The Actress

Quattro

A bang of a door and the cluttering sound of dishes awakes Toni.  Calmly, she yawns and gets out of bed.

Letting out a sigh, Toni walks over to Mario Perconte slouched on the ground, his normally shiny chocolate locks, now a greasy mess, as he lets out a line of profanities.

"Oh Poppa." Toni leans down wrapping his arm around her shoulders. With a groan, her father is up and standing.

"Bambina." He smiles, as they agonizingly slowly walk over to the ripped armchair.

Once he's seated, Toni unlaces his shoes.

"So a bill came yesterday..."

A chuckle comes from the plastered old man. "Gone."

Her fingers freeze, before her head snaps up. "What's gone?"

"The money, bambina. Lost it all and still own some."

Breathing deeply, her jaw clenched, Toni throws the holey shoe to the ground.

"Hey! Careful Antonietta, you could have killed me." Barks Mr. Perconte after Toni loosen his tie. He had no idea how much Toni would have enjoy that at the moment.

After throwing a blanket on him, she curtly says goodnight, places a quick kiss on his head before heading to her room.

Her heart ached, her eyes watered, her thoughts were clouded in irritation and anger. It would be useless to go back to sleep with her mind so preoccupied.

With a sigh, she changes into a more suitable dress before grabbing her coat and tiptoeing out of the building.

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Her breath came out as frozen clouds. With no clear direction, she just let her feet decide as she tried to sort her thoughts.

They will not be able to pay the rent this month, all because of some cards. Toni lets out a frustrated groan into the empty streets of New York.

With irritated thoughts in her head, she had not notice that she walked to one of the store corners.

An elderly lady who sat at a sewing machine, was hard at work. The sight made Toni smile, and periodically forget about her frustrations.

It was then, staring at the seamstress in the window that she realized how tired she was.

Tired of her dad drinking and losing his paycheck .

Tired of having to spend the money she made at work to pay for a rundown dive.

Tired of being lied to all the time. And well, just tired of being tired.

She wanted to sleep until everything was fixed. Until her dad was the dad he was before her mom died and Geno was back being her best friend who told her everything.

And it was on that street corner, in the middle of the night, in New York City where Toni begins to cry. Stopping only when the old seamstress came out, urging her to come inside and gave her some tea. She fell asleep to the one sound that calmed her; the sewing machine.

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Hello!

Sorry for the short and rather unrealistic chapter. The next one is much better, I promise! It will be up tomorrow.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this story:)

Have a nice weekend!

Until the next chapter,

Libby