Orso Fiction 022

Orso Fiction 022-Skies Full Of Tragedy
“What’s your name?”, the little girl asked.

“I’m Faustino.”, the boy said, extending his arm out to her. She shook it, her tiny hand eclipsed by his own.

“Why are you here? It’s usually only my sisters, or Miss Sonia that come to visit.”

‘Well, I heard that Miss Sonia had a sick little girl up here, so I figured you might be lonely.”

“You’re nice.”, the girl said. “I’m Rosangela.”

“That’s a big name for someone so little.”, Faustino teased. Rosangela puffed up her cheeks.

“Hey! Adelina named me!”, she said, not quite as hurt as she tried to make herself sound.

“Adelina?”, Faustino asked. “Is that your sister?”

“Yep. She’s the biggest sister. She takes care of all of us.”

“What about your parents?”, Faustino asked, fearing the answer.

“They’re gone…”, Rosangela said sadly. “All our parents are gone, but the big sisters all found each other, and then they found me. We’re a family.”

“A family of people who found each other, huh?”, Faustino said. “Yeah. I know all about that.”

“What happened to your legs?”, Rosangela asked innocently. Faustino laughed a bit.

“Well…It’s a long story.”

“I like stories.”

“Haha, well, you talked me into it…”, Faustino began. “Well, a long time ago, my friends and I were playing outside by the road…and suddenly, some cars began racing past us. We heard some gunshots, and I jumped in the way, to keep one from hitting any of my friends…And a few of them hit me in the back. The doctors did all they could, but they say I may never walk again…”

“…I’m sorry.”, Rosangela said sadly, and Faustino feared he would give the girl nightmares. He began laughing to convince her everything was fine.

“Oh, don’t worry about me!”, Faustino said. “I got a nice scar out of the whole thing. It kind of looks like a skull.”

Rosangela put her hands over her eyes.

“Ewwww”, she said jokingly. “I hate skulls. I like my birthmark though.”

“And what does it look like?”, Faustino asked, expecting a nondescript blotch. Instead, she unbuttoned one button on her shirt to reveal a birthmark that resembled a strangely detailed rose. Faustino whistled.

“That’s some birthmark, kid.”

“That’s where I got my name from.”, Rosangela said proudly. “Rosangela. Rose angel.”

“I see.”, Faustino said. “How…long have you been sick?”

“Um…About a month? We got sick, and after we couldn’t find a doctor for me, Miss Sonia found us.”

“And then what happened?”

“Well…She talked with Adelina a lot…And then they told me not to worry, because Miss Sonia’s brother Mr. Osval…Osval…”

“Osvaldo?”

“Yeah, him!”, Rosangela chirped. “She said he’d help make me better!”

“Good. Good.”, Faustino said with a smile, genuinely happy that she would be feeling better.

“How do you know Miss Sonia?”, she asked.

“I…Well, I met her brother, Mr. Osvaldo.”, Faustino said. “He…”

“Yes?”, Rosangela said, with charming impatience.

“He just promised us a better life.”, Faustino said with a small smile. “I told him I’d love that. I’d love for all seven of us to be able to live a better life.”

“Why weren’t you happy before?”

“We…we grew up with a tough neighborhood. Don’t worry yourself with it. We just needed a second chance, is all. So we said yes, let us know what we need to do…Sometimes, I wonder if it was worth it.”

“Why?”

“You’re curious, aren’t you?”

“Adelina says knowledge is power.”

“She sounds like she knows what she’s talking about.”, Faustino said with a laugh.

“You should meet her! She’s really nice! And really pretty!”” Rosangela said, her young mind alight with imagination. “And if you two got married, you could be my brother!”

Faustino had to laugh at this.

“Oh, you’re just silly.”, he said, looking at his wheelchair. “Besides…it’s not like she’d be willing to…”

“What?”, Rosangela said, after a few seconds. Faustino awkwardly looked back up and stammered.

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it. I was just thinking to myself.”

“You’re frowning…”, Rosangela said. “Don’t you think you’ll like Adelina?”

“No no no!”, Faustino said hastily. “That’s not it! I just…don’t think she’d be too interested, in seeing a guy…like me.”

“But you’re fun to talk to!”, Rosangela said, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re silly.”

Faustino couldn’t keep from laughing a bit at this.

“I like you, kid.”, he said. “You’re the little sister I never had, I think.”

“I like you too, Fausty.”, Rosangela said. “Let’s be friends.”

It was that moment that Faustino swore to himself that he would never let himself see his new life, until he could see Rosangela healthy again.

---

Faustino snapped out of his daydream when he heard the door to the theater open. Osvaldo stepped in, obviously irritated.

“Are they alright?!”, Faustino asked, worried. Osvaldo growled.

“They’ll live.”, he said. “I left them in the back of the truck.”

Faustino wheeled out quickly, and went down the ramp to see a tarp over the back of the pickup truck Osvaldo had acquired somewhere that Faustino didn’t want to ask about. He pulled it up, and saw Baldovino’s bloodied face. He slowly opened his eyes, and smiled, when he saw Faustino.

“Hey, Fausty.”, he croaked. “How ya doin’?”

“Better than you!”, he exclaimed. “What happened?”

“Help me get ‘cido’s knee off my crotch and I’ll tell you.”, Baldovino said. “Old Man Oz wasn’t very careful with us when he heaped us on here.”

Faustino attempted to move Baldovino so he was in less pain, and helped him sit upright.

“There was some guy. I never saw him before…but he just blew through us, not a scratch on him.”

“Was he…one of the Orso?”, Faustino asked.

“No, no, he mentioned some group…oh, shit, what was it…Apostles! That’s it. He said he was an Apostle.”

“What did he want?”

“Hell if I know. He just showed up, beat the crap out of all of us, and left.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’ve just spent the last ten minutes going down a very bumpy road with ‘cido’s knee in my crotch. I’ve been worse, I can tell you that. This is nothing compared to, hell, lotsa times.”

“We’ve had our scrapes…”, Faustino said.

“More than our fair share’s, I’m sure. But we’ll get there. New life, right? That’s why we’re here.”

“I guess so…But it doesn’t feel right.”

“What!? Are you moping about how you can’t fight with us again? You know none of us like it when you spout that.”

“No, not about that…this time. I mean…The Orso. What did they ever do to us?”

“Nothing.”, Baldovino said. “They didn’t do anything to us. But if fighting them is the only way toward our new life…we have to do it.”

“It just feels so wrong…”, Faustino murmured.

“Of course its wrong.”, Valerio said from under the tarp. Baldovino helped him from under it. He sat up and looked down on Faustino. “The world is full of wrong. Does that excuse our actions? No. We must simply hope that our actions when we get our new life justify them.”

“Yeah, man.”, Baldovino said. “We fought so hard to escape the streets of that shithole, so we could turn right around and fix it. When we’re on top, we won’t let anything stop us from making our hometown a half decent place to raise a kid.”

“Even if that includes hurting an innocent man?”, Faustino asked sadly.

“I…I guess, if that’s what has to be done…”

“You don’t believe that.”, Guerino said from under the tarp. The other two helped him out so he could sit alongside them. “You’re too kind for that, Baldovino. Stubborn, reckless, and devoted, those are all things to describe you. Cruel…is not one of them.”

Baldovino hung his head.

“You’re right, Guer.”, he said ashamedly. “I hate it. I hate what we have to do.”

“There are other options.”, Placido said from under the tarp. Baldovino groaned and dragged him out, less carefully than the others.

“What are those, Placido?”, Faustino asked.

“We reason with them.”, Placido said. “I…felt like the Orso are not unkind. We can speak with them. Perhaps they will understand. If they will not provide the specific rings we request, perhaps they will find an adequate substitute for us.”

“That won’t work.” Severo said darkly from under the tarp. Guerino and Valerio, growing tired of this, each dragged him by a leg so he could sit with them. “We won’t get anywhere with words. This world is too unkind for that. Power. Power is all we can rely on. And its power that Osvaldo is offering us.”

“You like working for that guy?”, Baldovino asked. “May I remind you that your face spent the past ten minutes directly adjacent to Placido’s ass, thanks to his haphazard person placement?”

“I don’t like working for him.”, Severo admitted. “But…stealing, the rings, has always been the option I’d prefer. Killing them for their rings would leave a bitter taste in my mouth.”

“So, its settled. We ask politely, then we bargain, then we steal, then we fight. Sound like our plan of action?”, Baldovino asked mockingly.

“We have a lot of planning to do, before we meet with them…”, Placido said. “I propose we get started.”

“Sooner the better.”, Valerio agreed, working his way to standing. Slowly, the five shuffled off, leaving Faustino with the truck. He waited until they were out of earshot.

“I know you’re awake, Alphonso…What do you think?”, Faustino asked. The Cloud Skull immediately pulled back the tarp.

“I think we should find a better way.”, Alphonso said. “We should never have trusted Osvaldo.”

“I think you’re right…”, Faustino admitted. “We should have spoken up.”

“But Severo is right, like he usually is.”, Alphonso admitted. “Strength. That is what we lack.”

“You’re telling me.”, Faustino said bitterly, gripping the handles on his chair.

“Stop.”, Alphonso said. “You know we all look to you to keep our spirits up. We‘re friends. You‘re one of us, whether or not you can join us in battle.”

“You’re right. Thanks, Alphonso”, Faustino said, conviction rising in his voice. “We’ll find a way. We’ll create our new life…and we’ll do it in a way we can be proud of.”

From the window of the theater, Osvaldo watched them, a scowl forming on his face. This was unfortunate. Not unexpected, and certainly not unprepared for, but it was a shame…He didn’t like what he was going to have to do. Not because it was cruel. Because it was costly.

---

Adelina stepped through the door, and Rosangela’s face brightened.

“Adel!”, she squealed, then hacked twice.

“Don’t overexert yourself, little flower.”, Adelina said gently. “Sorry I’m late. We got a little held up.”

“It’s okay. As long as you’re here, everything’s alright.”, Rosangela chirped. Adelina smiled.

“I believe it’s my turn to read to you tonight?”, Adelina asked, and the girl’s face somehow got even brighter. “I thought so.”

She sat down on the side of the bed, and opened the book.

---

“If you want your sister to recover, I have an offer.”

---

“Once upon a time…”

---

“She will not survive the week, if you don’t follow my orders.”

---

“…there were three little bears.”

---

“She will die.”

---

“And those three little bears…”

---

“My brother will be able to save her, but he requires one vital ingredient. He needs the spirits in the seven rings of the Orso Family’s Agents. Do you understand me?”

---

“…went walking through the woods.”

---

“Tom, this is, without argument, the most heartless act I’ve ever seen in my life. The entire south wing of the hospital has been demolished by the explosion. This includes pediatrics…and the maternity ward. It can be said that this attack was directly aimed at women and children.”

---

“They met a troll there…”

---

“What is that?”, a young Ernesta weakly protested.

“It’s a baby.”, an Adelina just as young replied. “Her parents are just like ours, now.”

“We can’t take care of a baby!”, Raimonda, missing a baby tooth in the front of her mouth, exclaimed.

“We don’t have a choice.”, Adelina said firmly. “The second explosion…I would have ran into where it happened, if her crying didn’t distract me. She saved my life.”

“She’s not crying now.”, Nerina, holding a teddy bear, said.

“No…She’s sleeping...like a little angel.”, Orabella, her hair lacking the blond highlights, and tied into pigtails.

“What’s her name?”, Malvolia, her arms in casts, asked.

“Well…I don’t know. I think…I’ll call her Rosangela.”, Adelina said, looking at the curiously flower-shaped burn on her chest.

---

“…but the troll pretended to be very friendly.”

---

“She will die.”

---

“So the bears invited the troll back to their house…”

---

“She. Will. Die. Do you understand me?”

“I understand. I will obey.”

---

“Adel?”, Rosangela asked. Adelina put her finger on her place in the book and looked to her sister.

“Yes, little flower?”

“Why is there blood on your hand?”

Adelina looked down, urgently hiding the spot she had missed when she had cleaned.

“Don’t worry about that!”, Adelina said, trying to fake a laugh. “I had a nosebleed, and I used my finger to block it. That’s all, nothing to worry about!”

She turned back to the book, still covering the dried blood on her hand.

---

“And the troll gobbled them all up.”, Zeke said, licking his lips. He took a step closer to Century.

-

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