Mattia

"Here," Tia pulled the comforter higher up to cover my arms. "You have a few more days before it's been a month. Doctor said that after that you can start to move around a little." She gave me a small smile, her eyes full of hope.

"Uhhum." I nodded, as though I had no voice.

I knew that Tia was trying to make me feel better, but her 'few days' were actually almost two weeks. I still had almost two weeks to go before I could start to move around.

Two days had passed since I had last seen Nuelle. Did I feel bad about the way things went between us? yes. Did I care? yes. Was I going to admit that? I was contemplating it.

"How's Nuelle?"

Surprised by my sudden question, Tia looked up at me with a frown before she answered me. "She's— she is doing okay. She just tried to help, you know?" She questioned rhetorically.

I gulped as I leaned back down into the pillow, my eyes automatically closing. I never meant to be a complete asshole to everyone around me, but seeing their pain only made me feel worse about myself and the fact that I constantly needed someone around me to be able to do the simplest things did not help either.

"I'll let you rest, yes?"

With my eyes still closed, I nodded. I only opened them when I heard the door shut. Pulling the covers back down, I reached for my phone. Endless notifications of text from employees, associates I had not spoken too in the last decade and long lost family members filled my screen. I quickly scrolled down, hoping to see at least one of the person I hoped would contact me, but— none.
No messages from Gia.

Was this payback for all the times I had done her wrong? Was I so horrible to look at that she would not even come to see me? Or was it because I could no longer walk?

Sadness and anger coursed through me and within a blink of an eye my phone went flying across the room, crashing into the wall.

The door was pushed open, revealing Marco behind whom Tia was standing. They took one look at the phone that was no longer in one piece and then they looked at me.

There it was. The look of pity and worry. They pitied me. Me?

                               //—//

Emmanuelle

I had just made my way into the kitchen when a 'bang' came from Dimitri's room. I halted on the spot and soon after I was joined by Marco and Tia.

"I'll deal with it." Marco groaned.

"I'll come with you." Tia said, though she started walking before he did.

I leaned back against the wall, just a few meters away from the door. The last thing I wanted was for Dimitri to see me, but curiosity got to the best of me. I quietly watched as they entered the room before I moved closer to it, still keeping myself out of their sight.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Marco growled.

"Marco—"

"GET. OUT." Dimitri screamed and interrupted Tia.

"You need to get your shit together and stop acting like a fucking child. CAN YOU DO THAT?"

I could hear Tia's soft voice, trying to talk Marco out of going ballistic. But, it was far too late for that.

"We are doing all that we can to help you, but all you do is try to make it more difficult and I've had it. You don't want to eat? Fine by me, starve then. You don't want to go to the doctor? Cool, stay in this damn bed for eternity."

I sprinted to the kitchen when I saw Marco storm out of the room. My attempt at fleeing was useless, because he still caught me.

Tia came into the kitchen with tears in her eyes. The woman was really going through it. I hated Dimitri for making her feel like she was not doing enough. She was doing more than she needed to.

I raised to my feet, giving her a hug.
I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself. Was this the family I so desperately wanted to be a part of? To have a brother who acted like he was the only one who was suffering in this situation and another that could not control his emotions? To have a sister that was slowly disappearing?

"I can't—" Tia gulped. "They are too much."

I knew that it took a lot for her to admit that.                              

"You should take today off."

Her eyes widened at my words. "No. no. no."

"You need to rest. Who will look after him when you get sick?" 

She lowered her gaze to her feet. For a woman who was in her late sixties, was suffering from intense back pain and was now two weeks into playing nurse for a man who was at least a foot taller than her and weighed twice if not three times her weight— she was bound to burn out.

I had her sit at the table and served her breakfast like she served me everyday. I stayed with her until she had finished eating and then did the dishes. With my arm around her shoulder I walked her to the living room where Marco, Christoph and Emillio where having a discussion.

Once we had reached them they stopped talking and Emillio excused himself, saying that he was going to head to the supermarket for grocery shopping. Tia or Ms. Lorna would normally go with him, but Ms. Lorna had the day off and Tia was in no state to leave the house which is why he went alone.

Christoph left us as well, he disappeared into the backyard doing God knows what.

"Why do you argue with him? You know how he is."

"Why do we constantly have to worry about his feelings? Do ours not count?"

Marco's fists balled, his jawline looked sharper than usual. The anger was slowly consuming him. The fun, likable person that I had encountered when I came back was almost completely gone.

"I know, but he's—"

The front door was pushed opened and the sound of Marissa's heels clicked against the floor. Anthony strolled in behind her, his arms carrying multiple bags. They had wide smiles on their faces as though their family was not at the edge of falling apart. Tia sighed and turned towards the TV.

"Where the hell have you been all morning?"

"Chill, man. I took her out to clear her mind." Anthony answered Marco before Marissa had opened her mouth.

Marco sarcastically chuckled. "Clear her mind?" He licked his lips as his eyebrows raised up. He chuckled again. "Wow— okay. So, you two have been clearing your mind for two days?" He opened his arms up as though he was waiting for a hug. "We have been dealing with his shit and you've been clearing your mind?"

Both, Marissa and Anthony looked down.

"You know what? I've had it with you people. You want to neglect your family and clear your mind. GO AHEAD."

Marco stormed off, closing the door with a loud bang behind him. In the midst of the complete silence that surrounded us I could hear one of the cars start and race out the driveway.

"Tia—"

"He's right." Tia cut Anthony off. "This is too much. For me too. I can't look after him on my own. You get scolded once and you drop everything. You think he doesn't talk to me like that?" She glared at both of them. "You have been with your brothers all these years and now that he needs your help you don't help him, because of his attitude. The same attitude that you have." Her index finger was pointed at Marissa like a gun.

"Why would you—" Anthony was ready to fire back, but he was once again interrupted.

"And you," She shook her head at him. "Four years you stayed with us, we come here for a few weeks and you forget who you are. You want to clear your mind? Do it while you help around." Her eyes traveled between the two off them. With this said she walked off, heading to the stairs, leaving the three of us speechless.

Once Tia had left us Marissa had released the tears that she was trying so hard to hold back whilst Tia was talking, though we could clearly see her watery eyes. Anthony pulled her into his chest, cooing her and calling her sweet names to cheer her up.

I reached for the remote and turned the TV off again, throwing the remote on the couch as I stood up.

"What happened?"

I turned around, slightly annoyed. "Too much."

Tia's speech had pulled a trigger in Anthony and Marissa, because they found their way to the kitchen and started making dinner.

A few hours later Tia came down. The four of us were eating in silence when Marco walked in, tipsy. He was not as drunk as the last time I found him in the library, apparently he did not have enough to drink to momentarily numb the emotions he was going through.

"Again." Marissa mumbled under her breath.

Tia was about to stand up and talk to him, but I stopped her.

"Let me." They were all surprised at my willingness to deal with him, but this was not just about Marco. I needed to talk to him about the last time his alcohol brought us together.

"Can you guys help Tia with this and Dimitri?"

They nodded in accordance. I wandered around the house and found Marco sitting in the backyard by the pool. He was intensely staring at the still water whilst I slowly approached him.

"Didn't think you'd talk to me again." He bowed his head down.

"I—"

"You want to be a part of this family when everyone in this family wants to get out of it." He continued, cutting me off.

I gulped. Every time he was drunk he would say random things that would take me by surprise and make me ask myself what is actually going on in his life. As much as I wanted him to explain why he had acted the way he did towards me, it did not seem like the right time.

"Why do you say that?"

He smiled and looked up at the sky. "No stars."

"Marco, answer me. Why do you say that?"

He looked at me. His face, emotionless and his lip was slightly cut.

"The hell happened?" I frowned as I took his face in my hands, pulling it closer to mine to inspect the cut.

"Why do you care?" His warm breath grazed my lips. I took a step back at the smell of the alcohol. I did not want a repetition of the last time we were together under these circumstances.

"You need to stop this. Dimitri is hurt, Marissa is—" I threw my hands up.

"Dimitri?" He sarcastically smiled. "I don't know any Dimitri." He hiccuped. "I know Mattia. Dimitri died when I was nineteen. He died—" he gulped. "—when father died."

"Okay, come on. Get up or would you rather sleep out here."

He attempted to stand up, but before I could help him he had dramatically tumbled into the pool.

"Shit." I gasped.

I groaned, because it was far too cold for a dip into the pool but I also could not leave the man out there to die. Luckily he managed to pull himself out of the pool before I had jumped in. He laid flat on his back, gasping for air and slightly shivering when I extended an arm towards him.

He did not think twice before reaching to accept my help. I pulled him to his feet, though it felt like he was helping himself more than I was helping him.

He rubbed his eyes that were now less red. His face was fresh again and he looked awake, making me feel better about the whole 'should I help him or not' debate I was having with myself.

He looked down at me, staring into my eyes. He took his lower lip between his teeth and let out a sigh.

"You need to stop getting drunk. You can't call out the others on their decisions when you come home shitfaced every other night."

His left eyebrow arched up, but he remained quiet.

"Come on." I led the way back inside, seeing Marissa, Anthony and Tia sitting in the living room. The air seemed to be cleared between them.

Their eyes widened at the sight of a soaking wet Marco standing next to me.

"I shouldn't have blown up in your faces like that." He stated, looking at Marissa and Anthony before he walked upstairs without giving them the chance to say anything back.

"How's the other one?" I asked.

"He doesn't want food, let him starve then." Marissa shrugged.

I stood in silence for a while, having another debate with myself when the words flew out of my mouth before I had time to truly process them.

"I'll take care of it." I said.