Chapter Eight
1067 Words
The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.
~F.Scott Fitzgerald~
Mia
Mrs. Luiz abruptly stopped walking. I almost collided with her back. She turned around to face me, pointing at the room one step to our right. Her face contorted in fear, making me feel like I was about to face a firing squad. And maybe in a way I was.
I nodded to her even though she hadn't said a word. I stood by the door, nervously smoothing out imaginary wrinkles on my dress, waiting for my heart to stop beating so loud.
My hand trembled as I knocked on the door, my stomach feeling as if it was about to fall at my feet.
"Come on in" Stefano voice called from inside. I took one look at Mrs. Luiz who'd been so kind to wait with me before pushing the door open.
Stefano sat behind a huge desk; the chair pushed back a little not to squash his potbelly. He stared menacingly at me without saying anything, and I shook uncontrollably under his glare.
He was doing it on purpose - making me uncomfortable. He wanted me to be scared. He was feeding on my fear. I silently thought, fighting the urge to lean against the door.
"Sit down," he said eventually.
There were three other chairs in the room. One was directly opposite him and the other two placed on the opposite side of each other but a little far from him.
I took a slow step to the one next to the door, arranging the dress around my knees as I sat down.
"Don't make me angry Ursula, sit next to me." I fisted my dress on each side with both of my hands as I moved to the seat he directed. I noticed, for the first time, that Stefano did not have a specific eye color. His eyes were lifeless and mean, devoid of any emotion.
"I need to ask you some questions, and I warn you to tell me the truth" he instructed, pulling some kind of forms from a drawer on the left. I stared on top of his dark gelled hair wishing for lightening or a tornado attack, anything to get me out of this.
"How old are you?" He asked, looking down on the form other than me.
Shouldn't he know that if he was my father as he claimed?
"Nineteen," I said, my voice shaking. He chuckled, scribbling it down. I wondered what it is about my age that prompted the chuckle.
"Have you gone to college?"
"No, my mother didn't have the money to take me through college" he lifted his head then, staring intensely into my eyes until it started making me uneasy.
"Are you a virgin?" I gasped in shock. I must have heard him wrong.
"I'm sorry what?"
"Are you a virgin?" He repeated.
Why in god's name would he ask me that?
Was my virginity or lack thereof any of his business?
I didn't answer for a few seconds; I was still very much in shock. My first thought was to lie, but he had explicitly warned me not to and I was sure- as the night is dark- that the repercussions of lying to him were something I needed to avoid.
"Yes, I am" I whispered, humiliated that I had to sit here and talk about my virginity with an ugly old man who had no business asking something as personal as that.
"Nineteen and a virgin?" His tone sounded dangerously skeptical" looking the way you do?... You wouldn't be lying to me, would you little girl?"
"No, no, no, I'm not lying, I'm telling you the truth." I pleaded with him, closing my eyes as I fought tears.
"Then you don't mind if I got a doctor down here to confirm, would you?" I blinked, fighting the urge to cry and beg him on my knees.
"Please Mr. Stefano, I speak the truth" I begged, closing my hands over my breast in a protective stance. But he ignored me because he picked up the phone on his desk and ordered a Dr Manuel to his study within five minutes.
Unconsciously I started to shake in fear and shock, Stefano just sat there with a smirk, enjoying my fear. Less than five minutes, a bespectacled man of about fifty years entered without knocking. He wore grey trousers, a blue shirt, and brown shoes that had walked their share of miles. His hair was rumpled as if he had just woken up, his eyes as disoriented as his face was confused.
"You called?" He asked, moving his eyes from me to Stefano's.
"Yes, she says she's a virgin, and I need to know if she is telling the truth."
If the man was shocked, he didn't show it. Instead, he turned his attention back to me, his old eyes turning molten as he stared at my thighs. I felt dirty again; will this never stop? Men staring at me like I was a delicious piece of meat.
"Sorry this one can't be your old guy, I have big plans for her" Stefano said, pushing his chair back as he stood up, laughing boisterously, tapping the doctor's back playfully.
The doctor motioned me to get up. I followed him in a room that resembled a small clinic. Both pairs of eyes turning to me like they expected me to know what to do. I could feel Stefano's impatience and anxiety, prompting me to wonder why my virginity was so important to him and what kind of plans he had for me.
I shivered convulsively, my eyes wide as I was told to strip down, climb on top of a small bed in the room, and open my legs. I did. Humiliation and shame run through my whole body, yet I did not cry. Not a single tear. I forced myself to be still, stared sightlessly, and waited for them to finish looking and poking at my v****a. I was sure I would break down someday, I knew I would want my revenge, but wishing and fulfilling that promise were two different things.
I was just a small girl in a foreign country, and Stefano was a king in his way surrounded and feared by an army of vicious men.
- Writer
