Page 87 of Mila: The Godfather

Sad.

Angry.

Mean.

Absent.

She drew them regardless.

Wanting to include them in her drawing, even if they did not care one bit for her.

“Mila…” Someone breathes out.

“What have you done, stelina?” Another voice rings in the silence.

The little girl, startled and confused by her sisters’ tone of voice, drops her markers, making a mess on the floor.

She might not understand most emotions or situations, but she knows that tone all too well.

Shock.

Sadness.

Terror.

Mila, confused by their reaction, frowns, not understanding why they sound so sad. “I drew us! Look.” Mila smiles and points to the wall while both her sisters stand rooted in the same spot, frozen and afraid.

A moment of silence that makes the small girl anxious passes between them.

Mila wonders what she did wrong but is unable to come up with an answer.

Her brain starts working hard, searching for a reason as to why her sisters look as if they saw a ghost, but she comes up empty.

And then she understands. It all sinks in. Why did her sisters react in that manner instead of being happy or pleased with her drawing?

One moment, she’s staring at her sisters, wondering what is going on, and the next her father, Gabriele, appears behind them with an ugly and mean look on his face, the same look the evil villain in her favorite stories has before they do something terrible.

The same look her father has when he says ugly things and hits her. When he hits her sisters.

At that moment, she understands that not all people appreciate the small things in life.

Some people don’t have goodness or love in their hearts.

It all happens so fast that the little girl is barely able to register it all because, when things get loud and chaotic, she hides inside her safe haven.

Her mind.

Glass explodes all over when her father throws his drink on the floor beside her.

The noise of breaking glass hurts her ears more than the pieces of sharp glass hurt her skin.

Loud voices sound all around her.

Her father’s angry shouts and slurred words.

Her sister’s frightening screams as they both near the little girl, shielding her from their father’s wrath.

But not once does the little girl scream in pain, no.

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