Metanoia (n.) the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self or way of life.
Part one
Darcy Russo a nine year old girl living in a run down orphanage on the outskirts of Athens, Greece has had to fend for herself for the majority of her life. Bei...
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Dante and I stand by Lorenzo's desk, waiting for him to return with Darcy. He wanted us to lead the conversation as Darcy is much more likely to be willing to talk to us.
Lorenzo has spent the least time with Darcy, he loves her very much but he shows it in other ways like by obsessing over security and making sure she's safe at all times of the day.
I feel bad for him because as Darcy's guardian he has to take on a parental role, having to boss her around to ensure she has eaten three meals a day and brushed her teeth while the rest of us can just be her fun brothers.
Lorenzo enters the office, Darcy following behind him and sits down in the leather chair.
"Sit down," He motions to the chair in front of the desk. She quickly obliges, sitting down and staring at her hands.
"Don't worry you're not in trouble," I interject while smiling at her, trying to ease some tension. "We just want to ask you a few questions," Dante asks
"Okay," she almost whispers.
I waste no time, wanting to get this over with, "Did you like it at the orphanage? Was everyone nice to you?" I question, already knowing the answer to both questions but wanting to test the waters and see if she'll lie to us.
She nods yes. Lie
"Are you sure? When we first met you were pretty hurt, where did you get them injuries?" I ask, images from the hospital file of her beaten body flashing in my mind.
She just shrugs. "Cmon Darc help us out here, could you just give us a name please?" Dante begs.
We sit in silence for thirty seconds as Darcy appears to be contemplating her course of action. "Calvin," She mumbles under her breath finally.
"Calvin," I repeat, my jaw ticking. "Right and do you know why he did that to you sweetheart?" I ask softly, trying not to upset her.
"Bad." She says simply. "What? What was bad," I ask slightly confused.
"I was bad," she mumbles, her lips now quivering. "How?" Lorenzo asks, finally joining the conversation.
"I was late," She reveals. She speaks as if she deserved that level of punishment for something so trivial as being late.
"Awh bambi you do realise that what they did was wrong right?" I ask "You should never lay a nasty hand on anyone, especially a child," Dante adds. I ignore the hypocrisy, remembering how I watched him beat the shit out of a prisoner in the cells an hour earlier.
We sit in silence for a minute, giving her a little break before starting up again, "Darcy can you tell us why you don't like sleeping," I ask bluntly, wanting to get to the bottom of this.
She finally looks up at us, seemingly surprised that we noticed. Of course we did, the kid is up at all hours of the night wondering around the house.
She doesn't answer so I attempt to fill in the blanks. "Has it got anything to do with your negative experiences at the orphanage?" I wonder. She replies this time, nodding her head yes.
