hurt her too Titi. We might be able to help, please." She pleaded.

"We'll get punished Ria."

"Our punishment would be less compared to theirs." She said and Valentina sighed

"Come on, let me tuck you in." She said as she led Valeria back to their room.

"But..."

"No buts Ria, I won't let you come with me. I'll go alone." Valentina said.

"But I can help too." Valeria pouted.

"I know, but you need to sleep, you know you're not feeling well. I'll be back before you know it "

"Okay." She said. Titi kissed her forehead and left the room.

She stared at the ceiling as she waited for Titi. The noise wasn't as loud as before but her sister still hadn't returned so she went out to look for her. She went downstairs and saw her sister hiding behind a wall, sobbing silently.

"What's wrong Titi?" She asked weakly as she hugged her sister from behind. She was exhausted from climbing down the staircase.

"Go back up Valeria." Her sister whispered in a stern voice, looking fierce despite the tears in her eyes.

"You promised to return soon. I was waiting for you, what happened?" She asked.

"Go..." She was interrupted by a loud crashing sound and they both turned to see their father asphyxiating their mother, both hands wrapped around her neck while she struggled. Her thrashing had offset the balance of a nearby vase. Macavelli stepped up beside them and she gagged, her eyes watering at the nauseating stench of alcohol coming from him.

"Help her Mac, please." Valeria pleaded with tears in her eyes as she held on to her older brother's arm. He clenched his jaw and turned away from her to take a swig from the almost empty bottle In his hand.

"I can't do anything, she's his property and he's the Don of the Ilias family. He can do whatever he wants." He said.

"She's not a piece of property Mac." Valentina turned and glared daggers at him.

"She's his property, we all are." He shrugged.

"Please Mac, she's our Mother." Valeria begged, her wet face red and swollen. Valentina walked away from them.

"Whatever I do won't matter so why bother." He said and downed the last drink in the bottle.

The brother she knew would never sit back and let any of them be hurt no matter what. But after he had been officially initiated into the Mafia, he changed.

Valentina walked out of the kitchen with a knife in her hand and ran towards her father's study where her parents were still struggling on the floor.

"LET HER GO YOU MONSTER." she stabbed her father's arm with so much hate and anger in her eyes, emotions that a ten year old should not feel, and not so intensely.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He backhanded her so hard she crashed into a bookshelf, hit her head and blacked out. He brought out his gun and pointed it at his unconscious daughter.

"NO!" Their mother moved and tried to grab the gun from him, it fired twice but the bullets didn't hit anybody. He shoved her and her head hit the edge of the desk. She slumped and blood seeped out from the back of her head.

All this time, Valeria whose strength had waned just sat on the floor and watched everything unfold with tears streaming down her face. She was too weak to do anything but call out to her mother and sister, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I should have done this a long time ago." Their father said as he pointed the gun at their unconscious mother.

"NOO!" Macavelli tried to stop his father but it was too late and he was too far. Two shots reverberated through the room before he could get close enough, one to her chest and another to her head.

For a few seconds, there was total silence as the reality of the situation sank in. Their Mother was dead.

The silence was broken by their father's groans.

"Stupid brat." He held his bleeding arm and walked towards the door, walking past a shell-shocked Macavelli who stood, staring at their mother's corpse –there was no way she had survived that.

"All this time and you're still weak Macavelli, I thought I beat that out of you." Their father slapped him and Macavelli toppled to the floor.

AUTHOR'S NOTE; Don't forget to drop a comment after reading.

To those that may be confused with the flashback, Amandla is one of the ten year old twin girls. she was just remembering her childhood.