Disclaimer: I disclaim all but my original characters, including any references to songs or movies.
"I want my greenhouse," I whined piteously to Rickie, who carried me from the hospital towards the waiting tour group.
"And I want you to quit whining and lose some weight," he grumped back at me.
"Hey!" I shouted, close to his ear, just to piss him off, "I am NOT fat you loser!" Then I bit his shoulder lightly, because he was defenseless while carrying me and I wanted to get my vengeance on him. Stupid Rickie with his stupid fat jokes.
We were walking, well, he was walking to a rather large bus that was meant to carry us to Volterra. I was looking like a stereotypical southern bell from before the War Between the States in a sun dress with a black lace parasol to protect my skin from the UV rays. Go figure.
Volterra was supposedly some pretty ancient city with pretty old buildings and pretty quaint shops and other touristy bullshit. I wanted to go home. And soon, because I didn't want to miss out on the red buds, which were going to bloom soon, and would only be pretty for about a week before the leaves started showing themselves. And I had left my crocus while they were blooming!
Who knows how many other things would explode into color while I was gone? And what if I missed the wisteria? I started squirming a little in Rickie's hold, until I froze in pain after twisting my ribs the wrong way. Rickie frowned down at me.
"Maybe we should just go home? Maybe this was a bad idea." Even as he said that, he looked sad about the prospect of going home on the first day. I really could never deny him anything...
"This was an awful idea," I grumbled, "But we're here already, so let's just do this and we'll see how I feel later tonight." That made him smile, and, as he tenderly readjusted his hold on me to get into the bus, he smiled at Heidi too. I frowned hard enough for the both of us at her. Then I looked at the bus driver. He was the same as she was. Beautiful and cold and I instinctively shuddered into Rickie.
The bus was actually pretty nice. The seats looked like they reclined, and there were monitors placed every few feet from the ceilings for watching movies, as well as individual overhead lights, just like an airplane. Not that my memory of airplanes was that great, but I'd had morphine since, so it was all good. Rickie took us toward the far back of the bus, and gingerly set me into a chair by the window, before gracelessly plopping into the one beside it.
We waited for the rest of the group to get on in relative quiet. He had taken one of my hands in his, and was studying it intently.
"Do you like gray skin Rick? Or are you wondering if I'm a Martian?" He rolled his eyes at me.
"It's only a little grayish Lucy, and you are not a Martian." I stuck my tongue out at him, and grinned his toothy grin at me. "So Hershey, what are you planning on doing when we get back from this God forsaken vacation of yours?"
"Racist," he teased lovingly, but then switched gears to answer my question, "I was thinking about redoing my bathroom with a jacuzzi, and putting a hot tub out by the pool. Then I was going to redo the kitchen too. The appliances are too old for my expensive tastes."
"Your tastes are too expensive for my tastes." I shot back, but before he could respond, Heidi began to talk over the bus speakers.
"Alright everybody," She said in that beautiful voice that frightened me and intoxicated Rickie, "We're all on board! It will be a few hours until we reach Volterra, and we'll be making two pit-stops along the way. One will be..."
I started tuning her out then. Rickie would let me know if something important was said, and I was starting to drift off. My last thought were pleasant ones of all the budding and blooming flowers in my greenhouse.
When Rickie woke me up for the first pit stop, I hit him. For the next, I bit him. When he woke me up the third time, at our destination, I went to scratch him, but he caught me.
"Quit it Lu," He said with a chuckle, "We're at Volterra!" That woke me up. I jerked up in the seat, winced, and looked blearily out the window. All I could see was blurry tan coloured walls. Rickie leaned his head over my shoulder to look out, lightly laying his chin on me. I leaned my head to touch his and sighed.
"They won't let us drive the bus into the actual city, we'll have to walk. But don't worry baby! I'll carry you!" I swatted him with a lazy hand, and then let it rest on his face. The other arm was in that stupid sling. I hated slings and casts and crutches and wheelchairs and anything that reminded me that I wasn't healthy. I was a rather unhappy person in general. I think the only things in the world that I liked were my greenhouse, painkillers, and Rickie.
Speaking of my lovely chocolate man-beast, he swooped me up into his arms yet again, and we moved to the front of the bus slowly. Everyone else had already disembarked, so we didn't get any stares until after he'd carefully maneuvered us down the steps and onto the cobblestone road he was going to have to walk while carrying me. I doubted wheelchairs would do well on cobblestone.
I looked at Heidi. Wasn't it too warm for all that getup? I readjusted my parasol; she readjusted her scarf. Hmm. Perhaps she had the same sun aversion that I did? I didn't care, I just didn't want to be near her. But, of course, Rickie, being who he was, walked right alongside her as she lead the group into the city. I looked around a bit.
The city was much nicer that the tan blob I'd originally seen through sleepy eyes. The rocks were actually many different shades and colors, ranging from gray to yellow, brown to red, and every shade in-between. The buildings were beautifully sculpted and aged to be spectacular. I wished then that I had a free hand for a camera. Many others around us were taking pictures, and I envied them.
Heidi led us on past pretty little cafés and shops. I saw a lot of people, and heard a lot of Italian being spoken. I'd never realized how beautiful that language was. It was soothing, it flowed around us like water, and pacified the alertness that came from being in close contact with that awful bitch Rickie liked so much.
She was saying things about the city as we passed. I didn't listen. Rickie hung on to every word. She started leading us faster and faster, I noticed the change of pace and a sick feeling of dread began to well up in my stomach. Rickie didn't seem to notice. We passed more people and buildings, and walked down quiet roads, and quieter alleys, until I could no longer hear the calming music of the native people anymore. Even Heidi was quiet as we approached two ornate doors into the building that seemed to be at the heart of the city. My ears were ringing in the silence, and the pounding of my heart was so loud.
Heidi looked at me, knowingly, and then, somehow, I knew too.
"I see," I said to her, "I knew I didn't like you. Rickie, we should've stayed home." He looked confused, and I laughed. I laughed so hard my ribs hurt, which didn't take much, but I kept my eyes open to watch for whatever came next. I wanted to see what was going to kill me.
But just because I'd accepted it didn't mean I was ready to die quite yet. I took a shuddering breath and started talking, quickly and quietly. We were going through a classy hallway to another set of doors, and I didn't know what lay behind them.
"Rickie, you know, I love you," he still looked flabbergasted, "I know I never say it, but you are my family, and I have never regretted anything." And it was true. I didn't regret, and now that I'd spoken my peace, I thought myself ready to die without any regrets at all. Funny how life makes a joke out of every decision you make.
"I love you to Lucy, you know that. Are you feelin' alright?" Then he started to get a little panicky He felt my forehead with his as we walked through a new hall now, this one was older than the last. We were not the first to walk this path.
"I'm not sick Rickie. I think I'm kind of happy now." His panicking increased.
"Lu, don't be like this, you're scaring me," he demanded, and I saw that same scared little boy he had been when we first met in that orphanage in Atlanta.
"Oh, Rick," I whispered, and I lay my head against his strong shoulder, "You got so big. When did that happen? Don't worry about me. I'll be alright, I'm just waxing nostalgic. Must be the Romance of Italy getting to me." He seemed pacified, and, with perfect timing, because, just then, the doors opened into a large stone chamber with a slanted floor leading to a drain in the middle, and three large, throne-like chairs on the side opposite us.
Sitting in those chairs were three men, only, I couldn't call them that. That was to mild a term for these creatures. They were monsters, I knew it. On a second glance, I could see the whole room full of beautiful monsters. Then, the one in the middle throne began to speak in lilting, wispy tones.
"Welcome to our city!" He sighed, "I hope that you have had a good trip to Italy and that our Heidi has treated you well..." He continued to speak, but I was distracted by an impulse. As though I were being directed by some unseen force, I looked up and saw. His eyes... they were red, but more than that, they were fixated on me in a way that I somehow understood, but also did not. He kept my gaze as he floated gracefully to join the one who was speaking still, and he touched that monster's hand. Then his gaze fell, and I felt some odd sense of loss.
"Ah! Forgive my rude behavior!" Said the speaker, and he walked over to Rickie and me. "Let me lead you to the lobby! We must show special care to the injured!" He placed a hand on Rickie's bare shoulder and lead us quickly down the passage, through a door I hadn't noticed before, and into the aforementioned lobby, where a decidedly not monstrous woman waved and smiled. But we weren't there for long, we were ushered into an elevator next, and all before the loquacious man had uttered a single syllable, and, in fact, he seemed to be concentrating on something. But the silence didn't last long once we'd gotten on the elevator and started going down.
"What's going on?" Asked Rickie. He was starting to feel scared. Took him long enough.
"Rickie," We both said it at the same time, and I stared at the man with wide eyes. So did Rickie.
"Mind reader?" I asked, and the man smiled. I took the opportunity to study him, and he took my good hand in his. It was cold, frozen, and I shuddered.
"You are quite sharp Lucy. Lucille Baker, such a pretty name. We have a proposition for you." He said in that same breezy way, "It is of great... scientific value to my brethren and myself." Just then, the doors opened into a much less cheery hallway, and he dragged us into a small chamber, then quickly shut the door, locking it on his way out.
"What the hell? Way to finish a subject before leaving. Ass." I complained. Rickie set me down on a cot on the other side of the room. He was terrified, I could tell. He paced the room a bit, then looked at me. He repeated this process several times before sitting down beside me.
"Lu... Are we gonna die?" He asked quietly. Then we started to hear them. They were muted by the space and wall separating us, but the screams of the rest of the group were unmistakable.
"Yes we are."
Longest chapter as of yet! I've set their first meeting, now to get to the fun stuff! Thanks to my reviewer for keeping up so far! Read and review!
