Punishments

Danielle

He kills the engine and turns to face me.

Feeling confined in this narrow space, I take a deep breath before I start to talk. “My mother, my brother and I went to visitation twice or three times a week. At fifteen you have these stupid moods, so once I didn’t go with them, because, I don’t know…“ I lift my hands to let them slump back into my lap. “I think I just went shopping with Loredana and Angelica. My mom got very angry, but she and Giulio went alone and as they came back, she told me that my father was heartbroken that I had missed the invitation. So, she had to go on and tell him the truth.”

I move my hand up to catch a tear, falling silent again, as I don’t want to start sobbing in front of him.

“What truth?” Giovanni asks calmly, and I shrug, pushing out a deep breath before I continue speaking.

“She had told him that I was angry and that I was disappointed in him. That I never wanted to see him again because I didn’t want to do anything with him, the family or