Ties That Bind Us

Bad News

Allegra walked into the small apartment she lived in with her parents. She was so bone tired that she just wanted to fall into bed,she was glad that she had already bought takeouts. She locked the door and walked to the couch before slumping on it,dropping the small package she brought with her. "Mum! I'm home." She called but received silence in return. Only then did she notice that the house was oddly quiet. Though her mother didn't move around much due to her poor health,at least she would have replied instantly after realizing her daughter was home.

Fear gripped her heart instantly, what if something had happened to her mum? She got up swiftly, the tiredness she formerly felt disappearing, she ran to the room she shared with her mum and realized that it was empty. She quickly checked the bathroom but found the same result, her heart immediately began palpitating in her chest. 

She knew that her mother couldn't have gone out on her own, she would have phoned her if she needed anything. Allegra tried not to think negative, maybe her mother had just gone to the neighbour's house because she was feeling lonely, she did that sometimes.

Allegra rushed out of the house and luckily, she met Mrs Winfrey just outside her house. "Hi Mrs Winfrey." She greeted, trying not the fidget much. "Oh hello,Allegra. I see you're back." Mrs Winfrey greeted back with a warm smile. "Please have you seen my mum? Is she at your house right now?" Allegra asked, hoping for a positive answer but sadly,she didn't get it.

"I'm sorry, no. I haven't seen Gerda at all today. I was even about to ask how she's doing." Mrs Winfrey revealed and Allegra felt like her heart was about to give out. "OK, thanks." She said and turned back,not waiting to hear what else Mrs Winfrey had to say.

She rushed back into the apartment and her eyes blurred with tears but she refused to let them fall,she had to be strong if she wanted to find her mum. Nasty thoughts filled her head,mostly about her father. She couldn't help but wonder if her father had a hand in this. She just hoped he hadn't decided to finally get rid of her mother during her absence. She shook her head as if to make the thoughts vanish. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all this,there just had to be.

She went back to her mother's room to look around a bit more properly, see if she could find any clues linking to her mother's disappearance. Her eyes instantly fell on a note that was taped to the wall. She rushed to it and snatched it up, wanting to know what information it held and if it could help her find her mother.

The note read:

This is Antonio Giovanni, the head of the Cosa Nostra. Henry Winston who sadly happens to be your fool of a father borrowed the sum of 15 million dollars from me and has absconded with my money. My people are on the look out for him and I know he will be caught soon but mio caro, how can I just sit back and wait until he is caught? I need some leverage and his wife,Gerda seems like the perfect collateral. I'm addressing this letter to you bella ragazza, I give you two weeks to come up with my money or else you will never see your precious madre again. In plain English, I will kill her and come after you next. I've seen your pictures and I can tell you'll be of really good use,especially in my bed. So you'd better get working to provide my money. Two weeks is all you have and the clock has already began ticking, tick tock,tick tock,tick tock................

Allegra held unto her chest for dear life as her heart jumped to her throat as she read the letter. The tears that had been gathering finally poured down her cheeks in torrents. She so wanted to pinch herself and wake up,realizing this was all a dream and she was probably late for work. She pinched herself with the last bit of hope she had which quickly evaporated when she still saw the note that had given her such bad news in her hands.

She fell on her knees and cried, what else was she to do? She was only 18 and she had graduated high school a few months back. She worked two jobs that were barely able to cover all their bills so how was she supposed to come up with 15 million dollars in just two weeks,it was absolutely impossible. But at the same time, she just couldn't sit back and watch her mother get killed by those evil people for her father's mistakes. And it wouldn't even end there,the letter said that they would come for her too and she didn't want to imagine what they would do to her. The thought made her skin develop goosebumps.

The fact that her father had managed to put her and her poor mother into another sort of trouble only intensified her hatred for him. If he couldn't be a good father or a good husband, he could have at least disappeared from their lives instead of trying his possible best to ruin it. All her life,Allegra had been through a lot of hardships, courtesy of her father and from when she could fully understand things,she had began fearing the concept of love and marriage, even abhorring it.

Since she was little, she had watched her father verbally abuse and beat up her mother and she wouldn't be able to do a thing, only cry and plead with him to stop but he would only slap and throw her aside, not caring if she sustained some kind of injury or not.

When she was thirteen, she had stood up to him and got the beating of her life that day. She told her mother she would not keep quiet anymore, she was going to get her father arrested and finally out of their lives. Her mother pleaded with her to do no such thing, even making Allegra swear on her life not to say a word of her father's abuse of them to anyone.

Gerda bore the domestic violence quietly because she was scared of what her husband was capable of,he always threatened her that he would kill Allegra if she said anything to anyone but she couldn't tell Allegra that, it would only worsen her already bad view of her father. Allegra was unhappy about the promise that she had made to her mother but she kept it anyway, not reporting any of her father's actions to the police.

When Allegra was fifteen, she had made sure her father stopped torturing her mother by threatening and blackmailing him that if he dared touch her or her mother ever again, she would make sure he went to jail forever. She didn't even know what she was doing then but she had already resolved in her mind that the violence had to stop one way or another and surprisingly, Henry stayed away from Allegra and her mother and they were finally free. He barely came to the house, only staying once or twice in a week and Allegra couldn't have been happier. The consequence was that all the responsibilities fell on her mother but Gerda tried to work hard to care for herself and her daughter.

But sadly, the several years of quietly baring the physical abuse, had taken a huge toll on Gerda's health,making her weak and sickly. The doctor advised that she rest and keep taking her drugs if she wanted to stay alive. Too much stress would certainly be detrimental to her health so Gerda had to quit her job. Allegra being the ever understanding daughter that Gerda would always be grateful for, filled in the gap and began working while still attending high school.

It was very hard on her because she was young and many people refused to give her jobs because she was underaged but she still managed to strive, doing any job that was available to her just as long as she got paid. Through that, she was able to take care of herself and her mother.

As soon as she graduated high school, she took two jobs,not even allowing the thought of university to cross her mind. She knew it would be impossible for her financially and even if she miraculously got a scholarship, she couldn't bare the thought of having to leave her mother.

All had been going on well for the both of them so far until Allegra had to find out just some moments ago that her annoying father had borrowed 15 million dollars from the head of one of the most fearsome mafias in the world and vanished with it,leaving her and her mother to bare the wrath of the Mafia. Her father was indeed heartless, he deserved death if he was found but she couldn't think about him right now, all that currently mattered was saving her mother but how on earth was she supposed to get such a heavy amount of money. 

The thought worried so much and she felt her head vibrate in a migraine, she instantly began to loose her breath as a sudden claustrophobia set in. She felt like the room was closing in on her and she just needed to get out and go somewhere far away, just to breathe and gather her thoughts.

Without thinking twice,she ran out of the room and out of the house not even having a destination in mind. She just needed to go,to get away from all her problems, to forget everything. She ran for all she was worth.