The whole underground world knows of the infamously lost mafia princess Ariana Romano, the only girl born into the most ruthless and coldest mafia family the world has ever seen, who at four years old kidnapped by her own mother. The day where the R...
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"Ariana, we're going right now!" Mother said sternly with her hands on her hips as she stared down at me.
"But I don't want to!" The six years old version of me whined. The tears wouldn't stop rolling down my cheeks.
I hated the way my hands sweat endlessly no matter how much I wipe them away, how my stomach clenches so hard that it hurt, and my breathing would get erratic.
People staring at me, people judging me, and pointing at me.
"If you make yourself believe in your smile, Ariana, you're going to make them believe you're fine. Tell yourself you're fine. You'll even convince yourself that. You'll see." Mother told me. Like the naughty child I was, I didn't listen.
I crossed my arms. "I don't want to smile! I'm not fine! I'm not okay!" I shouted in frustration. "You don't understand!"
Why couldn't my mother understand? I had read in one of the columns on the internet that communication was the key. I was speaking. I was trying to communicate. But no one was listening. She was hearing but she wasn't listening or understanding.
"I don't have to understand you. All I need is to see you smile." Mother growled. "Smile now."
"No!" I refused.
She raised her eyebrows. "Fine. I'm going out for three days without you. No food for you." She walked into my bedroom and came out with my night light. "And no light for the next days." She waved it in my face as if to taunt me.
"No!" I cried out, pleading. "But I'm afraid of the dark!" And Mother knew it more than anyone.
"Well, you're going to have to sleep in dark for the next three days. I'm going to cut off the lights. The bathroom light will be the only one with the lights working. Look at the mirror and practice your smile. I expect perfection when I come back."
She briskly walked to the coat closet and grabbed a suitcase from it. She always had one for safekeeping because when I do not do what she wants me to do, she leaves me all alone here for days.
"No! Don't leave me alone!" I sobbed, falling to my knees, as she opened the front door. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll smile!"
I smiled widely even with the tear-stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes and red face from all the crying. "I promise. See? I'm smiling, Mom. Look at me, please."
She didn't look even when I begged her on my knees. She left me with only parting words.
"I'm doing this because I love you, Ariana. It's for your own good." She said without looking at me and shut the door close, leaving me in the darkness yet once again.
