Don't Shoot the Messenger
The tinkling of rocks against his window reminded Rome of three things--when he was younger and Bart wanted his attention, when he’d done the same thing to return his phone not long ago, and when Rome had stood outside of Ella’s window, staring up at her beautiful face.
He’d been sleeping so he wasn’t sure how long the rocks had been hitting the glass. Whoever was trying to get his attention was impatient, that was for certain. He sat up and saw his mother dozing on a settee across the way. The rocks hadn’t woken her up, and he hoped he wouldn’t either.
Carefully, he slid out of bed and went over to the window, pulling it open. He was praying that it was Ella, but he quickly saw that it wasn’t. A man stood in the yard, staring up at him. He looked somewhat familiar, but in the dark, Rome wasn’t sure who it was.
“Rome! Thank God!” the man shout-whispered. “I have something I have to tell you!”
The thick Italian accent was more recognizable to him than the dimly lit figure. “Antonio?” he said as loudly as he dared. “What are you doing here?”
His mother stirred behind him, and Rome took a deep breath, hoping his talking to the man in the yard didn’t wake her. It had been years since he’d spoken to Antonio, who had always been a better friend to Bart. “I have to tell you something! Bart called me!”
“What is it?” Rome asked, wishing he’d just get on with it.
A noise in the yard caught his attention then as he realized at least one of his father’s men was coming around the front corner of the house. “It’s about your wife!” Antonio shouted.
“Hey! What are you doing?” the man shouted.
“Rome, what’s going on?” His mother was awake now and coming over to the window.
“Shit….” Rome wished Antonio would just tell him. “What is it?”
Antonio was clearly frightened of the large man coming at him from across the yard. Rome couldn’t see him well, but he assumed the guy was armed. Antonio muttered a few curse words of his own as he backed toward the garden wall.
Shouting at him again, Rome begged him to tell him whatever the news was about Ella. “Antonio? What is it?”
His mother stood behind him now, trying to pull him back from the window.
Antonio was at the foot of the wall, another man now bearing down on him from the other direction. “He didn’t want you to hear it in the news--that she’s killed herself.”
“She what?” Rome could hardly believe his ears. “No! It can’t be true!” Ella would never do that, would she?
Antonio was still shouting, but he was climbing the wall, and Rome couldn’t hear him anymore anyway. He had to see for himself. His mother was yanking him from the window, but his arms flailed, pushing her off as he turned to look at her. “Did you hear what he said?”
“Rome, please, calm down!” Lacy closed the window. “That was just some random person who’d climbed the fence.”
“It wasn’t a random person, mother. It was a friend. Did you hear what he said? About Ella?”
His mother made a face, one he recognized. “Rome… calm down.”
“You knew about this? Is it true, then? Have you seen it in the news?”
“It’s all just a rumor. We don’t know anything.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. He ran his hand through his hair and collapsed on the edge of the bed. How could it possibly be true? He needed to see for himself. “Give me my phone!” He jumped up off of the bed and came at her. “Or your phone!”
“Rome, please, calm down!” she shouted again.
“Mother! I need to see, I need to know!” He didn’t want to hurt her, but if she had a phone on her, he was going to take it. He had to look Ella up online, see if it was true.
His mom struggled to get away from him. “Rome! Stop! Guards--help!”
As Rome continued to beg his mom to hand over her phone, two burly men came in the door and wrestled him away from her. “Mom! Let me see. You have to let me see!”
A sharp pain hit him in the shoulder, and a familiar sting radiated through his shoulder. They’d drugged him again, the bastards! The world went fuzzy again, and as Rome lost contact with the world, he thought, if Ella truly was dead, he didn’t want to wake up either.
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