Marble In Ruins

Sera

Cold air cut through the blood coating my hands as I dropped the knife I held and backed away from my father’s body. The plastic-lined room was stained crimson, the coppery tang of blood stinging my nose as I blinked to clear my vision.

A dream. Just another dream. Right?

“You little bitch,” Giuliana Ricci laughed from the chair she was now tied to, her frail form replacing my father’s limp body. “You think killing me is enough to get rid of me? Whose house do you think this is?”

She lunged toward me, the ropes around her wrists dissolving into dust as the room shifted and swirled. I flinched, blinking into pale gray light, and felt the weight of baby Michael in my arms as I watched a priest preside over Mikey’s funeral.

“Wake up,” I begged myself. “Please, wake up!”

The weight in my arms disappeared, replaced by a heavy sense of nothingness. I looked around at the shadowy figures who’d replaced the family and friends gathered for Mikey’s funeral. Red roses were scattered at my f