Metanoia

Chapter 11

Darcy happily skips after her dog as we make our way down this seemingly never ending path. Instead of leading to a house, the path abruptly stops at an opening of a forest. Darcy stops, waiting for us to catch up and points into the forest.

"In there?" Luca asks skeptically. He's terrified of any secluded bodies of nature after watching too many horror movies. I can practically hear him shit himself at the thought of walking through this forest.

Darcy doesn't reply, instead turning on her heals and marching off into the forest. We of course follow her. We all step over branches and puddles, trying our best to not dirty our expensive clothes but Darcy is in her element, energetically splashing in any puddle she could find.

"You come here a lot?" Dante asks while ducking under a branch. Darcy just nods her head. "Alone?" Lorenzo asks what we're all thinking. She shoots him a thumbs up, apparently completely unaware of the danger. The thought of her being out here all alone doesn't sit right with me.

We continue through the forest as I walk next to Darcy. "So what's his name?" I question , nodding towards the dog walking in front of us. She turns and smiles at me, seemingly excited that someone finally asked. She pats her hands around the pockets of her overalls looking for her notepad, realising that it's not there she frowns.

Thinking for a minute, she lifts two fingers to the sides of her head pretending that they're ears.

Okay Charades. You've got this Gabe what animal has ears. All of them?

I start quick firing names of any animal I can think of, "Ermm rabbit, cow, deer, cat." I start to list before Romeo interrupts me. "You idiot do you really think she'd name her dog 'cat'." He snorts.

"Shut up, you try then," I scoff.

"Give me another clue Darc," he says, hopping over another branch. She turns to him and attempts to make a scary face and holds her hands out to represent claws. She's trying to look intimidating but she just looks really cute.

"Lion," I guess. She shakes her head. "Ermmm Bear," Romeo guesses. Darcy claps and points at a pleased Romeo, a huge smile spread across her face. "Hell yeah, I'm officially the smartest Russo," Romeo exclaims, earning a scoff from Arlo who was trailing behind us.

I'm not even competitive but I'm kinda bummed that he guessed it before me. Darcy clearly notices and touches my arm and sends me a sympathetic smile before flinching after hearing a scream.

I pull her into me, ready to protect against any danger. "Eww," Luca, the source of the scream whines, pointing at a frog that touched his leg. I feel Darcy physically relax and I let go of her after realising there's no threat.

"You idiot," Dante says disapprovingly. Luca would have gotten a back hand to the head normally but Lorenzo ordered no violence around Darcy.

Darcy walks over to the frog, cupping it in her hand and stroking it's little head with her finger. She holds the frog up to Luca, attempting to show him that it's harmless but he just squeals and backs away.

She frowns, looking offended on the frog's behalf which causes Arlo to laugh. "Don't worry, he's afraid of anything that moves," He jokes, which is true Luca is afraid of his own shadow.

We finally reach the end of the forest, a tiny cottage hidden in a shroud of trees and miles of fields comes into view. "This is it?" Lorenzo asks pointlessly, it's the only house in miles of course it is.

She nods and gives him a thumbs up before skipping towards the house. We almost make it the door when Darcy abruptly stops, turning to us and putting her arms out, indicating that she wanted us to wait here.

Her going into this mystery house alone was something I knew my brothers wouldn't allow. "Can't we say hello to your friend?" Lorenzo asks, only wanting to see if they were a threat. Darcy looks unsure but agrees nonetheless.

She knocks on the door, almost bouncing up and down in excitement. I'm filled with curiosity as I hear someone scuffle behind the door. The door opens, revealing an elderly woman. Not what I was expecting.

Clearly not a threat.

"Darcy my girl!" she exclaims, pulling her into a hug and swaying her back and forth. A serge of jealously hits me but I ignore it. She pulls away from the hug and looks up at all of us, "And who are these handsome men," She asks Darcy.

"Hello ma'am we are Darcy's brothers and I am her new guardian," Lorenzo said, reaching to shake her hand. "She wanted to see you before we took off back home to Italy," Lorenzo added.

"Ma'am," She mocked, "Call me Norah," she insisted, returning the handshake.

Darcy took off her backpack and pulled out a plastic bag before handing it to Norah. "Oh thank you dear," she said gratefully while looking in the bag. "Your sister here is an angel, you better look after her," She said, wagging her finger.

"I can assure you she'll be in the best of care," Lorenzo promised.

Darcy turned to us and held out a finger, signalling that she'd only be a minute before stepping into the elderly ladies home, closing the door behind her.