The Unknown Family

Getting out

PTSD warning

Today was the day.

The day I've been waiting for for the past three months.

Theo getting released.

This morning, I woke up out of bed before the sun was even in the sky. You could still hear the owls in the trees because I was up so early. I went straight to the bathroom and washed and shaved, leaving me smelling like lavender. I got dressed into my favourite pair of ripped black jeans, a white short sleeved shirt with a black gem cross, topping it off with a pair of black sneakers.

I was downstairs and in the kitchen eating my toast by six o'clock. Surprisingly, I managed to eat all my food without a struggle. By six-thirty, Giovanni and Vito were sitting at the table next to me, sipping away at their coffees. An hour later, Andrea and Rina had joined us.

"So, Liv, you excited to see Teodoro today?" Rina asked, smiling from behind her juice.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him properly in three months." I respond, a joyful smile gracing my lips.

"What? You didn't visit him?" Andrea questioned, a small frown on his face.

"He was always in the higher security part. I wasn't allowed to visit him." I answer, feeling a bit disappointed that we had been held back from seeing each other for so long.

All that he said was 'Oh'. We sat in silence, just eating away at our food or drinking our drinks. Once it hit eight o'clock, it was time to leave. Leo and Luca were staying behind because they refused to get up this early.

"Right lets go. It's a long ass car ride so go to the bathroom cause I'm not stopping." Giovanni spoke as we were all making our way to the front door. But hearing those words, I froze in my steps.

"Gio?" I asked, making all heads turn to me.

"Yes Liviana?" He responded.

"How long is the car journey exactly?" I asked.

"He was moved to a juvie in Detroit, so about nine hours." I felt the colour drain from my face as I heard the words 'nine hours' leave his lips. That's too long. Far too long. An hour or so I can handle, with breaks, but not nine hours non stop.

"Liv? What wrong?" Vito asked me, a slight bit of worry in his eyes, yet the rest of his face was left emotionless.

"N-nine hours?" I said.

"Yes nine." Giovanni repeated.

My breathing picked up as I felt my chest getting tighter and tighter. Nine hours is far too long. I won't make it at all. Not even a chance. I felt my legs buckle beneath me as my breathing became heavier and heavier. The burning flames flashed before my eyes. Then the flying shards of glass. Then the tree trunk. And the stained grass. And then the screaming started. Then finally, the words I try my hardest to block out every night as I sit in silence waiting for sleep.

Sitting there with my hands over my ears, I hadn't even realised that my dad, brothers and sister were all crouched before me, shaking me as I sat there rocking back and forth.

"LIV!" My head snapped to Vito at the sound of his raised voice. With blurry vision I could just about make out his worried face. I sat there frozen, until I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder. Looking to my side I saw it was Andrea. Slowly, I started to lean into him, excepting his embrace.

"Dad, we need to go now if we want to make it in time." I heard Rina mutter to Gio from my side. He gave me a concerned look, debating on what to do.

"Just go without me." I whisper.

Gio and Vito give me one last look before nodding their heads. Gio, Rina and Vito head towards the door, but turn around to face Andrea, like me, to see that he hasn't moved from his spot.

"Go, I'm gonna stay back." He says, giving me a not so subtle look.

"No Andrea, go I'll be fine." I mutter pulling away, only to have him slide me back to him from across the floor.

"I know you'll be fine, but I want some Liv time." He says, giving me a warm smile.

"We'll be back at around midnight." Gio says as he walks out the door behind my siblings, Vito who gave me a nod which I'm sure was meant to be a smile, and Rina actually did give me a smile.

We sat on the floor for another few minutes before Andrea let go of me and stood up. "Wanna watch some tv?" He asked.

Nodding my head, I took the hand he was holding out. We went towards the living room and started watching a load of random shows. which eventually lead to Jerry Springer. We were sat watching the tv for an hour until Leo wandered down the stairs with Luca trailing after him.

"I thought you two were going to get Theo?" Luca asked grimly as Leo slumped down on the couch beside me.

"Well, we, I, um, I-"

"We thought we could have some time together instead of being stuck in a car all day." Andrea said, giving me a sly wink when the others weren't looking.

"Whatever." He said before drinking the beer he got from the fridge. Not the best thing to drink first thing in the morning, but okayyy.

Theo:

The metal fence opened up in front of me, for the first time in a long time. The trees around the buildings look so much brighter in this side of the electric fence. There, in front of the massive ass black SUV was three people. A women dressed in a blue blouse and a matching pair of work pants, she had black hair and bright green eyes. Next to here, stood Giovanni, dressed in his usual suit with a white dress shirt and a black tie. The only reason I know what he would usually wear is because he went to court many times to get me moved closer to New York. And on his left was who I assume Vito is. He is roughly the same height as Giovanni and dressed the same, except that he had no tie and a plain black button up shirt with a few top buttons undone.

Carrying the small bag in my hand, that only holds the useless shit I had when I was arrested with. I made my way over to the three of them, searching for the one person I actually wanted to see there. Liviana. My little Livy. But I couldn't see her at all. My eyes were darting around all over the place, but she wasn't there.

When I made it to a few feet away from them, I stopped. The woman, who I now realise is my older sister Rina, gave me a smile. Vito didn't display any emotion. And Giovanni's face held a small grin, and the joy was swirling in his eyes.

"Teodoro it-"

"Theo." I said, cutting off Giovanni.

"Teodoro, it's nice to see you again." He said.

I just rolled my eyes.

"Come on then, I want to get as far away from here as possible." I say as I open the back seat of the car. Shrugging her shoulders, Rina came in after me, sitting on the opposite side of the car while Vito got in the passenger seat and Giovanni got in the driver seat.

"Liv's sorry she couldn't make it, she had..."

"A panic attack." I finish for Rina.

"Something like that." She muttered.

"We left her with Andrea, Leo and Luca are up with them now anyway." Vito continued.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to be here." I say, leaning my head to look out the window.

"Why not?" Giovanni asked.

Sighing, I mutter, "Liv doesn't like cars. Especially when it's a long drive."