“Do whatever you want, I don’t care!”
She did not fall for it and burst out laughing louder. “I’ll also ask him what business you do together. You’ll see that I will make him tell me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Nico muttered in a shallow tone.
She blew him a kiss. “We will see.”
He counted the money and hid them. He divided them into three different places; to be sure she could not find them, not all of them at least.
He ate a pizza that he ordered at home. Now that it was not necessary, he did not want to venture into that unknown city. He watched a bit of television then waited. He did not even approach the mother’s bed, in the end, he went to sleep in his storage room, but he didn’t undress, always alert and ready for any eventuality.
He would not bear that she can carry the man there and begged it not to happen. He would not stand them to make love on that bed in front of him. He would rather have gone away. Something rattled him, but he did not know what. Jealousy, maybe. But who was jealous? Who of the two? He had never been in a similar situation before that moment. He wanted to do something, prevent it from happening, and protect someone. Who? Who needed protection?
Katia arrived at two o’clock in the morning, and she was alone. Nico had not slept for even a second. She was drunk and unable to stand on her feet. She collapsed on her knees after just one-step, leaving the door wide open. He was forced to help her and take her to bed. She scoffed only a few unintelligible words and fell asleep.
“He’s a real gentleman, and he likes me.”
Breakfast in bed for Katia; plentiful since lunchtime had long passed. Nico served her silently.
“He likes you? Yesterday you said he was crazy about you and wanted to fuck you. Did you not do it?”
Katia chuckled. “No, I don’t think. It’s not that I have many memories of it. No, he is old-fashioned, and he does not do some things. Not on the first date, at least. God, who you would have thought that there were still guys like him! But he certainly likes me; he has serious intentions towards me!”
“Does he know what you do?”
She looked at him astonished. “No! What’s going on in your mind?”
“Will you tell him?”
“You’re crazy? You did not tell him anything, I hope!”
Nico shook his head. “I never talked about you.”
“Keep it like that! It’s the best thing I’ve ever done so far! We could settle down, do you understand that? You too would earn from that!”
“You’re fooling him,” Nico said, even though it was full of doubt. The man was an observer, how could he not see what kind of woman was his mother. But sometimes the desire makes us blind.
“So? Have we not done worse things? It could be the great opportunity we awaited. He is rich you see how he throws away money; he always has his wallet full. Do you care about him? Is he your friend?”
Nico shook his head again. No, he was not his friend; he did not know what he was.
“Will you see him again?”
Katia chuckled. “Tonight he will take me to the Opera. Do you see me in such a place? Do you see me at the Opera? If they told me I would not believe it!”
“You will have to…” Nico began, then decided to let go.
But Katia understood and smiled. “Ok, granted. For once, you choose the dress.”
The man’s smile was mildly ironic when he opened the door of his house.
“Nice to see you again. What can I do for you, this time?”
Nico did not lose himself in preambles. “Leave my mother alone.”
The man stepped aside, freeing the entrance. Nico remained uncertain for a moment, and then stepped in.
“You’re just misleading her!”
He raised an eyebrow, preceding him to the living room. “What did I do?”
“Take her around! You make her believe she’s what she is not!”
He said it with a lot of agitation that he did not even notice he was addressing the man with confidence. The confidence he wanted to avoid at all costs.
“I can assure you that I wasn’t the one to propose.”
“You are the one who invites her! Every evening! Or did she dream of it?”
“I didn’t say that, but she is too impetuous. She almost jumped on me at the very beginning.”
Nico tried to remain impassive. “And you don’t like this, right? It disgusts you?”
The man chuckled. “I didn’t say that. Maybe I’m too old for such things. I don’t like to hurry; you have to go step by step.”
Nico was not sure he understood. “Do you like my mother? I mean seriously like her?”
He couldn’t believe it, but the man confirmed it. “She is a gorgeous woman that is beyond any doubt. Impulsive maybe, but this is fixable. Yes, a remarkable personality.”
“And… are you interested?”
“Why should not I be interested?”
Nico shook his head, full of doubt. “No, it makes no sense. I do not believe in coincidences.”
The man gave him an innocent look. “What coincidences?”
“You give me all that money, and then you date my mother. It is not possible; it cannot happen by chance.”
He coughed. “Date your mother… well. We only go out together sometimes, what’s wrong with that?”
“It’s not serious then?”
“It’s too early to tell. In these matters, one must move carefully. Love is not a game.”
Nico dropped on a chair.
“It’s crazy! You mean that’s not what you bought? My silence?”
The man burst out laughing. “I didn’t even know your mother existed!”
Was it true? Was he not lying? Nico was no longer sure of anything. But there was something wrong, and he couldn’t relax.
“Since you’re here, you don’t want to see your room?”
He looked up. “What room?”
“I told you! There is a room waiting for you; it’s yours, you can come here anytime you want. I made it on purpose.”
“Come in… what? With my mother?”
“With your mother is another story. The room is for you, just for you. It has nothing to do with what will happen between her and me.”
“A room…” Nico murmured.
It was insane. And he would be crazy to encourage him, to see him, to feed his foolish fantasies. He stood up, almost without noticing it.
The man was happy. “Come upstairs. I’m sure you’ll like it.”
Nico froze, but the man had already disappeared in the entrance, headed to the stairs. He found him waiting at the beginning of the stairs. Once more, he read it into his mind.
“If you don’t feel like to seeing it; you can see it another time.”
The door was just a couple of steps away; he could use it to get away from that crazy house.
“What do you mean it’s mine?”
“It’s yours, I told you. Only yours. You can do what you want. It’s something of yours, completely yours. Do not think where it is. Just think that you have something, and no one can take it away from you.”
It was an absurd speech, with no logic, but deeply impressed Nico. He had never had anything he could call his own, especially a place. Everything in his life had always been precarious and uncertain.
The man had already started climbing the stairs without looking at him, and Nico found himself following him.
At the end of the corridor, there was a door that alone was already beautiful. Cream color with inlaid edges in green and gold. The handle also was incredible, made of bright brass and it portrayed a wolf.
“It’s a brave animal,” the man reminded him, and added, “Go in first. It is yours, remember.”
And Nico went in.
4
His life changed. Standing on the mattress, in that dirty storage room, while waiting for time to pass and that the mother came home drunk, Nico thought about the Room.
“Many things are missing”, he said. “But we can buy them. You will know better than me what you may like.”
It was not true: there was everything, everything, more than what he ever wanted.
“Why?”
“It was a place to take refuge, to live whenever you want. Always remember, you have something. Whatever you do, you have a place to take shelter. A safe place where no one can ever hurt you.”
“Not even you?”
The man laughed. “Not even me.”
That bed was immense and soft. Sitting on that desk made him feel important. And then the carpets, everywhere, one over the other, with glittering colors, rare, precious rugs. And pillows, so many pillows. But what impressed him most was the bookstore. It covered an entire wall, from floor to the ceiling, thousands of volumes, all hardback books.
“I chose them personally, one by one. They are the most beautiful, the best that the human race was able to conceive. Here’s all you can need.”
It was madness, beyond imagination.
And there the man had said a meaningless phrase, which didn’t make sense to him.
“I wish I had it, too, a place like that. Where I could be safe.”
When it happened, Nico had become accustomed to it. Yes, sometimes it’s easy to get used to when things go in the right direction. Accustomed to the fact that her mother was not a whore anymore, that she went out every night with that strange man. Accustomed to the fact that there was the Chamber. Of course, he had never slept there. Indeed, he had never been there for more than five minutes, yet it was hard to stay away from it, the Chamber always followed him. Knowing that it was his that he could go there when he wanted, it generated a sense of security in him.
And he had gone there, almost every day. Hidden, just a quick check. To see it, to be sure it was there. The man smiled but never made any comments.
One evening, a week had already passed; he asked his mother, “How’s it going?”
She mumbled without looking at him. “It going.”
“What does that mean? Will you be together or not?”
She rumbled. “What do I know?”
Nico sighed. “What’s wrong?”
“There is nothing wrong! Max is kind, a champion of kindness. Always ready, always available. Maybe it’s me; I think he doesn’t like me.”
“What do you mean?”
“He has not taken me to bed yet. I do not think so; sometimes I drink too much, and then… he did not. He did not do anything at all.”
“He has his timing. He likes to go step by step. He doesn’t do anything in a hurry.”
She grimaced. “His times! Biblical times! Why do you need to think about shag?”
The conversation ended with those few words. But a few days later Nico, coming home, found an unpleasant surprise.
Windows closed and the lights out, even though it was afternoon: his mother was fucking on the double bed. He crippled on the door, with the shopping bag in his hand, as the groans grew near orgasm.
“Come in and close the fucking door!” his mother yelled.
He did not know what to do; he wondered if was not better to go back and run away. He knew it would happen sooner or later, but that did not comfort him. He had agreed that they would be together, that they would become a couple, but not for this reason he was less jealous. He felt that something tied him to that man, that he was his property that his mother was not supposed to take him away. It was the genius of the lamp, the answer to his prayers, someone who could change his life. Someone who could protect him, save him. And he did not want her to make everything dirty.
Then he saw a mass of black hair and dropped the bag, speechless.
“Would you shut the damn door?” her mother shouted, and then the moans swept over her as the bed trembled.
Nico’s hands were trembling, as he closed the door. There was not the man in the bed of his mother. Not that man, but another one. It should have made him happy, but this only filled him with terror. As if his dreams were crumbling and he was losing everything. He tried to recall the Chamber in memory, but he lost consistency, like the smoke.
His mother lit the lampshade on the nightstand. Another familiar voice said, “Shit, you grew up.”
Nico forced himself not to tremble and turned to look at them. He forced himself to speak.
“Hello, Rocco. I thought you were still in jail.”
Rocco got out of bed, completely naked, and headed for the bathroom.
“I’ve been out for a couple of months.”
There was accusation in the gaze that Nico pointed to his mother, in anger and hatred. Katia lowered her eyes first, but it was not enough. It was a disaster, and there was no way to fix it.
They heard the water running. Katia got off the bed and put on a robe. Then she came to collect the bag off the ground and the food scattered on the floor. Nico stood paralyzed near the door; he dared not to move a muscle. Katia laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry; he won’t hurt you.”
Rocco went back into the room but did not try to put on clothes; he only lit a cigar. Those four years of jail had only worsened his appearance, now he looked like a beast, with a muscular and hairy body. He ignored him. He leaned forward to kiss Katia, near him she looked like a little girl; he then began to put on his pants.
“Do you told him?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
“Hurry up then.”
He did not even have a shirt on, he threw it carelessly on the shoulder, then moved toward the exit, and then toward Nico. He pushed him with a firm hand on his chest, without violence, then shouted at him, “Buh!” and burst out laughing.
Nico did not react even when the door closed behind him as if it was a mechanical doll that was left unloaded.
Katia was dressing up fast.
“I have to hurry; soon he will come to take me.”
“Why?” Nico murmured. “Why?”
Since she did not reply, he continued, “Why now, why him? Everything was working fine, how did he manage to find us?”
Katia was giving him her back.
“I called him.”
The smell of cigar didn’t want to go; Nico was feeling worse and worse.
“You? How could you? After all that he did to us.”
She shrugged, her back still turned. “I didn’t know who to call, I only knew him.”
“But why call him? For what reason?”
She turned quickly. “For your friend! What else?”
Nico was distraught, confused more than ever. “What does it mean?”
Katia came towards him. “There’s a treasure in that house! I was there; he brought me there! There are rare items that are worth a lot, and money, so much money. There is enough to be rich for our whole life!”
Nico felt himself dying.
“But you… you and him… you may have the same.”
She snorted. “And when? When I become old? He doesn’t give a damn shit about me! He didn’t touch me at all. I don’t understand why he insists on going out with me. Maybe you could tell me!” As Nico was paralyzed and unable to speak, she continued: “It would be stupid to miss such an occasion.”
“You called Rocco…” Nico murmured as if he could not understand why.
“Well, he owes to me, after what he did to me!” She tried to smile. “Don’t worry, this time he will not touch you. I told him clearly how things stand.”
Nico shook his head without being able to stop.
“Nico, calm down. Don’t be a baby; this is serious business.”
“Bitch!” he screamed. “Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!”
When he got a slap, he did not stop and continued to shou
t that word. More slaps arrived, and then his mother hugged him, holding him tight.
“Enough! Enough! Nothing will happen! It will not happen again!”
“You did not. You did not protect me, ever. You let him beat me continuously with n reason.”
She remained silent.
“You let him do it because if he beat me, then he would not beat you. You helped him as well. Both of you did it.”
She sighed. “Those were different times, Nico. It was the drugs. We didn’t realize what we were doing. And you were crying always you were annoying. You were so small; I didn’t even know you could remember that again. Now it’s different; we do not use drugs anymore.”
«He almost killed you last time. If he did not go to jail, he would have killed you sooner or later.”
“It’s different now. I have the big occasion; he needs me.”
“You’re a monster; you make me sick!”
Katia came next to him, but she thought that it was better not to touch him.
“He's your friend, right? You fear for him? Who is he to you?”
Nico remained silent.
“Well, stay calm, nothing will happen to him. I intend to keep him out of the house. When he comes back, it will be all over.”
He just turned around to look at her.
She continued: “I saw how the alarm works, I know the combination. I’ll put it out before I leave. I’ve also made a copy of the keys. It will be a breeze. “
“If it was so easy why did you call him?”
He already knew the answer. Katia couldn’t help it. In one way or another, the bastard kept coming into their lives.
“What will happen next? We’ll have to go away?”
What a stupid question he had asked! Nico was getting worse; he felt the urgent need to vomit.
“Yes, but with a lot of money. We will have a good life, finally. Go where we please, have fun.”
He caught her eyes. “With him?”
Katia again failed to sustain his gaze and retreated.
“With him, Yes. But I’m sure this time will be different, he changed a lot. He won’t put his hands on you anymore.”
Nico was unable to resist, not even to think about it; he started his litany again.
The Prison Page 4
