Back & Forth | Book 1 of Back & Forth Series

Dinner has finally over. Now we’re walking through the hallway. I’m not sure where we’re going but I keep following Alessandro. Just like before, I have no choice but to hold onto Luciano for support. If I don’t do it, I’m sure I’ll break my ankles. I hope no one is thinking of us in a romantic way. It will be weird considering we just knew each other for two days.

Not far from the dining room, we finally stop in front of a door. Alessandro unlocks the door and then we enter a spacious room. There’s nothing much in the brown-coloured room other than a black grand piano on the left, two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and a seating area near the piano consisting of a dark brown coffee table, a dark brown rug underneath the table, an emerald green settee, and two matching emerald green armchairs. From the look of it, I think this is a ballroom of some sort. This room must not be used often because Alessandro keeps it locked. It seems like he’s the only person who has the key to the room. I’m not sure why. This room doesn’t seem to have anything special inside.

Aunt Emilia and Uncle Emiliano sit next to each other on the settee with Uncle Tomasso while nonna and nonno sit on the armchairs. With no space left on the settee and armchairs, the younger members of the family sit on the rug across the elders with the coffee table in front of us. After Luciano closes the door, he comes towards me and sits on my left.

“Nonna, please tell Allura about our family’s history,” Alessandro says. Nonna already smiling at me softly when I avert my gaze to her.

Here we go. I hope I’ll get the full disclosure of my family tonight. Reading everyone’s mind is going to be a hassle to uncover the truth so they better tell me everything I need and want to know.

“Alessandro has told you a little about us, yes?” nonna asks.

“Yes,” I say, nodding my head a bit.

“As you have already known, your mother doesn’t have any powers like the rest of us. For years, we’ve kept our eyes on her in hopes of witnessing her discovery of powers later in life. Unfortunately, it never happened. Not even our telepathic ability or so we thought. Despite that, we didn’t lose hope on you. We kept watching you and wishing that you’d inherit the family’s power. Surprisingly, you did inherit our blood bound gift.

“I know you were doubtful about all of us earlier. You were afraid that we won’t accept you without your power. Rest assured, nipotina. You are and have always been a part of the family. Nothing can ever change that. Never think like that again. We’re here for you if you need anything,” nonna explains. Her sweet, assuring words warm my heart, causing a pout to form on my face. My own parents never even said something like this to me yet the family I just met tonight has been nothing but sweet, polite, and welcoming to me. This feels too good to be true. It feels like a dream.

“I also would like to apologise that you’re here under such an unfortunate circumstance. Your father’s problem is never yours to solve,” nonna says. In silence, nonna sends Alessandro a look. He only stays quiet, not saying a word as he stares back at nonna.

At first, I thought I was going to suffer more for the rest of my life when I got kidnapped. I literally thought I was going to be sold in an auction and be someone’s sex slave. Now that I know the truth, I’m glad that’s not the case. I guess living here won’t be that bad.

“Kidnapped?!” Matteo asks. I turn to him. Astonishment covers his face as he gapes at me. Everyone stays silence, quite surprised by the young boy’s question. The gears in my mind stop working for a second at the uncertainty of my next move. What should I say? Should I lie or tell him the truth? Well, I guess the latter will be the best move to take. No one minds it anyway.

“Yes, by Luciano. Alessandro told him to do that,” I answer. Matteo then turns to Luciano and Alessandro, frowning at them in confusion.

“Why did you do that?” Matteo says.

“I know kidnapping Allura sounds bad but that’s the only way to get her here fast. Her parents are really bad to her,” Alessandro explains.

“Why are your mom and dad bad to you?” Matteo asks.

Why? I don’t even fucking know the answer. They’ve despised me since birth. I guess one of the reason is they’re angry. Perhaps they’re forced to have me because, you know, societal pressure. I don’t know.

“I don’t know but it doesn’t matter anymore,” I say.

“Okay,” Matteo says. He still seems curious, but doesn’t ask any further questions.

“What’s good about this situation is we can finally see you after years of being apart,” nonna says with a smile.

“Yes. You’re right, nonna. I’m so happy to know that I have a family here,” I say, smiling back at her.

“Likewise, nipotina. Now, let’s talk about our family history,” nonna says.

“Did we get our powers from a magical candle?” I joke. Nonna’s smile widens immediately after she catches the reference of my joke.

“I know what you mean about the candle but no. We’re not quite sure of our origin. We have very limited knowledge about our family because we can only trace back our ancestry to your great-great-grandmother.

“Your great-great-grandmother was an orphan. She’s lived in an orphanage ever since she was a baby. No one knew her mother. When she’s older, around 12 years old, she got a psychic message from her mother. It turned out that she was left in the orphanage for her safety but she never got the reason why she might be in danger. She also didn’t know if her mother was also in danger,” nonna explains.

That kinda sucks. I really want to know the whole story. How did we end up like this? Are our ancestors from another realm? Are they not humans? Are our ancestors half god or goddess? There are so many possibilities about what might be the truth of our family’s origins and history.

“Other than that, your great-great-grandmother discovered the powers in our bloodline through the message. She was told that everyone in our lineage may have different powers but we have one same power, telepathic communication. We also have at least one strong clair sense to keep ourselves from dangers,” Nonna continues.

If everyone has different powers, what are the powers we have discovered? How powerful can we be? I’m curious. Perhaps the impossible is not so impossible after all.

“Just like what I said previously, the family members of our bloodline has at least one strong psychic ability. People commonly refer to it as clear or clair senses. As you may already know from the internet, there are eight known clair senses. However, this ability is not only exclusive to us. Everyone can have it. This ability can be attained and improved through practice,” nonna says.

So, I’m not so crazy after all. I believe that kind of ability exists and I’m right. That’s cool.

“Let’s start with the first clair sense. Clairvoyance is a clear sense of vision. With this ability, one may see premonitions or other psychic information through visual imageries. Second, there’s clairaudience which is a clear sense of hearing. One may hear auditory information such as the sound of a busy sound despite being in the middle of the woods. Third, there’s claicognizance. It is known as a clear sense of knowing. With this ability, one may sense something or gain knowledge without learning about it before. Fourth, there’s clairsentience which is a clear sense of feeling. Most people refer to this ability as a gut feeling. Fifth, there’s clairempathy. This ability helps someone with having a clear sense of emotion. One may feel someone’s emotion clearly as if it’s their own whether if the other person is sad, happy, angry, and other emotions. Sixth, there’s clairtangency. With this ability, one may get information by touching something or someone. Seventh, there is clairsalience which is a clear sense of smell. With this ability, you may smell something although it’s not physically there such as the smell of smoke or someone’s favourite perfume. And last but not least, clairgustance. This ability is a clear sense of tasting. One may taste something like candy or coffee even though you don’t have anything in their mouth at that moment,” nonna explains.

Wow, that’s a lot of explanation. I’ve searched about clair senses before but I never knew about clairsalience and clairgustance. However, I always think I’m a claircognizant, clairvoyant, and clairsentient. I’ve seen something in my mind’s eyes or dreams and then it happened in real life. I also can also feel and know if something’s bad going to happen but not all the time, unfortunately. Lastly, I guess everything correctly almost all the time.

Wait a minute. Is guessing everyone’s names considered as my claircognizance ability? I think so. How did I just realise this? Why did I think of it as reading people’s minds? Now I just realise how different it is between reading minds and getting people’s names correctly. With reading minds, I have to have my sole focus on my target while with guessing names, those names just popped into my head. However, I still don’t understand why I got Niccolo’s twin’s name instead of his when I guessed it. Why? Is he actually Pietro but pretending to be Niccolo all this time? Why would he do that though? Whatever. I’ll find out about the truth later.

“Allura? Are you still with us?”

I look up and see that everyone is staring at me. Damn. I guess I was lost in my thoughts for a while there.

“Yeah. I’m back now. Sorry,” I say.

“It’s okay. These are a lot to take in. So, about our telepathic ability, I’m sure Alessandro has told you about it, correct?” nonna asks. She’s right. Alessandro just told me about that in the afternoon.

“Yes. We can talk with everyone telepathically but with someone outside our ancestry, we must be the one who initiate the contact,” I say.

“Correct. Do you want to stop now or continue? I still have a lot to say,” nonna says.

“I’m fine. You can continue, nonna,” I say.

“Alright. Let’s continue about the powers. So far, none of the men have any superpowers like the women in our family. We’re not sure if the other men before your great-great-grandmother have any powers like the women. However, the men in our lineage do have strong clair senses and telepathic communication abilities. For your Uncle Tomasso here, his strongest clair sense is clairaudience. Years ago, he heard gunshots, shouting, and loud voices from his psychic ability. He then warned Emilia and Emiliano about an incoming attack from our rival. The warning saved your uncle and aunt from the deadly attack minutes before it happened,” nonna explains.

Shit. That’s crazy. I mean, minutes before Aunt Emilia and Uncle Emiliano got attacked? If Uncle Tomasso was late in warning them, they would probably be dead by now.

“The women in our family have at least one superpower. Your great-great-grandmother power was precognition. Whether the future is in close or distant future, she could see them. However, she said that nothing is set in stone. Her vision could changed depending on the actions of the people who are involved in the vision. Because of that, she never told any of us about all the visions she had.

“Your great-great-grandmother lived in the times of world war. Life was difficult back then. For that reason, she decided to only had one child which is your great-grandmother. Her superpowers were the ability to see the unseen and invisibility. With her second superpower, she could also make anyone else gone invisible as long as your great-grandmother hold them. About her children, she has three children. The first child is my older sister, Gianna, I’m the second child, and my brother, Leonardo, is the third child.

“My sister, Gianna, left Italy after she got married at 20. We rarely got into contact with each other but she did come back here once a year but only for five years. After that, she never came back. We lost contact with her again but I just know wherever she is now, she’s fine. Her superpowers are shapeshifting and photographic memory. However, we think that photographic memory is not a power given by our ancestors since there are a lot of people who have this ability. I guess you already know about how shapeshifting and photographic memory work, am I right?” nonna asks and I nod at her in response.

“Alright. I won’t get into details about her powers but her photographic memory really helped her shapeshift accurately into whatever she wanted to be. Lastly, about my younger brother, he unfortunately died in a tragic accident at the factory he worked in at 25 years old. Leonardo is the first man I know in our bloodline. Before he went to work that day, he told me that he felt a weird feeling in his body but he ignored it. That’s a proof that he did have a strong clair sense which is claisentience.

“Now. Let’s move on to me. I’m going to tell you about myself. My strongest clair sense is clairempathy. I’m a healer but I can also inflict pain on others,” nonna says.

“What?! Does that mean you can hurt people without touching them?” I ask.

“Yes. I barely use that power. The first and last time I used that power was to free myself from a robber. That’s it,” nonna says.

It’s interesting that nonna has two opposing powers. She can hurt someone but she can also heal them. If she involves herself in our famiglia’s affair, she could’ve used her powers on our hostages or traitors. Just imagine. She can hurt someone and then heal them. Or maybe someone could break the arm of the traitors and heal them only to break them again. Over and over again until the needed information and confession comes out of the traitors’ mouths. It would absolutely be torturous and painful for them. However, I don’t think nonna would do that. If we use our powers right in front of other people, they might want to harm us more. Damn. The government would probably keep us locked and do research on us, testing us like lab rats.

“That’s a great power to have. It’s a convenience when you’re in danger,” I say.

“Indeed. Now give me your wrists. I’ll heal them now,” nonna says.

“Okay.”

With hesitation, I hold out my wrists to nonna as Luciano moves a bit out of my way. Nonna takes my wrists, holding them gently in her hands. I keep my gaze on my wrists and suddenly feel calming coldness around my wrists. The feeling then dissipates after nonna lets go of me.

“You can take off the bandages now,” nonna says. I sit back next to Luciano and unwrap my wrists. Surprised, I stare at my completely healed left wrist with wide eyes. Luciano takes the used bandage from me and I continue to do the same with my right wrist. It looks equally healed like my other wrist. There are no rope burns and bruises in sight anymore. Nice.

“Thank you so much, nonna,” I say with a grateful smile. This is amazing. I don’t need to keep changing the bandages and wait until the burns heal by themselves.

“You’re welcome, nipotina,” nonna says. Her eyes then move towards Aunt Emilia who’s sitting at the settee next to Uncle Emiliano. I guess Aunt Emilia is next in telling me about her superpowers.

“Emilia. It’s your turn,” nonna says.

“Okay. So for me, my strongest clair sense is clairsentience and I have mind and body control power. I can control people’s movements such as making them punching themselves and turning them conscious and unconscious. I also can manipulate people’s memories and thoughts by giving them false memories, erasing their memories, and make them hallucinate by transporting their minds to another place while their physical bodies remain at the same place. I’ve used my powers when your uncle and I got attacked by our rival. I used my powers to defend myself and kill our rival’s men. I did that by turning them unconscious, shooting themselves in the leg, and other things,” Aunt Emilia explains.

That’s so fucking badass. If I can choose, I want to have that kind of power. It will definitely be useful. So, even though I don’t know any self-defense moves, I can use my power to stay alive. I can also help others to get out of such dire situations.

“That’s amazing,” I say.

“My powers really come in handy when I need it,” Aunt Emilia says with an excited smile.

“You said that you can make someone unconscious. Can I see it happen now?” I ask. The request brightens her face instantly. She nods to me in excitement, willing to fulfill my request.

“Sure! Why not?” Aunt Emilia says. Her gaze shifts to Alessandro, and he suddenly becomes lifeless. Alessio catches his twin before he falls to the floor and then gently lowers him to the floor. I gape at the sight and immediately cover my mouth to hold back my laughter. Oh God. This is too funny.

“You can laugh. It’s okay,” Aunt Emilia says with a smile.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe my eyes. Your power really works,” I say.

“Did you really do that, zietta?” Matteo asks. Aunt Emilia grins at him. “Yes.”

“Cool!” Matteo exclaims.

“Now. You can tell us anything. Don’t worry about anyone else,” nonna says. My smile falters as I remember about everything that has happened in the past two days. Should I tell everyone about everything? Like the threats and the blackmail video? I guess I need to tell them about it. Let’s be a snitch for tonight.

“Earlier in the morning, Alessandro told me that he would sell me in an auction if my father didn’t pay his debt. He went as far as making me a schedule to follow so I would be in good condition when he sold me. However, he ended up telling the truth about who I am in the afternoon. He only said that he was going to sell me just so I can cooperate with him in making the blackmail video for my father,” I explain.

“Worry not. We never involve ourselves in human trafficking business,” Uncle Emiliano says.

“Alessandro also told me about that earlier but thank you for the reassurance,” I say, smiling at Uncle Emiliano. He nods at me in response.

That’s good. If they turned out to actually be involved in human trafficking, I’d rather leave and stay as far away as I could from them. Fortunately, they’re telling the truth so all good.

“What else did Alessandro say to you?” Aunt Emilia asks.

“Alessandro might have told you about this but he tested me to see if I can actually read minds because I can guess almost everyone’s names right. It turned out to be true. I can read everyone’s mind now. Because of that, he told me to read everyone’s mind to help him find the traitors. I haven’t gotten to do that though,” I say. I’ve been in my room ever since the afternoon so I haven’t been able to read anyone’s mind to find our traitors just yet.

Uncle Emiliano’s face turns grim. He’s now looking back and forth between Luciano and Alessio, searching for answers from their faces.

“Do the two of you know about this mole problem?” Uncle Emiliano asks.

“Yes,” Luciano and Alessio say together. Their answer turns Uncle Emiliano’s face even darker and stern. However, it’s not because of anger, it’s more of disappointment. He’s disappointed in them. Not because of why they let the moles to roam free around us but because of them not asking him for help or any advice.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Uncle Emiliano asks.

“Alessandro’s order,” Luciano says.

“What he said,” Alessio agrees.

Uncle Emiliano continues to stare at them. His gaze slowly drifts away from the two men on each of my side. He nods to himself as he stares at the coffee table between us.

“Alright.”

“What happened to your wrists? Don’t lie to me again and say it was an accident,” nonna says. My eyes slowly move to Luciano and then I turn to nonna again nervously. Shit.

“Uh, so, as you have already known, we made a blackmail video for my father. Uh, the rope was tied around my wrists a bit too tight. But it was my fault! I told Luciano to tie it stronger because I still can move around my seat. I want the video to look as realistic as possible so that’s why I told him to do that,” I explain. Nonna’s eyes turn to Luciano. Her gaze is deadly as she glares threateningly at Luciano.

“Luciano,” nonna says.

“No! Don’t blame him. It’s absolutely my fault. Not his,” I say. Nonna turns to me again, her gaze soften but her expression is still stern.

“Alright. If you said so,” nonna says. She then glares at Luciano again and I frown at her. Now I feel bad for saying that. I shouldn’t have told everyone about that. I glance at Luciano and he’s now staring at his lap in guilt.

“Im sorry,” I say to Luciano telepathically.

“It’s fine,” Luciano says.

I know it’s not fine. Luciano doesn’t feel fine now. It’s pretty obvious from the look on his face. In fact, he’s a bit embarrassed, guilty, and nervous. He feels like he might lose his job for hurting me even though it was accidental. Kinda. Shit. This is bad.

“Is that all?” Aunt Emilia asks. I only nod at her, suddenly feeling nervous.

“Okay. Thank you for telling us everything,” nonna says.

Aunt Emilia turns to Alessandro again. His lifeless body jerks and comes back to life as Alessandro regains his consciousness. He pushes himself up and look around almost frantically. He then turns to his mother, scowling at her.

“Why me?” Alessandro asks. Annoyance is clear in his voice.

“That’s for kidnapping Allura and putting her in that room,” Aunt Emilia says, sending him a deadly glare. “Why did you tell her that you’ll sell her in an auction?”

“I told her that just so she followed my plan in blackmailing her father. I’ve told her the truth already,” Alessandro says.

“Considering how Evan has been treating Allura all her life, you should’ve known it would be waste of energy. It’s good that Allura is here and safe now but why didn’t you bring Evan here? Or better yet, just deal with him in his own house,” Uncle Emiliano says.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m wrong about the blackmail. My mind has been all over the place lately. About kidnapping Allura, I’ve said it earlier that I want to get her away from her parents. She’s not only here because of Evan’s debt. I also want her to know that she has a family here. Kidnapping her because of Evan’s problem was a perfect excuse to bring her here,” Alessandro explains.

Alessandro really means it. He really wants to get me away from my parents. We barely know each other yet he cares about me more than my parents. Welp, he probably knows a lot about me considering I’ve been watched since I was born. It feels kinda weird that he probably knows everything about me when I barely know anything about him.

“I understand but you should’ve brought Evan here as well while you’re at it. And about the moles, why didn’t you tell me about it? I’ve dealt with the same problem while I was still in charge of the famiglia. You could’ve at least ask me and your mother for an advice to handle them. How long has this been going on anyway?” Uncle Emiliano asks. His face shows nothing but calmness but inside, he’s disappointed in Alessandro. Not because of his mistake for letting a mole into the organisation but for hiding things from him.

“About three months. I have my suspicions about having traitors in the famiglia after our goods got stolen from the warehouse before we sell and transport them,” Alessandro says.

“Three months is a long time, Alessandro. We’re going to keep losing our money and possibly our loyal clients if this goes on. What have you been doing to find the moles?” Uncle Emiliano asks.

“I’ve hired some private investigators but they haven’t find anything significant,” Alessandro says.

“How much we have lost?” Uncle Emiliano asks.

“40 million dollars worth of drugs,” Alessandro says. Uncle Emiliano’s disappointment is now visible. It’s expected because the famiglia lost so much amount of money only in the span of three months. That’s a lot. I’m getting it’s about 1/6 of our stock but it’s still a lot.

“Alessandro, if you want to keep our business going, you have to catch them soon or we’ll lose more money and customers. Have you discussed this with the capos?” Uncle Emiliano asks.

“Yes. I have. I’m going to stop this. I have a new plan. Allura will read our men’s minds to find the traitors,” Alessandro says.

“Yeah. I’ll help Alessandro. I can start by reading the minds of everyone who lives here,” I say.

“Thank you, Allura. You just got here and know us but you’re already willing to help,” Uncle Emiliano says. Despite the vague look of fatigue and stress on his face, he looks very grateful of my willingness to help the famiglia.

“It’s no problem. I really want to help. You’re my family after all,” I say, shrugging with a smile. Uncle Emiliano only nods and shoot me a little smile.

“I can help you with that,” Aunt Emilia says. Alessandro lets out a sigh and frowns at his mother.

“Mamma, you don’t have to,” Alessandro says.

“Why? Do you think your father found the moles by himself back then? No. I helped him. I will gladly do it again to help you,” Aunt Emilia says. That would be awesome if she can help me figure out who are the traitors but Alessandro is the one who has the say in this. He’s the boss and he’s the one who decides everything.

“Time’s ticking, Alessandro. Don’t waste more of it. Let your mother help you,” Uncle Emiliano says.

“I’ll come to you for your help if I need it. I promise. Besides, this will take days and you’ll only be here for a couple of days. I don’t want you to waste your time on this,” Alessandro says, not accepting his parents’ help.

“Alright. Suit yourself, figlio. I expect you to find at least one traitor at the end of the week. After that, your mother and I will help and you must accept,” Uncle Emiliano says.

“Alright,” Alessandro says.

“Shall we continue talking about Allura now?” nonna asks.

“Sì, mamma,” Aunt Emilia says.

“Alright. Alessandro, you misinterpreted Allura’s good guesses as a mind-reading power. However, that’s not completely true. It’s your strongest clair sense, Allura. You’re a claircognizant. The good thing is, it helped you figure out that you can read minds.

“Tomorrow, I’ll put you on some tests for figure out other possible powers you might have. These tests are not a hundred percent effective but that’s the only way we can help you to find your other powers,” nonna says. I hope the test won’t be something crazy.

“It’s almost ten now. Go get some rest and prepare yourself. We’ll see you again tomorrow for your tears. That’s it for tonight. Does anyone else want to add something?” nonna asks. Everyone shakes their head in response.

“Alright. Let’s go to sleep now,” nonna says.

“Good night, everyone,” Aunt Emilia says.

Everyone gets on their feet, ready to leave the room. My lack of balance causes me to fall back on the floor before I have the chance to get on my feet. Seeing me struggling, Luciano helps me by pulling me up.

“Thanks,” I say.

“You’re welcome, princess,” Luciano whispers. I whip my head around and look around the room only to find Alessio and Alessandro staring at us. Alessio already has a stupid grin on his face while Alessandro furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Everyone else already leave the room, leaving the four of us.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t know why I said that,” Luciano says, letting go of my arm.

I look at the door. At the same time, I find Aunt Emilia sticks her head into the room. She looks around the room and then glares once her eyes land on Alessandro.

“Alessandro, don’t forget to move Allura to one of the rooms on the third floor,” Aunt Emilia says. Her voice has a hint of threat in it.

“Sì, mamma,” Alessandro says, rolling his eyes slightly at his mother. Aunt Emilia turns to me, giving me a sweet smile.

“Good night, Allura. Sleep well,” Aunt Emilia says.

“Ciao, zietta,” I say. Aunt Emilia sends Alessandro one last glare before leaving us again.

“Come on. Let’s get you to your new room,” Alessandro says.

“Okay.”

“Uh, here. Hold on to me again,” Luciano says. I silently loop my arm through his, looking at my cousins nervously. They only stay quiet, walking past us and leave the room.

We walk upstairs all the way to the top floor, the third floor. From what I’m getting, everyone’s bedrooms are on this floor. Aunt Emilia is right. There’s so many bedrooms in this house yet Alessandro chose to put me in that damn room for laughs.

Alessio goes separate ways from the three of us. While we take a right turn, he takes a left. Alessandro, Luciano, and I keep walking down the hallway. Alessandro stops in front of a double door. At the end of the hallway, there’s another double door, probably leading to another bedroom. Perhaps it’s Alessandro’s room.

Alessandro opens the door in front of us and switches the lights on. I look into the room and my jaw falls to the floor. The room is big. So much bigger than the guest room on the second floor. The interior is also a lot better than the other room. If that’s room is pretty, this one is exquisite. Thank goodness. I don’t have to stay in that cursed room anymore.

“This is your room. Go to sleep now. Good night,” Alessandro says. He stares at Luciano and I’s intertwined arms for a second. He then stares at me with an unreadable expression before leaving Luciano and I alone. Alessandro goes to the room at the end of the hallway and step into the room.

“We’re neighbours now,” Luciano says.

Neighbours? Shit. The thought of being steps away from Luciano causes my heart to beat rapidly in my chest. I’m not sure why. It’s so strange. Do I have- no. No. Absolutely not. There’s no fucking way that’s what’s happening now.

“Which one is your room?” I ask as I let go of Luciano’s arm.

“That one,” Luciano says, pointing at the door across my room. Shit. We’re absolutely neighbours. So close. Too fucking close.

I clear my throat, my cheeks turning hot from my own thoughts. Why am I like this? What the hell is going on with me? Calm down, Allura. You’re neighbours with Luciano now then so what? It’s nothing.

“Cool,” I say awkwardly.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Luciano asks. His smile and gaze are oddly soft and warm. I take in a deep breath, calming down my nerves. Now I’m finally back in my nonchalant mode.

“Maybe. Unless God decided to take my life tonight while I’m asleep,” I say, shrugging. Luciano’s smile falters at my pessimistic words.

“Allura. Stop with that nonsense,” Luciano says.

“It’s not nonsense. It’s true. God always has plans for us and one of them is death,” I say. You’ll never really know when is your time to leave the mortal world. It could happen as sudden as the next second. It’s inevitable.

“I know that I’m not a psychic like you but I know we’ll see each other again tomorrow. So, don’t ever say something like that again,” Luciano says.

“You just said you’re no psychic so how would you know that for sure?” I ask.

“Because I’ll pray to God you’ll wake up tomorrow,” Luciano says.

“Too late. I’ve already prayed for Him to take my life tonight,” I joke. If that really happened, then it’s already my time to leave.

“That’s a shame,” Luciano says, faking a frown to go along with my joke.

“Until then, goodbye.” I say. Without wasting another second, I quickly step into my room and close the door. I turn around and marvel at my room once again.

The room has a classic yet modern style, just like the rest of the house. Broken white colour dominates the room. Almost everything in the room is white except some furnitures and the bedding.

On my left, a flatscreen TV stands over a broken white wooden TV stand. Before it, there’s a seating area with light brown sofa and broken white wooden coffee table with a vase of fresh flowers on it. The ccurtains on the other side of the room covers the windows on the other side. They are light-brown coloured, almost like the colour of the sofa.

On my right, a broken-white-coloured king-sized bed covered with brown duvet with pillows in different shades of brown. On each side of the bed, there’s a nightstand with a lamp on it. Behind the bed, there’s a partition wall behind it, separating the main bedroom to the other side of the bedroom. Next to the door, there’s a bookshelf and a vanity desk. Various books adorn the shelves but I’m not sure if I’ll be reading any of them. The books are classic literature, not something I usually read.

I walk past the partition and find three doors there. One of them is leading to the balcony. I approach the other two doors that are next to each other. The one in front of me leads right into a spacious bathroom. Right across the door, there’s a shelf filled with fresh towels and rolls of toilet paper. On its left, there’s a sink counter and a cupboard on the further left side. At the end of the room there’s a bathtub next to the window facing right at the backyard. On my left across the sink counter, there’s a separate toilet and shower cubicles with glass doors. This bathroom is wonderful. I might spend hours in here just chilling in the bathtub with candles giving the room a dim lighting. Now, let’s see the other room.

I step out of the bathroom and enter the door on my left. It turns out to be a walk-in closet. A quite large one. Almost as big as the bathroom. How many fucking clothes can fit in here? Back at my parents’ house, I only have a two-door-wardrobe and it fit all my clothes. Well, I don’t have many clothes there so it’s reasonable.

I stare around the shelves of the room, feeling like I’m missing something. Something in my mind then clicks. It’s my stuff. I forgot my stuff in my other room. I better go and get it now. I don’t want to sleep in this dress or nothing at all. Anyway, fuck these shoes. You’re absolutely gorgeous but you’re also a pain to wear.

I slip off my black platform pumps and feel the cold marble floor underneath me once I step on it. With caution, I step out of my room barefoot, my hands hold up the long skirt of my silky dress. I look around the hallway. There’s no one in sight. It’s empty and vacant.

I quickly walk down the hallway and go down the flight of stairs towards the second floor. I get into my previous bedroom and everything still stays where I left them. I get everything on my bed and my stuff in the bathroom and put them all in the paper bags.

Well, I guess that’s all. Oh wait. My sneakers! I almost forgot about them. I put them on quickly and go back upstairs. With the feeling of someone chasing me, I run up the stairs and get into my room.

Phew. That was close. The stairs monster didn’t get me. I’m safe from it once again.

I ignore my scary thoughts and get ready for tonight’s sleep. After washing my face, brushing my teeth, going to the toilet, and changing my clothes, I put the dress I wore earlier into its garment bag. I hang it in the closet and then get onto my bed after turning off the lights.

Finally. I hope tomorrow will go well even if I don’t get more powers through the rests nonna has prepared for me.