La Rosa

Alessias POV

Schwak! The sound of my face twisting to the side as Signor Sirrano slapped me continuously. His family insignia ring cut into my cheek and blood started pouring out. The pain made me collapse on the ground.

“Ah, Signore Sirrano, please,” my voice was hoarse from begging all night long.

He used his hand to drag my hair up, pulling some strands from my scalp and I flinched.

“How dare you steal from us?” he spat out.

“Signor Sirrano, I swear on my Mother’s grave I did not-”

Schwak! He slapped me again and blood pooled in my mouth. He punched my stomach hard and I fell on the ground, darkness starting to overtake me. Signor Sirrano and the guards laughed like this was a fun sport for them.

“Lock her in here. Let her rot. No food and no water until she nearly starves to death and tells us the truth of where La Rosa is.”

He spat on me again and walked out of the dark, dingy cellar with rats running about.

For three days I was taunted, abused mercilessly.I drifted in and out of consciousness. My body bruised and broken. My lips chapped and bloody, and hunger biting at my insides.

On the third night the door was opened silently and I cringed thinking it was Signor Sirrano coming back to finally finish what he had started. But a single torchlight lit up Gio’s face. I sighed in ease ; because he had always been very kind to me.

“Your mother saved me once,” he whispered. “Now it’s my turn to pay it forward.”

He cut the rope that was binding my wrists together, gave me some water, and showed me the way out through the back dark alleys.

“Go, Alessia. Don’t stop or look back. May Dio be with you.”I nodded my head and squeezed his hand once.I wanted to thank him but my mouth was cracked and my lips were bleeding . I was just happy to be out. Tears stung my eyes as I gingerly walked out body protesting in pain, and barely able to walk but alive…

When it rained, it poured. This was the first thing that came to my mind as I stood under the unforgiving Manhattan downpour, getting soaked.My body was still weak from the torment in the cellar, I could barely stand.

Even now the name La Rosa makes my chest shiver with dread and shame. La Rosa da la vita, as it was fondly called, was a rare artifact that brought long life and vitality to the owner. It was passed down generations, and only one had ever been made by a well known sorceress called Natura. She was long gone now. People had visited her coven from far and wide to recreate it, and the answer remained the same. Creating the first one for the Sirrano family nearly killed her. It was an eye for an eye, as their Matriarch had saved her back in the days from the cruel hands of death, so she created it as a gift.

No one had that kind of power needed to create another. No one alive anyway. I shivered, pulling my wet cardigan tightly around my slim frame. It was sealed in a glass chamber with only one key to open, and I was tasked to keep the key and clean the chamber a duty that had been passed on to me by my mother when she died. A duty I had now been dismissed from… Oh Verde, Mother would turn in her grave if she knew of this.

Enough. Tired of feeling sorry for myself, I started walking into the night, hoping to find a small, dingy hotel to rest and skip out of town as soon as I can.

I shivered, staring at the dark streets ahead and the thugs across the street. “Dios míos, protect me,” I whispered, holding on to my rosary for dear life. I kept on walking, sighting a small hotel a few blocks ahead.

As soon as I reached the hotel lobby, I stepped in quickly, taking a deep breath.Attempting to shake off the excess water from my body. I shivered, and the cold was seeping into my body. I looked around the lobby quickly and found it empty. I walked toward the vending machine, got some spare cash from my bag, and bought a soda and crisps before walking quickly to the reception. A dingy clerk with the name tag Bob sat behind the counter with his legs on the table, eating crisps. I rang the bell, and he raised his head up.

“Hello, princess,” he said, looking at me with beady, shady eyes as if I was his wet dream come to life.

“Urhh.” I shivered in loathing. If I had any choice, I would not be here begging a dirty man like you for a place to lay my head.

“May I have a room, please?” I rummaged around in my bag for my last paycheck. At least

it should tide me over until I knew what I was going to do. I found a $20 bill and placed it on the counter.

His dirty fingers slid up and carried the money.

Yuck. Bile rose in my throat, but I swallowed it. Now was not the time to be snobby; I needed to get out of my wet clothes quickly.

He picked up a key and handed it to me.

“7A. Enjoy your stay,” he said, giving me that shady look again.

“I doubt if I will, but I don't have a choice,” I muttered under my breath, accepting the key.

I climbed the stairs and located my room at the far end of the corridor. I slipped inside and closed the door behind me, falling to the ground, shaking in sorrow. My gaze moved around the room. It was clean, but it reeked of vodka and sex.

I took off my wet clothes and reached into my overnight bag for the only extra pair of jeans and top I had. “I will need to buy some clothes soon,” I muttered to myself, drying my wet clothes in the bathroom that looked like it hadn’t been washed in weeks. I glanced at my surroundings in disgust; it would have to do for now, as the most important job I had was to stay alive to prove my innocence.

I sat on the edge of the bed, holding my rosary, when a sharp sound froze me in place.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three raps against my door. My heart slammed against my ribs. Have there discovered that I escaped already ?Had Bob already sold me out? I sucked in my breath, listening. The knocks came again, harder this time.