Title: The Heart Collector
Genre: Supernatural, Tragedy
Rating: Teens for coarse language
PROLOGUE
In a far-off town in Southern Italy there was a legend known as The Heart Collector. Those who wanted their pain to disappear only needed to write their sufferings in paper and place it inside a bottle. The Heart Collector would then steal the unwanted emotions and the following day, the person who wrote his feelings would forget his anguish, hurt or what negativity was written. Washed away from the sorrows, the person feels anew and refreshed.
Lovino scoffed at what he read.
It was a fine Monday morning and with nothing to do, the eldest grandchild of the Vargas household decided to read the latest work of his grandfather. The patriarch of the family was fond of collecting folklore from the different towns he travels to and after he pens them, he would bound them much like a book.
Aside from the folklores, the elderly Vargas also wrote fantastical stories set in the time of Ancient Rome among his other literary endeavors. He also wrote these in longhand and bounded them in either leather or some hardcover depending on what materials were currently available in the house.
"Vino, these stories are for everybody's pleasure. I don't want to sell them…"
The brunet remembered his Grandfather's answer after he asked why the old man wouldn't send the manuscripts to a publisher. In his perspective, all of these would surely sell.
The neighbors began to visit the house regularly to read the writings of Signor Vargas. The children usually visited when the old man was doing a story telling along with the youngest grandchild, Feliciano. The others would scan through the several books shelved at the living room. At one point during the family's dinner conversations, Lovino complained at the influx of people in the house.
"Nonno, why will you not you donate the books to the library?!"
(Just donate those damned books!)
The older grandchild carefully chose his words. He didn't want to offend his grandfather who took much time and effort into his creations.
"The visitors are not bad company Fratello. We even have pretty ladies stopping by." Feliciano interjected with a smile.
"Che." The older brother scowled. He cannot refute that the ladies were wonderful company.
(This is a house. A HOUSE! Not a fucking library.)
As much as he wanted to vent his sentiments, Lovino stopped himself. At the corner of his eyes, he watched his grandfather finish his meal. The old man then took a sip of wine and spoke.
"My child, these people love reading stories about places they have not visited. It makes me happy that there are still people who enjoy reading books. The reading culture is slowly dying in favor of the highly visual presentation of this century."
The older grandson knew that he lost before he even presented his argument. At that, the conversation was dropped. For the rest of the meal, Feliciano and Signor Vargas steered the conversations. Lovino decided to stay silent, trying to devise a plan to lessen the visitors in their house.
Before falling asleep, the young man narrowed down his plan to copying the folklore book since that was what the visitors usually read. For the next 27 days, Lovino Vargas tirelessly worked on rewriting the passages written and occasionally added illustrations to some of the stories. Once he will be finished, he would give a copy to the library and all this hard work will pay off.
(By the next summer vacation, no more annoying visitors will be here! Though I don't mind the ladies being here…)
The younger brother would occasionally enter to check on the young man. He would often tell his brother that he was not enjoying their vacation because of coping himself inside the study. Lovino would only give a dismissive wave to Feliciano; he didn't want to be detracted from this self-imposed task. On the other hand, Grandpa Vargas would only check to remind the fellow that it was time for meals and Mass.
When the last dot on the last page was set, Lovino Vargas grinned. He was proud of his work and he was confident enough to say that he has the best handwriting among the three of them. He has the ability to write in different styles and he varied his handwriting depending on the tone of the narrative. If the tone was suspenseful, he would purposely make scrawls but not to the point it was unreadable.
An artistic gene does run among the members of the Vargas family. Being able to change the form of writing was an art itself. His sketches weren't half-bad either.
Lovino took his messenger bag and left a note on the table for his whereabouts. Without any second thoughts, he pedaled to the town center. It was quite a distance from where they lived at but the travel was worth it when the librarian on-duty was Bella. She is the woman he has been crushing since high school. Of course nobody knew this secret; Lovino was mentally-set to take this secret to the grave.
The seaside town that Signor Vargas lived at proliferated through agriculture. Aside from the vineyards, other produce were also grown by the inhabitants. Although there was a large land area, there were actually few residents and people knew one another. So any form of gossip quickly spreads like wildfire.
Lovino tried to calm his erratic heart beat and swiped away the sweat falling on his face. From his grandfather's house, only a dirt road connected it to the highway which was (thank God) concretized. There was discomfort while maneuvering the bike to avoid the rocks along the way.
(Well, whatever. I'm already here.)
"H-Hello… Bella, I have a copy of Nonno's book. This is for the library." Lovino smiled timidly at the woman. As much as he does flirt with her, the feelings are one-sided because Bella will be getting married sometime in October. As cheesy as it sounds, (I'm fucking okay if she's happy) is what the young man tells himself.
"You're such a sweet kid Lovino. Thank you for the hard work." The bride-to-be kissed either cheek of Lovino before she received the book.
(KID.)
The word made Lovino inwardly cringe. Even after these years, he was still that trotting kid and rebellious adolescent to the eyes of Bella.
(Damnit!I am a college sophomore already. )
"Yeah, sure." This was all that Lovino could muster as a reply. He wanted to protest that he was no longer a kid but an adult. However words failed him and this always happen when Bella compliments him or when she is being thoughtful or some other kind of (goody-good act).
"I hope that the townspeople won't bother your house anymore." The woman smiled knowingly. "I'll spread the news that we have a copy here in the library."
Lovino bid goodbye. He was not sure how much longer his heart would last in the presence of La Bella.
At full-speed, he pedaled back home. Halfway through the distance, his mind wandered at how his grandfather's house was technologically stagnant. Aside from electricity and modern waterworks, there was no sign of other technological advancements in the house. Instead of a television, a transistor radio took its purpose of daily news. It even took a lot of convincing from the grandchildren that their old man should get a mobile phone to have easier and faster communication.
(If the old man has a damn computer and printer, it would have been a breeze doing a copy of that book. My fingers wouldn't have cramped so much…)
(Well, I did get to practice but whatever. The place is like a museum of antiquities.)
Despite the long list of complaints that Lovino stored in his mind, he can't actually admit that his vacation was terrible. He is able to see Bella during his visits to the town center and sometimes she visits the house, bringing with her handmade sweets and sharing delicacies brought by her fiancé.
Before the day ended, Lovino was forced to take back his earlier statement.
By the time he arrived at the house, it was already past lunch time and the place was still empty.
(Maybe they are still at the vineyards.)
The young man searched for any leftover meal inside the refrigerator but all that was present were different flavors of juice and cold cuts. With a sigh, he settled for a grape juice to quench his thirst. The eerie quietness began to make Lovino feel unsettled. The feeling intensified as he received a frantic call from his younger brother.
"VINO! No-Nonno is sick. We are at the hospital."
This was the last summer that the Vargas siblings spent at the quaint seaside town. Their childhood hometown will become a distant memory once both of them return to Rome. With their immediate family gone, there was nothing tying them down to the area. The vineyards, the house and other properties in the area were sold with the exception of the books. These were given to the library. The only book that was not given was the original copy of the last work of their Grandfather.
The funeral was attended by several residents of the town. Feliciano was inconsolable as the casket descended to the ground and soil was being thrown to fill the gap. As the older brother, Lovino took it upon himself to be the pillar of support. He steeled his resolve and didn't allow the tears to fall down.
After tying all loose ends in the small town, the brothers made their back to Rome. For a week, words were rarely exchanged by the siblings. Lovino welcomed the lack of vibrancy because… well he needed some down time too! He was terrible at expressing his feelings but it took a hit when the father figure he had for most of his life kicked the bucket. The peaceful air though was not as calming as the older brother perceived. Although it was annoying when Feliciano returned to his bubbly self, Lovino was happier that his fratellino is being like this.
However he doesn't know the reason why…
(Maybe it gives a sense of… normalcy.)
With only the two of them, the world felt lonelier. However, they have no choice but to continue living. Classes were resuming in a week; Feliciano was entering college as a culinary student and Lovino was in his sophomore year as an architecture student. Lovino has been living in Rome since middle school and only returned to his hometown during Christmas and summer vacations. Meanwhile Feliciano only began living with his older brother when he was a high school junior. The brothers would then visit their grandfather during their summer vacations while during Christmas the old man would be the one visiting them. It was a convenient set-up for Lovino since it was very pointless visiting the beach during the freezing season.
Setting aside his sentimentality, Lovino looked at the house duty schedule prepared by Feliciano.
(House sitting sounds to sissy.)
The older brother frowned at what was posted by the refrigerator. Aside from the awful handwriting, the schedule was not to his liking. As much as he wanted to protest, he knew it would be futile. He did it during Feli's first stay and it resulted with the two of them spewing threats, bruises covering their body and some of their bones were dislocated. A neighbor called the police, thinking that they were under attack. It was embarrassing explaining to the officer the cause of their fight; since neither of them was adults at that time they were only given a warning for public disturbance. Their grandfather immediately visited the following day and given them a decade's worth of scolding.
For a short moment, a melancholic smile appeared on the face of Lovino.
"Are you okay Lovino?"
(Of course I'm not, idiot! How can I be fine, okay, when I feel shitty?! I don't know what I am even supposed to feel… now that, now that there are only the two us. Nonno was taken away by this aneu-whatever disease…)
"No! I can't have Wednesdays since my classes start from 7 am until 7 pm…" Lovino tried to make his voice placid. It would be unfair to lash out at Feliciano because both of them were suffering from the loss.
"Alright-y. Ve~"
"Let me rewrite it."
With the revised schedule, Lovino allowed his lips to curve slightly upward. His brother's smile was infectious after all.
"Ve~ you have the best handwriting in the world!"
Lovino could feel a headache coming by looking at the schedule. Though he was able to let Feliciano change it to being slightly more favorable condition… he didn't like doing house chores which is essentially the task of the person who is on house duty.
Time passed on for both of them.
It was already 40 days since the death of their Grandfather and as custom, the brothers attended mass. Part of the mass's intentions was the eternal repose of the souls of their deceased family members. At the end of the hour-long ecclesiastical activity, Lovino felt puzzled. Something was off with Feliciano's behavior.
Between the two of them, it was the younger brother closer to their deceased Grandfather. Lovino expected Feliciano to be at least teary-eyed at some point during the sermon. However his fratellino didn't show any signs of grief.
(Maybe I should have taken some behavioral science degree… I think I'm over analyzing Felice…)
Unable to hide the agitation any longer, Lovino asked the question that has been bugging his mind.
"Why aren't you sad?! How can you not show your grief?"
"I gave all my sadness to the heart collector."
The empty response startled Lovino. He never saw his younger brother's amber eyes dim just like that short instant. Instead of meeting the gaze of the older brother, Feliciano stared off at a distance.
"When we returned to Rome, I wrote a letter about my sadness… then the letter was gone the following day. Ve~ I felt better."
Lovino just raised an eyebrow and gave-in to the explanations given to him.
"So, for dinner… let's have lasagna and pizza!" Feliciano gleefully announced as both of them entered the market.
Lovino let his younger brother lead him around the place. His mind was filled at how he should test out this legend.
(Damn it! You're losing your mind Lovino Vargas.)
He does hate the world because of the things that happened to him… but shit happens.
(Isn't this applicable to everyone?)
Maybe he should capture this "Heart Collector" and demand for Felice's emotions. It's damn well abnormal that his fratellino is lacking… certain emotional expressions.
END OF PROLOGUE.
A/N:
Some notes about the names-
La Bella means beautiful. I decided to use this because it suits the Italian context and Lovino's crush for Bella (Belgium) make him see that the woman is beautiful.
Felice means happy which is the namesake of Feliciano's name.
Why do I use Vino instead of Lovi? This will be explained in a later chapter but you can make a guess. Aside from it sounds more badass ;) [Personally, I think it really does sound more badass.]
SO, moving on...
This is entirely a work of fiction as well as the legend. The idea sparked while I was listening to Fall Out Boy's new album, Save Rock 'n Roll.
Please be patient with this story... This part is mostly for exposition purposes. The story will definitely move by the next chapter. Updates for this one might be slow but I already have the basic outline made and some drafts ready. All that's left is the encoding which can be sporadic because my laptop has such amazing mood swings: sometimes it gives me as much as 12 hours for usage and other times as short as an hour or less.
Anyhow, please, please tell me what you think of this story. See that review button there? Yeah? Just type in a few words and give your critique.
If you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me. Even if I did review this several times, I may have skipped out some of the errors.
ALSO!
Thank you for stopping by and reading this.
:D
The Empress of Moroons