After the death of his wife, Roberto moved away to another country with his daughter Gabriella, preventing her from meeting an unmerited fate from 23 years ago, an unforgettable night that almost cost him his life, love, and happiness. Gabriella isn't happy about the relocation and struggles to fit into her new life. But then she meets Nicola, a mysterious guy who keeps secrets about his life and is hardly associated with anyone in school. She tried to beat whatever she was feeling for him because she didn't want to be involved with anyone who didn't have regard for people. But the more she had trouble in school, the more he rescued her, and the more her feelings kept growing. Gabriella finds out about Nicolas's secret one night and tries to stay away from him for her safety. But he tells her all about the mystery of his birth and they become close. Friendship becomes a desire, a desire which brings a revisitation of the past as Gabriella's dad finds out who Nicolas is and how his existence is connected to the scene of twenty-three years ago. The hunt becomes haunted as Gabriella's dad tries to save his daughter from becoming what he had most dreaded.
View MoreA long way to New Orleans
"You know, you can't ignore me for the rest of the journey Ella." Eyes on the windscreen, Dad tried starting up a conversation again for the umpteenth time. "eventually you would have to speak to me."
'Till then I guess.' I had decided to be mute throughout the journey to New Orleans, not to get the worst out of my dad, or play a pity party, but because I was the pity party. We had a good life back home, well, at least. I had already started making several friends after years of being timid and being called a 'weirdo' in high school. There was Lucy, Carla, and Kelvin, all of whom made my high school years quite bearable. And of course Josh, the only boy I found fascinating and had fantasized about having a big wedding and several cute babies with.
Mom had died from a gas explosion at work when I was five, the police tried investigating the scenario but got no lead or evidence as to how it happened. Ever since then, Dad became a shadow of himself, trying to live off work, home, work again, then home. It was a circle, a long repetitive boring circle.
"I told you why we had to leave," his voice sounded more apologetic this time. "Help me out here Nanny," he grunted.
"Caro Mio, give it time," Nanny whispered from the back of the car seat.
Nanny Tabbs was the only one who always reminded me I was Italian each time she spoke to Dad. She had become a major part of the family after Mom's death, occupying the office of a mother to both I and Dad, and a cook.
I sat still, hoping to be quiet for a few more hours but got retracted by the ticking and tapping sound of our car almost coming to a halt.
"You have got be to kidding me," Dad said under his breath.
"What's going on?" The first words that whistled out of my mouth since we left home and zoomed off on our way to a land full of uncertainties. "What's the problem?"
"I think we ran out of fuel," he said.
"What!?" I screeched. We were in the middle of nowhere for heaven's sake, and what now? FUEL!!?
"Oh great! This is just great," I continued in my not-so-good but very devastating state. We not only ran out of fuel but couldn't find a place to get one because we were miles away from a filling station, 'Could this day get any better'.
"Common! Common! Common!" Dad said with gritted teeth trying to restart the engine of the car, but failed.
"Cavolo!" he swore, hitting the steering of the car hard. I watched him from the side of my eyes, wanting to help ease some of his burdens, but my pride had already sprouted out pink branches. So I sat still, darkness already embracing my eyes, 'Could it get any better'.
*********
"Hey! You waiting for someone?" a rusty old voice brought me back to my pickle.
"Not really man, I just ran out of fuel" Dad seemed to be excited to see another human aside from me and Nanny.
"Oh, that's rough," the stranger said, removing the cigarette from his mouth so the smoke could have a getaway. "They ain't no filling station nearby."
I moved a little to have a better look at the stranger. He was old quite alright, and for nobody's sake, I prayed that the young woman by his side wasn't his wife.
"I have got some fuel at the back of my truck I could share." he came down from his truck diverting my attention to the young girl at the back. She was as pretty as the woman at the front of the truck, and was the same age as me I could tell.
"Oh boy! You just saved a life." My dad's smile was huge enough to host a couple of wasted teenagers who were looking for more shots and a crib to crash.
I stared at the woman and the young girl again while Dad was getting the fuel. Maybe he was her brother or uncle. I didn't want to picture such a gorgeous woman on top of such a fella every night. The thought alone was sickening to my stomach.
"Grazie Signore," Nanny's excited voice breached the highest sound of a ding-dong bell, signaling me to also extend my appreciation.
"Grazie Signore," I said.
He raised his cap as a sign of a cordial relationship "Safe travels my people."
"You too my friend, Thank you." Dad stood as he watched his savior zoom off in his truck.
The next few hours in the car were quiet, except for Nanny Tabbs who hummed a lullaby mom used to sing to me when I was a baby while knitting her apron.
"Baby baby don't cry, don't you know there's someone who loves you and watches over you"
"Baby baby don't cry, you are more beautiful when you smile "
As the song continued, I wondered what my new home looked like, I wondered what Clara and Lucy were doing right now, did they miss me? Did Kelvin finally ask Brenda to prom? Did Josh ever think of me the way I thought of him?
"We are here!!" Dad finally said after hours of a long silence in the car.
The house was much bigger than the old one, and the neighborhood was quiet. We got out of the car and started offloading the luggage. I had taken quite a lot for someone who didn't want to resettle in another country.
I could tell from the inside that there was a lot of work to be done. The wooden doors that led to several rooms were all broken, and pieces of paper and rags were littered on the floor. The kitchen had a leaking sink and a pipe that needed to be fixed. The ceiling in the sitting room was deteriorated and covered in thick layers of filth.
I sighed, hoping my room was at least going to bring a little joy to the already ruined day. Moving past the troops of dirty rags and littered paper, I stepped on something hard that felt like a glass. I reached out to pick it up and was astounded by what I found.
"Nanny," I called out. "Come see what I found."
Nanny Tabbs came in rushing, trying not to step on something harmful.
"What is it child?" she was almost out of breath.
"Isn't it beautiful?" I said, looking lovingly at the frame on my hands.
"What's the commotion about?" Dad said from behind Nanny.
"Ella found something," Nanny pushed me forward to meet Dad with the frame on my hands.
I couldn't have heard the words correctly, maybe I heard them wrong. But they came stronger.
"I said throw it away!!" he said again, angrier, sweat dripping down his face, his eyes lost all emotions. I had never seen Dad look that way before, he looked fearful, like he saw a ghost. I stepped backward, wondering why Dad freaked out about seeing the picture of a child and a werewolf under a red moon.
Two months later“Hurry up! We are going to be late!” Claire screamed from down the hall.“How did she get to dress up so fast?” Ariana asked. Lola opened the door from outside. “Hey you guys, I think we should hasten things up, or else we would miss the speech.”We hurried along with her, excitement surging through our bodies. It was the graduation ceremony. Nico was graduating! I was super excited about it because he had several fallbacks in school that made him re-take a lot of classes, extending his year of graduation.“What took you guys so long?” Claire examined us.“Sorry Claire, we were just trying to get prepared for the ceremony,” Ariana smiled.“Are we done with the chit-chats?” Lola was getting impatient. “Alrighty then, let's go!”“I thought you said we were going to miss the speech... the ceremony hasn’t even properly begun,” Ariana frowned when we got to the ceremony ground.“Well... better late than never,” Lola shrugged.“I don’t think that’s the best way to use tha
“Would you stop pacing around and glancing at your watch nonstop?” Lola said. “You are making me lose my cool you know.”“Yeah... you are keeping us on our toes here,” Claire agreed.I had finally told them everything that happened during our visit to see the witch. They were most excited about the demise of Elena. Telling the pack on the other hand was a hard choice to make, but we had to make it. Nico called for a meeting and the pack was informed about the progress and conditions involved.“As the leader of this pack, it's my rightful duty to choose what’s best for us. But I also must lead you without spite and a regretful heart. The condition brought to us by the witch is not one that we can control. And it would be selfish of me to do this without telling my pack about it. That’s why I have called this meeting, to hear from you brothers... and sisters,” Nico’s voice thundered with authority. “What your take is on this... and whatever we decide as a clan shall stand... no matter w
It was shiny like they had been soaked into a bowl full of glitter. I looked at the tiny bottles as we drove back home. The cure.It was finally in our hands, but somehow I couldn’t help but wonder if we made the right choice. Was the cure going to cause a feud between brothers and friends just like Agnes said? Was it going to bring death? Was it going to get to its final stage of completion? “If after forty-eight hours the blood of a willing hunter is not mixed in the potion, the potion ceases to be active. And don’t bother about coming back here to look for me... because you won’t find me.” She vanishes into thin air after laying the potion on my arm.I looked at the potion again. It had already been mixed with my blood and that of Nico’s. Now it was up to my Dad. Forty-eight hours.#I held on to it tight, like my next wake depended on it.****“Are you sure about this ?” Nico looked at me with concern.I nodded. “It’s now or never Nico.”“You know the last time all three of us we
Nico drove at a speed that made my inside turn. We informed the pack of our search and they offered to tag along, but we told them it was something we had to do by ourselves.“Remember, when it looks like danger is lurking, howla at us,” Lola made a wolf joke.Ariana and Claire were also aware of our trip and they offered support in the only way they knew how to. “If anything goes wrong, just call us and we will dial 911 straight up!” Ariana said.“You can’t bring the police to a werewolf and witch fight,” I reminded them smiling.“Oh... that’s right,” she gave a cringed look. “But still,” her eyes spewed concern. “Be careful.”“Promise to come back to us,” Claire said.“I promise.” I hugged them. After a few hours on the road, Nico, like he was reading my mind, chuckled. “What funny,” I asked him.“Nothing. I was just wondering why they all made it look like we were not coming back.”I laughed. They did make it look like that. Everyone reacted in a way of love that was easy for them
The familiar smell of grilled barbecue stung my nose. The noise in the restaurant was never changing. Customers still ranted about their orders, and servers hurried their way to please. “You mean you can’t remember those group of chatterboxes who sat down at that table two weeks ago?” I asked the waiter, already frustrated.“No Ma’am. It's impossible to remember the customers we have here in a day because we are highly patronised,” he bragged. “Not to talk of the ones from weeks ago,” he shook his head sympathetically. “They were like four of them,” I continued adamantly. “Three elderly men and one woman,” I searched the waiter's eyes, waiting for a positive reply.He shook his head. “Nope... nothing Ma’am. I am so sorry,” he picked up his iced drink and resumed his duty.“Let it go, Ella,” Nico sounded drained.“Let it go?” I shouted, and then realised I might have drawn attention to us. “Let it go?” I repeated in a calm voice. “Why would you say that? You know how much this means
“Wait, so you guys killed Garry?” Claire asked confused.It had been a week since we heard last from Elena, and everything seemed to have gone back to normal. I was back at the dorm and so was Lola, except for the time when she needed to go get stuff from her coursemate or go buy groceries, which I knew was a BIG FAT LIE!Ariana and I were cool again, and we were closer than ever before. The tension had tied between us, and they had learnt to accept me for who I was. Dad on the other hand was still finding it difficult to adjust to my new development. He never picked up his calls or replied to my voicemail. Nanny was more welcoming than he was, and she always invited me to come over for the weekend, but we all knew how disastrous that would turn out to be at the end.“No, we didn’t,” I tried to pass a clear message to Claire for the umpteenth time. “I wasn’t a wolf at that time, but I knew of their secret. There was a werewolf hunter who was sent to hunt them down and kill each one of
Relief washed over me as I stared at the pack that gave me so much pride. Finally, the time was here and there was no turning back now, not even for Elena.Elena stared at them for a few seconds and burst into laughter. “I see... I see what you did there,” she looked at me. “Very clever.” She turned to face Nico. “And what makes you think your little friends can stop me?”“We might not be able to put an end to your existence... but we can stop this foolishness of yours,” I said, opening my palm to release my claws. There was a distraction now, so whatever move I made, I was sure to have the backing of my clan. I cut through my net with my claws and landed on the floor with my feet. Claire and Michael looked down at me, I could almost see the surprise in their eyes, but this was no time for pity party or storytelling. I quickly removed the knife from my pocket and aimed at their net, setting both of them free.“You are out-numbered Elena,” I turned to face her. “There is nowhere to hid
The building smelt rusty and reeked of herbs and portion. A typical witch den. We searched all the empty rooms but couldn’t find Ariana or Elena.“Any luck?” I asked Claire. She shook her head in response.“Are you sure about this place?” Michael was beginning to get uncomfortable.“Yes I am,” I said. “My Dad gave me this location, and he is sure about it.”“Are you sure about your Dad?” Michael’s impatience was rubbing off on me in a very displeasing way.“Well if you think this is not the right place, why don’t you go ahead and find the right one then,” I snapped.“I didn’t say that,” he tried to deny.“But you assumed it,” I retorted.“Guys, guys,” Claire tried to ease the tension. “We are not even halfway there, and we are already fighting. How are we going to get Ariana back if we continue like this? aren’t we supposed to be together in this?”Claire’s words sunk deep, reminding us of the reason why we were in the god-forsaken building in the first place. “Now,” she continued whe
The silence in the study amplified the beat of Dad’s heart, I could hear his breath slowly leave his lungs, his feet turning cold and his eyes lifeless. “What are you doing here?” there was a spite in his voice that I could not ignore. “Who let you into this house? Aguiella!” First time I heard Dad yell Nanny’s name, and it was not in a pleasant way.“There’s no need for that,” I lowered my voice, hurt by how quickly Dad wanted me out of the house. “I won't be staying for long,” I searched his eyes. “I... I just need your help.”“Whatever it is you have come for, I am sorry to say, but you have wasted your time. I don’t need you to be here, I don’t want you to be here now leave.” There was nothing calm about the way he said it, even though his voice seemed calm. He steadied his eyes on me, and I searched for the tenderness it once had, but it was gone!Of course, I knew waltzing into Pa’s house wasn’t just going to be a walk in the park. I didn’t expect to be specially treated now tha
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