Bleeding Sunset

Chapter 2

I let out a loud puff of air as I tucked my hands further into the pockets of my dad’s beat up jacket that had obviously seen better days. I had thrown it on over my short shorts and crop top that I had been laying around in all day because I had nothing better to do. The jacket was big on my figure and reached just below my butt, covering the short shorts and making it seem as though I wasn’t wearing anything underneath the jacket. I wore a pair of fluffy emoji slippers that my dad’s wife, Gabriela had gifted me with on a random Monday afternoon. I had my hair in a high, neat and tight bun that made me look more than decent. My large framed polka dot glasses allowed me to see two feet ahead of me, and allowed me to look around the town that I was in. 

I was running an arrand for my dad and Gabriela. They hadn’t asked me to, but I had volunteered when they came knocking on my bedroom door that I happened to share with my ten year old and sixteen year old half-sisters, and said that they were going to get milk, bread and snacks from the gas station just down the road that had almost everything to offer. I was bored out of my mind from staying home and doing nothing that I jumped at the chance, because I remembered where the gas station was and it was no more than a five minute walk from the house. 

My father lived in a town called Merton and he had revealed that it was an Italian town with mostly Italian residents and it was almost rare to come across someone who wasn’t Italian in this town. I found out that my father’s mother had been an Italian woman who happened to have a one night stand in Vegas with some random black man, and lo and behold, 9 months later my father popped out. He was born and raised in Merton, and the one time that he decided to venture out and travel the world, he happened to arrive in Cape Town and when he did, he met a young 17 year old varsity student by the name of Miriam and they spent a few days together and he left, later on finding out that she had fallen pregnant but never getting the chance to meet his daughter except once every few years until things just regrettably died down and they lost touch. That is, of course, what he told me. My father was clearly not a fan of silence and whenever I was silent and wouldn’t say anything, he wanted to fill the silence with whatever words that he could come up with. 

His wife Gabriela was a dark haired Italian woman who was loud mouthed and talked a lot of shit about everyone else, and no doubt, probably myself behind my back since I was her husband’s black child that appeared out of the blue and was now living with them. Her tanned skin and perfect looking mixed children were a sign that I was definitely the black sheep of the family. I can’t really fault her because she has been accommodating and nice to me, however, if we could lay off the pasta a little bit, I probably would appreciate it a bit more but of course I’ll keep those words to myself. I feared the woman loved pasta so much, she would end up becoming it. 

Gabriela and my father, Alessandro had three children together. Two daughters and a son. Their oldest daughter was sixteen, and her name was Greta, then there came ten year old Aurora, and then their youngest, 6 year old Matteo. 

“So, Delaney, are you excited to go to your job tomorrow?” my train of thought was interrupted by Greta and I looked at her, my eyes looking over her face as I took in her features one more time. She was beautiful, she had long slightly curly hair that reached the middle of her back and framed her like a mane. She had warm ivory toned skin and her eyes were a beautiful amber just like my fathers. Her lips were lightly pink and her cheeks slightly full. She stood at the same height as I did at 5’6 and she was quite talkative. 

Gabriela and Alessandro had suggested that I go with Greta to the store since I was still new to Merton and I could get lost, and just to make sure that I was safe. I don’t know if they expected me to just run away, even though there’s no way in hell that I would since I had nowhere to go.