Alessia was jolted awake by the sound of a gunshot. Gunshots were unusual in their neighborhood, and this one seemed close. Then she heard someone scream. It was Mona Lisa.
"Mona Lisa!" Alessia fumbled as she unlocked her bedroom door. Just as she reached the living room, she heard a loud crash.
"Are you all okay?" came the voice of a middle aged woman. Their neighbor, Mrs. Smith, had smashed a vase over Marco's head. Alessia saw Mrs. Smith's troubled expression, and her heart warmed. Mrs. Smith, their late mother's friend, had always looked after them since the incident but couldn't take them in as she had four children of her own.
"Is everyone safe?"
"Yes, we're all safe." Alessia looked at the unconscious Marco. How did she get entangled with a man like him?
Soon, they heard the blaring of sirens. "I called them," Mrs. Smith said. After the police and Mrs. Smith left, the trio entered their living room, cluttered with mismatched furniture and the faint scent of new wood and dust. An old faded family portrait hung on the wallpaper decorated wall, right above the TV.
Lisa walked rigidly towards her couch, still pale. After sitting in silence for a while, Alessia turned to Matteo. "What did you do for a man with a gun to come to our house?" She choked as she bawled.
Alessia slowly raised a finger like a child who felt guilty for breaking her mother's favorite chinaware. "That was my boyfriend."
"You have a boyfriend? A murderer at that?"
"He's not a murderer. We've been dating for about seven years now," Alessia whispered, looking everywhere except at Lisa.
Lisa gasped in horror as she turned her gaze back to Matteo, then her brows furrowed. "You knew?"
"It's a long story."
"A decade-long story is sure long!" she yelled.
"It's all over now," Alessia coaxed. She knew Marco must have misunderstood her masked saviour as her new boyfriend, but she didn't expect him to barge in with a gun at midnight.
"Over? You think your murderer boyfriend won't come back?!"
"Do you think I wanted to be with someone like that?" Alessia burst out, standing up from where she sat.
"Are you going to give those old hag talks right now? Really?!" Lisa climbed on the couch, raising her chin.
Matteo, who seemed to age by a decade every time the girls fought, took a deep breath. "Girls, it's midnight," he begged with his palms clasped before his face. He grabbed his twin sister by the arm and threw her over his shoulder.
"Put me down. Let me give that bitch a piece of my mind!" she said, hitting his back.
Once he got to her room, he lowered and dropped her gently so she could sit on her bed. The room overflowed with posters of rock bands, shelves adorned with numerous video game figurines.
"Now you know why Alessia is always anxious when you keep obsessing over delinquent kids. Alessia faces more than she says."
Lisa was a pampered child who was oblivious to life's struggles. Alessia had provided for them since they were kids so that she never felt inferior to children her age.
"Don't feel bad about it. That's what Alessia doesn't want."
"I thought she was just being so harsh because we have no parents."
She looked at her collection of Avengers merch and Final Fantasy figurines.
" I feel so stupid right now."
"Well, you have to play it cool, okay?"
"Okay. I'll be good from now on."
"Good girl," he said, patting her hair. Matteo laid her down and covered her before stepping out.
Alessia was still in the living room. "Can't sleep anymore?" Matteo asked as he brought a tray with a glass of water.
Alessia sighed before downing the glass of water. "Are you okay?"
"I am," Matteo assured her with a smile. "You should go sleep. Is Lisa okay now?"
"Yes. I told her a bit about your situation."
"It's fine."
The next morning, the twins came down as Alessia prepared breakfast. "Let's have breakfast," Matteo said, breaking the silence.
"Sis Alessia, I'll be good from now on."
"Just shut up and eat. Don't make promises you can't keep," Alessia said between bites. "Have you heard anything from the police?"
"Mrs. Smith called this morning to tell me he's been released," she said nonchalantly, causing Matteo to sigh.
Just as the duo wen out, Alessia checked her work email. "Wow, he probably had them write it at midnight. It's here already." Alessia chuckled, looking at her termination letter. Her fast-rising, bright career had just collapsed before her eyes. Alessia scanned her ten-deck high award shelf and sighed.
The next three weeks were spent looking for a job. Despite her stellar resume and CV, the interviewers never got back to her. She didn't receive even one response.
She was on her usual job hunt one morning. She dragged her bedside drawer open and took some chocolates as she dialed her best friend's contact. Sofie had been her solace for the past three weeks. She was her friend and human diary since college. Sofie was a successful freelance anchorwoman.
"Let's meet at Lateo café. I know you're cooped up in your bed, munching on chocolate bars as you wallow in your misery. Step out now."
Alessia just chuckled as she got out of bed. Soon, she was at the coffee shop, ordering an espresso. The coffee shop was cozy, filled with the aroma of freshly ground beans and the murmur of soft conversations. She looked out the window, watching people pass by.
Sofie's heels clanked softly, turning heads. She strutted towards Alessia before flipping her hair as she sat, and like that, everyone was pulled out of the short trance they fell into. They sat together as Alessia filled Sofie in, who responded with gasps, curses and clenched fists.
"I'll enroll you in more self-defense classes. You have to kick that asshole where the sun never rises once, or you could blast it with a gun" Sofie said, earning a chuckle from Alessia.
"Well, I bring good news and bad news. Which one should I say first?"
"The bad, of course."
"I'm going far away."