Burning Heart

CHAPTER 1

I’ve waited so long for this.

My twenty-first birthday is in a couple days and I have finally saved enough money to live my dream and go to Europe. Yes I know it's a cliche dream so many people have, but not everyone gets to. I tape the last box in my old room and move everything up to my sister's attic, as I look around I think back on everything that has happened in the last few years.

My parents, although never really admitting it, never wanted me. They originally only planned to have one, maybe two, and when they found out that their first born was going to be a boy they were so happy. A couple months before the due date mom is getting her check up when surprise they find baby number two, and soon here comes Andrew and Ariana. After them, they decided to have my dad snipped and the rest is history. Well that is until my mom got pregnant again twelve years later. Dad didn’t think much of it considering that they were told that there would be a slight possibility that something like that would happen, until the day I was born. My mom is fair skinned, curvy, with dark blonde hair and green, dad is average height white blonde hair and green eyes also. Both my brother and sister also inherited those genes as well with their hair being just a lighter shade of blonde than my mothers. Then here comes me, fair skin, golden brown hair, and blue eyes with freckles splashed across the bridge of my nose.

Dad began questioning mom on a daily basis, soon those questions turned to accusations, and those turned into fights. I’m surprised they lasted until I was seven. By then Andrew and Ariana were already nineteen and off to college, I was left alone. I was put into foster care where life was even more s**t until I was about ten when my brother and sister were finally able to get custody of me and we all lived together until Andrew met his now wife. They married when he was twenty-four and she was twenty, they now have two beautiful boys (yes twins) and just bought a house. Ariana and her fiance have been nice enough to let me stay with them even after turning eighteen, but I feel like I've become a burden on them and they need their own private space now.

When I was seventeen I was bored one day, typical loner shut-in with no friends and no social life, decided to join an online pen pal site on a spur of the moment type thing. I bonded with a guy a few years older than me all the way in Italy and emailing each other became a regular everyday thing. Even to this day we still talk and have become best friends, he also inspired the idea to travel to Europe. He talked about his home so much I started dreaming of seeing it for myself one day. Just then my phone pings pulling me from my daydreaming and I open it to see that *D-Costa*,my friend emailed me.

*I hope your day has been going better than mine. So far my uncle is on my ass again about how I’m running the family business. I think he’s still pissed that my father left it to me as young as I was when he died. Between you and me, I have this feeling he might try and take it from underneath me. He's been acting kind of off lately. I wish I could see you, my little bird.*

I smiled at the nickname he gave me, and typed my reply.

*Not much better, but your day definitely sounds like it sucks worse. I’ve been keeping busy for a while now, packing up a few of my things to store away. Sorry I don’t have much going on to tell.*

“Byrche! Lunch is ready!” Ariana called from the kitchen.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and climbed back down and skipped through the house.

“Well someone seems chipper. Did ‘D’ message you finally?” I nodded happily as I sat at one of the island stools.

Ariana set a plate of steamed carrots, grilled chicken and mashed potatoes in front of me telling me to eat. I eat everything except for the carrots, I hate carrots, so I threw them to Cricket my sister's yorkie. My phone chimed again.

*Packing? Are you moving? And you are far from boring little bird.*

*Not moving, I'm just going on a trip.*

*Ping*

*What kind of trip?*

*Self discovery*

I helped Ariana clean the dishes as we laughed and talked about all I would do and see in Italy. Finally 3 o’clock came and I headed back to my old room and laid down in my bed and went to sleep. My plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 11pm. I emailed ‘D’ to let him know that I wasn’t going to be able to message back for a while, after putting my phone on my charger I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It only felt like I was asleep for a few minutes, but when I opened my eyes it was dark and the clock on my phone read 8:30. I rushed to take a shower and grabbed my already packed bag and ran downstairs to my sister. We all jumped into the car and drove off to the airport, once there Ariana and Greg took me as far as the security gate where we said our last goodbyes and I boarded my plane.

********

Jesolo Italy.

Not very well known or as popular as Venice or Rome but it's still just as beautiful. The first thing I did when I got off the plane was go for a walk on the beach. It was around noon when I landed so the sun was high and the air warm. After an hour I went in search of a hotel or anywhere to stay and came upon a small little hostel. Just as I was about to lay down and get comfortable I suddenly remembered that my phone was turned off and I had yet to check it. As soon as I turned it on I instantly receive an email from ‘D’:

*Be safe little birdy, and don’t forget about me.*

His message pulled at my heart a little, i’ve grown so accustomed to him even though we’ve only communicate through email that. In the past couple years I think i’ve fallen in love with him. I took a deep breath before replying, I wanted to tell him how I felt about him but I have always been afraid of the rejection, of possibly losing my best and only friend. So instead I sent him a few short words.

*Never. You’re the reason I smile everyday.*

Then I dozed off into sweet dreams.

I ended up sleeping through the rest of the day and all the way through the night until the late afternoon. As the sun set I decided to go and do some night exploring and see where I end up, it is my birthday after all. Grabbing my things and saying goodbye to the young woman at the front desk and headed out. I soon found myself walking along the beach again just admiring the lights of the boats docked and a few out sailing, the crescent moon was bright overhead and so were the stars. But my lone peace and quiet was interrupted by three guys who had somehow snuck up behind me.

They started talking, I don't know whether it was to me or amongst themselves because they were speaking Italian.

“Sorry, only english.” I said looking over my shoulder.

I caught a glimpse of them but barely since there was little to no light, and they looked disgusting and greasy. And they smelled horrible. My phone pinged and I read the email ‘D’ sent.

(D)

*Happy Birthday little bird, hope you are enjoying it :) *

I smiled, he never forgets my birthday, and I replied.

(ME)

*Thank you :) it's been interesting and fun so far, until I started being followed.*

I hit send and then a second later mentally slapped myself at realizing what I had just written.

(D)

*What?! Are you okay?!*

(ME)

*Yeah I'm okay. I just acted without thinking again and now I'm in a foreign country walking around late at night looking for an adventure.*

(D)

*Foreign country? You aren’t in the states anymore?*

(ME)

*Jesolo Italy. You talked about your home so much I dreamed of seeing it for myself one day, now I'm here.*

(D)

*That’s sweet little bird but I wish you would have told me. It's still very dangerous especially in foriegn lands to be by yourself. I care about you very much and don’t want you to get hurt.*

He cares about me. His words made me smile even more as they warmed me. I was about to respond when a strong meaty hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. Now face to face with them men the smell that was coming off them was rancid and pungent, their clothes worn and dirty and evil in the eyes. They spoke in Italian so I couldn’t understand them, but I could tell it wasn’t pleasant. The other two stood on either side of me and slowly inched closer. The one who still had a hold of my shoulder reached his other hand up to touch my face, I saw an opening and took it. I had been taking self defense classes up until a month ago for the past few years and they really paid off right now. I stomped on his foot and shoved my knee into his groin causing him to release me and drop to the ground. The other two were still in shock as I ran away but could soon hear them chasing after. I ran through the sands and made it to the docks and ducked onto a yatch that was just setting off, there was no light other than the far front deck and the inside corridors where the captain was steering.

There didn’t seem to be anyone else on board as everything sounded quiet, except for some soft melodic music playing from somewhere. My stomach growled and I remembered I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch the other day, so I braved sneaking through the ship until I found a small kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets until I found some bread and lunch meat in the fridge. Looking around a little more I found a bottle of very expensive whiskey and sat at the table eating. I took a sip from the bottle and the liquid feels warm and burns as it goes down and I start coughing. Yeah I don’t think I like alcohol that much.

There was a door leading from the kitchen to further down below deck and I could hear muffled laughter and voices. Curiosity getting the better of me I tiptoed to the door and cracked it open a little, just enough to hear what was going on. I sounded like some sort of secret meeting was taking place and I could just barely make out their words.

“Cosa ci fai qui bambino?!” a gruff voice spoke from behind me.

I spun around to face a tall burly man in a dark suit who reached out to me and grabbed my arm as I tried to run away. He shouted what I believed to be a string of curses as I bit down on his hand, he let go only to back hand me, the blow landing on my eye. I tried to fight back but failed as the man landed two more punches to my face, and I fell to the ground spitting out blood.

“Chi sei?” he said, grabbing me by my collar.

“Inglese.” was all I could stutter.

All he could do was laugh, his face was just close enough for me to catch him off guard, I threw my head forward making contact with his nose and I heard a crack as he dropped me. I hit the floor and bolted, I ran until I hit the edge of the ship and the seriousness of the situation set in. how could I be so stupid to forget that I’m on a ship? Many footsteps came up from below deck and I turned to face the small group of men that were now staring at me.

There must be about six men. They all wore black suits, were very tall and very muscular with buzz cuts, I felt small and fragile in comparison. Then one man who wore a gray suit with a white dress shirt stepped forward.

He is slightly less muscular than the other men, an average build with a more professionally businessman type look with his glasses. His short black hair hooded his gray eyes in messy waves.He scanned me from head to toe taking in my dirty appearance, his gaze finally stopping at my face, gently rubbing the tender areas.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” he spoke with a thick Italian accent.

“I’m here by mistake. I’m from america and came to Europe for a change of scenery and was stupid enough to wonder around in the dark alone. Some disgusting men started following me so I ran and hid in the closest place I could find. So now here I am.”

“And which one of my men did this to you?”

I didn’t say anything.

The man in the gray suit looked at me with questioning eyes, he pulled out his phone and began typing in something, a few seconds later my phone pings. I locked eyes with him not breaking contact as I took out my phone and read the notification. It was an email from ‘D’ , I opened it and read:

*Little bird?*

My eyes widened in shock as I looked from my screen and back up to the man in the gray suit.

“ D?!”