"I- I don't really know how to talk about myself, but I'll try.
I was brought up by my mother who was a widow since my father passed away when I was just two years old. I grew up in the small town of Amalfi Coast in Italy.

The town was beautiful with clustered, small houses on top of heavenly looking hills, the mesmerizing light of the Sun casting a gleam upon the white washed houses at dawn and dusk giving it a golden hue; the calm yet alluring blue waters and the amazing architectural landscapes and designs.

But my life changed when I turned twelve. My mom met a rich business tycoon who was ill and because my mom was a doctor, she treated him and that's how they came closer and started dating.

One day they decided to marry and I had to move from my small, cozy house to a crazy gigantic, super-grande mansion far away from the crowded area of the town. There, my room was practically the size of my whole old house and was designed in an almost royal manner. It had a pink queen sized bed with lavender cushions and comforter. The colour of the curtains was also lavender and white, a huge walk-in closet full of new designer clothes, bags and shoes, a large couch and a T.V. on the wall opposite it, ceiling to floor glass windows, a large balcony with plants hanging from the roof and an armchair.

Though it was different, I fell in love with it in a few days. My step-dad was very sweet to me and took great care of my needs and emotions. He did everything for me so that I would not miss my father and feel lonely.

But I guess my fate wasn't that good after all.

Everything changed on my fifteenth birthday when my mother passed away from a heart attack. I remember the day so vividly. I was so elated that day as I was celebrating my birthday and my step-dad had kept a huge party at our house.

I had invited all my friends and had worn a pretty pink dress with sparkles on it. Too much for a fifteen year old, I now think. My parents had ordered a beautiful pink three tiered cake with floral designs all over it.

We danced and sang and had such a wonderful time at my party. But later in the night, I saw mom and dad arguing about something and after sometime, dad dragged mom upstairs to their room and shut the door.

I heard them yelling and shouting at each other by the time all the guests left the house. I was very much worried for them both as I was witnessing a fight between them for the first time. I hoped for them to quieten down and close the argument. The sounds did die soon, but I guess something far worse than arguing had happened.

I fell asleep that night thinking that they solved their differences, but when I woke up the next day and learned from my dad that my mom is no more, I couldn't believe it. It felt like somebody just extracted a piece of my heart.

If someone was my life, it was her. Right from birth, she had always been around me. I never had to look around for anything because she would give me everything before the need of it arose. Though we were not very well-to-do, we still managed to live a very good life.

She would invariably keep smiling and laughing despite all her pains just to see me smile. I was so shocked that I couldn't even shed a tear. One minute she was laughing with me as I cut my birthday cake, and the next moment I see that she's gone... gone... gone... my mind was falling in a daze thinking about this one word, the situation finally settling into my brain, and I fell to the ground, unconscious.

I was already devastated from this irretrievable loss and to top it, my dad's behaviour towards me changed drastically. I realized quickly that the overly sweet man that he usually was, was just a facade to lure my mother in and that now, he is showing his true colour.

He grew colder than ever and suddenly, never had the time for me anymore. Even before my mom died, he wouldn't spend a lot of time with me seeing that he was almost always busy but now, that limited quality time that we spent together was cut down brutally to zilch.

I would be lying out-and-out if I say that it didn't hurt me because it did hurt me so much - as if someone had just stabbed me in the heart everytime he came home and ignored me or told me to go away with so much intensity and coldness in his steely grey eyes I had never seen before. It frightened me so I thought it was better to leave him alone. It was as if I had nobody to turn to at that point. I thought that my dad would become my support but his indifferent demeanour towards me was slowly killing me on the inside.

This cold behaviour of my dad went on for a year. I was in sophomore year of high school. I had just come home from school a little while ago and was doing my homework in the living room when a few men donning extremely exorbitant suits and an awfully intimidating expression on their faces entered the room.

I figured they must be my dad's business colleagues and must have come to meet him so I brushed their presence off and almost went back to doing my work until my sharp eyes caught something.

Now I had a very sharp vision and hearing skills since childhood and then my introverted and observant behaviour and living alone for the past one year only groomed my skills further; thus almost everything that happened around me was rarely ever missed from my hawk-eyed self.

'Oh my God!!'.... I thought as I saw what it was from the corner of my eye. It was a gun tucked stealthily in the waistband of one of the man's pants... A GUN!!

I thought I was going to faint because honestly I had never seen a gun in my life before and to say that it scared the hell out of me would be an understatement.

I somehow managed to stay calm throughout and act like I saw nothing but as my dad came and ushered them upstairs in his study, I thought it was time to see what they were up to. I made my mind to eavesdrop their conversation there was sure as hell something my dad was hiding from me and I wasn't that innocent anymore to think that carrying a gun wherever someone goes is a routine for businessmen and the looks they all had on their faces were indeed very suspicious.

I waited for a few minutes after the door to his study closed and carefully tiptoed my way up the stairs and positioned my ear on his door. They were talking about extracting money from someone who was under their debt and then their conversation digressed to personal topics. These talks didn't sound fishy to me and I was suddenly irritated with myself.

'Maybe they are really just businessmen and the loss of your mother has turned you into a mistrustful brat,' I thought to myself.

Feeling slightly embarrassed of my thoughts I was about to go when I heard someone ask my dad,

"Boss, has the police found out how your wife died yet or are they just looking around for evidence because it apparently didn't buy the 'heart attack' excuse of yours?"

My heart started beating rapidly against my chest. I didn't want to understand the meaning behind his words but those words glued me to the door. I hadn't finished processing all this information when my dad replied saying,

"No Richard, don't ever doubt my skills. I do everything impeccably even if it is murdering my own wife; so even if the police kept searching for something their whole lifetime, they'll still not be able to trace me. After all I'm the Italian mafia boss."

He said with a hint of pride in his voice.

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, I felt like I would lose my mind. I was momentarily so stunned to even react and I leaned on the closed door to support myself because my self-control was fading away. Then I heard some other man asking him,

"But what did she do to make boss so angry?"

To which he replied,

"You're new lad, so I'm going to tell you. Giorgia came to know my identity. I wanted to keep it a secret from her because she was a morally bound woman and would most definitely freak out if she found out the truth about me and she did, on her daughter's birthday. She overheard me talking about trading some illegal weapons to one of my men... "

'Illegal weapons!' I gasped.
'Oh my God, I'm living with a damn smuggler who murdered my mum.'

He continued saying,

"And she immediately flipped out and started overreacting in front of our guests. Some of them were proper businessmen and didn't know about my other businesses and her shouting at me in front of them could be extremely suspicious and embarrassing. I immediately called off the party and dragged her upstairs. I tried my best to stay calm about the whole situation and make her comprehend things and perhaps, ask her to forgive me but she had other plans.

She started yelling at me saying things like I broke her trust and her morals and then started rambling something about her stupid, pathetic daughter getting my negative vibes and becoming ruthless and immoral just like me. As if she could ever become like ME. She can't even kill a fly to save her life,"

My step-dad said with a mocking edge in his voice.
This brought out many laughters and snickers from everyone in the room.
He then continued with even more audacity,

"She even threatened to go to the cops and that's when I lost it. I hit her until she was unconscious which didn't take long seeing as she was so damn weak, and then slowly strangled her. I loved her but not enough to get my business into trouble. Our gang is the greatest of all gangs in Italy and has a good reputation worldwide. I couldn't just let it go. "

He concluded arrogantly.

"Yes Roberto, I think you did the right thing man,"

"Yeah boss, anything for our gang."

"I would probably do that too. This is really heroic of you boss."

While his men continued to laud him and honour him for his 'great act of ultimate valour', I fell on the ground with a thump, crying softly to myself. All this time, I was blaming God for being so cruel and ruthless to me but now that ire for Him changed its direction like a flash of lightening. I was seething with rage and my eyes were narrowed slits. If only the door was open right now, that human with the heart of a monster would have been buried six feet under by the intensity with which I was glaring at him through the door.

I heard the men call off their meeting and stand up to walk to the door. My mind was screaming at me and advising me to back off and run to my room but my body, my heart and soul had other plans. I stood glued to the ground, my body completely frozen and unable to do any kind of movement.

The moment my step-dad opened the door and saw me sitting there on the floor just outside it, with a tear-stricken face and an inexplicably wild look in my bloodshot eyes, he was gobsmacked. Then slowly, he understood what the matter was and all hell broke loose.

"You sneaky bitch, "

He shouted at me and immediately pulled me up by my hair. A loud gasp escaped my lips as I cried out in pain. I was begging him to let go of his strong and monstrous hold on my hair but the barbarian wouldn't listen any of it.

His steely and lifeless grey eyes were blazing with fury as he looked into mine, blue and filled with anger, disgust, sadness and... fear and slapped me... once, twice, then thrice -- so hard that my cheeks and jaws were aching badly and I tasted metallic blood in my mouth for the first time and instantly realized that after this day, it won't be the last time. I felt so flabbergasted receiving this kind of treatment from him.

I was feeling miserable and lifeless but the excessively ardent desire for revenge in my heart did not let me back down. I lifted my head confidently to meet his sharp, furious eyes and despite all the pain, sadness and bruises he inflicted upon me, I told him,

"I heard everything DAD"

Emphasizing the word dad.
For the first time in my life, I had gathered enough courage to stand up to a monster of my father, step-father to be exact, and glared at him with all the strength I had left in my body, letting him know the intensity of the affliction, choler, aversion and desire for revenge which was surging through my veins.
I shouted at him with all my might,

"How could you do this dad ? My mother loved you so dearly, I learned to love you and trust you, how could you betray us? What did my mother even do to you, you useless bastard-"

At this Roberto's eyes widened with rage and his hold on my hair tightened making me cry out in agony. He held my face close to his while some members of his gang said,

"Boss, just kill her already. She's heard a lot, it won't be safe for all of us."

But he only started laughing his obnoxious laughter which I now recognized as utterly sinister and sadistic and turned to me and said,

"She won't be able to tell anyone about this and she'll definitely not die as easily as her bitch of a mother did, she's meant to be tortured everyday till she falls down to my feet and begs for her death in her every breath. Anyways, I don't think this pathetic little weakling can ever take down The Robert Alfonsi - can you my dear daughter?"

He sneered with a sarcastic smirk on his face and a sinister gleam in his eyes, challenging me to look into his eyes and show him what he so desperately wants to see, fear. At this point, I was crying my heart out which must have given that sick bastard a lot of satisfaction but deep down, I promised myself to never forget about my mother and avenge her death in the most gruesome way possible.

After that, the inevitable happened. My step-dad started his torture day 1 by raining slaps to my face and bruises to my body by his belt. I was broken, physically, mentally and emotionally but resolved to not show any kind of pain to that sadist psychopath.

The more bruises and abuses he rained on me, the more my resolve grew. I received all those blows with only one thing in my mind - one day I was going to avenge my mamma's death. With every hit that battered my body, my mamma's pretty, happy and innocent image became crystal clear and prominent.

My love for her had become so blinding by then, that I couldn't feel a shred of agony from his beatings anymore. After I had turned into a practically lifeless pulp in the corner of my room, he locked me up and set up two guards outside my door and left me inside alone to tend to my wounds.

This went on for almost a month. Everyday, the devil-incarnate would come to my room at night, would check up on my wounds and then give me some more - on my jaws and cheeks, my stomach, legs and hands. I would be given meagre meals to eat and left on my own to rejuvenate myself which was practically impossible. I had had enough. It was becoming very painful to live with that bastard anymore after knowing he is my mamma's murderer and not being able to behead him. So I took the step I had been planning for some days - run away from there.

My window gave me a full view of the back garden and whenever I couldn't sleep, I used to climb down the window and quietly take a stroll in the garden. The smell of different flowers and the tranquility of the area calmed me down and instantly put me to sleep.

Because of this, I had also befriended the guard at the back. Mason was a man in his early forties and used to care for me like a father. So one fateful night, after hours of brooding about it, I slowly got up from the cold floor, dragged myself to the bathroom and tried to clean and bandage as many wounds as I could, packed a few clothes, some dosh, my ID and passport and climbed down the window which was a pain in the ass.

'Being wounded really drains your energy,' I thought to myself.

I hurriedly ran through the garden taking in the fragrance of the innocent flowers in the devil's garden for the last time hopefully and went to the back gate. Mason was shocked to see me. I was a complete mess - red eyes, a black eye forming on my left eye, a disformed nose, busted lip and many cuts and slits all over my body but he couldn't see any of those because I was wearing a black hoodie and leggings.

He understood what I wanted from my presence itself which confirmed the fact that he heard about my sorry fate. He gave access to the back gate without asking a single question and blessed me before assuring me he'll take care of my absence at home.

I felt kind of guilty for leaving him back to suffer but it was too late. Now that Mason had seen me, he wouldn't let me live here. I didn't know where I would go but planned that I should stay in some hotel for the night and then take the train for Naples from Sorrento down from here before dawn.

With this in mind, I ran down the hills aimlessly. Even though I had lived in Amalfi Coast, this house was still in a very abandoned and confusing area. It was hard to navigate where you are in this place. I finally reached the main road. But due to the darkness and sudden, torrential rainfall I couldn't make out the ways and ended up in some unidentified area.

There were hardly any houses or habitation and the narrow roads gave out eerie vibes. I was very exhausted and after running back and forth in those maze-like ways practically leading to no where, I slumped down to the ground in utter desperation.

The events of the day, fear of being caught and the wounds took a toll on me and I was left alone - wet, cold and unconscious.

---------------------------------------
So this is the first chapter of TNOI. Please read it and tell me what you feel in the comments. Thanks profusely.
I'll be posting the second chapter real soon... Can't wait to share what happens when she is conscious again...😉