Metanoia

Chapter 12

I wait at Mrs Gail's kitchen table with Bear at my feet while she pours two cups of tea. 

"So," she trails off. "A lots happened since the last time I saw you huh?" she says, placing a cup in front of me. I sigh and nod. "They seem nice," she tries to comfort. 

"They've been nice to me so far," I very quietly agree, paranoid that my brothers can hear me outside. I'm not comfortable speaking to them yet.

We talk for the next five minutes, having an emotional goodbye before she ushers me to the door. She doesn't have a phone so I'll have to send her a letter as soon as I get to my new home.

She waves us off as me and brothers begin walking back to the car. This time the walk is much harder, my bruised legs are achey and the stitches from the surgery to fix my lung are much more painful. 

I walk sluggishly through the forest, falling behind my brothers who have much longer legs. Angelo turns around noticing me. "You tired?" He asks, tilting his head which causes all my brothers to look at me. I nod. 

"Come on I'll give you a piggyback ride," he insists. A piggyback ride? I look at him confused. Amused, he smiles at me "Hop on my back," He instructs, bending down. I do as I'm told.

Wow this is so much better. Angelo carries me the whole way back. I feel bad about being so lazy but I can't bring myself to climb off him.

He pulls me off his back and places me in the very long car in between Luca and Arlo. Our shoulders touching makes me uneasy but I push past the feeling of anxiety and grab my Cd player out of my bag.

All my brothers go on their phones and Lorenzo pulls out a laptop as the car sets off down the road. "What's that?" Luca asks, looking at my Cd player.

I press the button that opens it, revealing the Cd. "Ah another Smiths fan, you have good taste," he says proudly. "Here, listen to my playlist," he says, handing me a tiny headphone with no wire. Strange

We spend the next forty minutes listening to his music. He introduced me to artists like Mac DeMarco, Arctic Monkeys and my new personal favourite, Taylor Swift. 

"Where are we going," Romeo says exasperated, probably annoyed about being trapped in this car for so long. "Airport," Lorenzo states, not even looking up from his laptop.

The airport? We're going in a plane? One of them metal deathtraps?

My leg bounces up and down nervously as I recall a plane crash documentary I watched a year ago. Angelo, sensing my worry tries to comfort me, "Don't worry it's completely safe, you're actually more likely to die in a crash in here than you are in a plane."

My breathing quickens. What? 

Dante slaps the back of Angelo's head. "You idiot, you're only scaring her more," Dante says harshly causing me to flinch and shuffle closer to Luca.

Lorenzo sends them both a pointed look before turning his attention to me. "It's okay tesoro, you'll be fine, the plane and the limo are one hundred percent safe." he says reassuringly. This calms me down just in time as we pull into the airport .

To my surprise we drive right onto the tarmac. I look at Luca, confused. "Private jet," he shrugs, holding his hand out to me. I look at it for a second before taking it. 

I like Luca, he reminds me of a taller version of myself. I think we'll get along.

Holding hands, we make our way to the jet. I pull Bear along on his lead which I never use but I was scared he would run off somewhere dangerous. 

There's four large men dressed in black standing in a protective stance at the steps of the jet. As soon as they see Lorenzo they straighten up and stiffly nod at him. The whole interaction was strange.

I sit in between Lorenzo and Bear, Lorenzo covers me in his suit jacket and tells me to take a nap. The plane starts moving down the runway. This isn't so bad

Suddenly it speeds up, making me shake slightly. Fear courses through me as I dig my nails into my palms, trying to remain calm. "Shh, it's alright," Lorenzo says softly, using one hand to rub my back and the other to separate my fingers from my palm.

"Take a nap and we'll wake you when we get there yeah?" Arlo says quietly while leaning over and tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I nod. I'm not usually so receptive to people touching me but the way Lorenzo's rubbing my back is relaxing.

I'm not tired, the two hours nap I had earlier was enough for me but I close my eyes anyway. I don't sleep a lot or at all at night. 

It  happened at night.

So I choose to stay up all night and take numerous little naps throughout the day. I'm constantly in a state of exhaustion but It's worth it. When I sleep at night I have vivid night terrors which usually cause me to jolt awake in a sweaty panic. It's safe to say my sleep schedule is beyond repair.

Wrapping myself in Lorenzo's suit jacket, I close my eyes. He fiddles with my hair as I slowly drift off.