A Call Home
Zorah lifted the edge of the quilt and crawled into the bed, keeping her face averted from Icaro. His loud sigh of frustration didn’t phase her an ounce and she pulled a pillow to her cheek. The sheets and pillowcases were even softer than the ones in the fancy hotels.
If she decided to leave him, she might take the sheets off the bed with her. The quirky thought made her smile a smidge and she reminded herself she was still in there after all the calamity of the day.
“Zorah,” Icaro moved to sit beside her on the bed and moved to brush hair off her cheek, but she pulled her head back away from his hand. “Surely you do not think I am ashamed or embarrassed of you the way you told Vodingo?”
She refused to answer and closed her eyes and turned away from him to face the other direction.
“Zorah, are you going to give me the silent treatment forever?”
She pulled the quilt up higher to her shoulder and tucked her chin under it.
“My love, can you please turn back around so we can talk.”
“Go away,” she muttered furiously. “I don’t want to talk with you.”
“Why did you tell Vodingo you are ashamed? Because you screamed and ran like a –”
She turned around and glared at him angrily, “do not mock me for screaming and running when you acted like a barbarian. Now get the hell out.”
“This is my bedroom. Where would you have me sleep?”
“Anywhere but here. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you touching me. I don’t want you talking to me. I sure as hell do not want you sleeping with me.”
He sighed when she flopped back away from him and yanked the quilt back to her cheek. “Can we please talk about what happened?”
“No.”
“Is there anything I can get you? You didn’t have any dinner? Are you hungry? Do you want a drink?”
She’d rather die of starvation and thirst than ask him for anything. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“I know you are angry but Zorah, we need you to get through this. Your first kill is always the hardest but screaming like a banshee and running is not the way to deal with it.”
“What did you expect me to do, Icaro? Dance in her blood pooling around her head?”
“Well, no,” he sounded annoyed with her question.
“Icaro. You and your cousin talked to me on the plane as if I was weak for my reactions.”
“Amoré,” he started to speak but she pulled the pillow over her head as if trying to block him out. “You cannot act so childlike. Sit up and we can discuss this like adults.”
She refused to listen to him and wriggled down deeper under the blankets.
“Fine.” He lifted off the bed. “I’ve got to meet with my father and go over some other issues, including discussing what happened with the interrogation of the nurse’s brother and sister. Stay here and rest. If you want or need anything your phone is on the nightstand charging. Text me and I’ll bring it to you.”
As if.
When he left the room, she curled her knees up to her chest and let the tears fall again.
She cried until there were no tears left and her throat was raw.
Strangely, despite all the hell the woman put her through, she wanted her mother. She sat up and reached for her phone and debating for several minutes, she finally dialed the number to her mother.
“Zorah, is it really you?”
“Hi Mama.”
“I can’t believe they let you call.”
“They don’t know.” She sniffed.
“Where are you? Your uncle said he asked around to people he knew in New York, and you were not there or if you were, Mr. Lucchesi was hiding you.”
“I’m in Sicily, Mom.”
“Sicily? You’re all the way in Sicily?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“His family is here. They want to throw a party or something to welcome me to the family.”
“They are a superstitious lot, Zorah. You must be careful. Do not stop your prayers, whatever you do.”
“I won’t.”
“Zorah, you’re not safe.” Her mother said quietly. “There are people who would want you to hurt.”
“Mama, you, and Father Giannone hurt me all the time. What is the difference?”
“We were training you to be obedient for God.”
“You mean when Father Giannone put me over his lap with my pants down to my knees and spanked me, it was for my own good?”
Her mother’s silence was loud.
“When he would scold me for hours about being the daughter of a whore and suggesting to me all the time, I would be a woman of loose morals if he didn’t keep me in his presence all the time, this was for me?”
“He put you over his lap. When Zorah?”
“Every time you went to the retreat house,” she wiped tears off.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Even now, I know you don’t believe me.”
“Zorah, you are making wild accusations.”
“Today I watched a woman get shot in the forehead and die. Nobody even read her last rites before they shot her. I have nothing left to fear Mama. The truth is hard but I’m tired of being afraid.”
“You saw someone murdered?”
“What did I do wrong Mama to be born to a family who hates me and to be traded to a family who would destroy me?”
“I don’t hate you, Zorah.”
“You don’t love me either. I wanted to hear your voice, and I don’t even know why. I thought maybe hearing my Mom’s voice would make me feel less alone but all it’s done is make it worse. I’m all alone in the world. I have nobody. Avaline and Dagoberto told me I could call them Mom and Dad and yet they’ve barely glanced in my direction since I embarrassed the family at dinner. I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Zorah, you know if you come back home, then your uncle and I will have to pay the price.”
“I know. I would never ask my mother to die for me, but you have no problem asking me to give up my life for yours, do you?”
Her mother took a breath, “Zorah, perhaps you should call your uncle, and he can give you some spiritual guidance.”
She gave a snort, “I may as well go chat with the sheep in the field for all the guidance he could give me. He’s a vile man. I’m going to hang up now. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
Zorah hung up on her mother’s plea to not end the call. Setting the phone back on the charger, she crawled back under the blankets and prayed for sleep to come.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
