Piccoletto

I Promise, Luca

Alberto closed his eyes tightly as he felt the large impact of the cellar break through the wooden door. He bowed his head in an attempt to avoid the flying debris as pieces of wood flew over his head, another piece slamming into his arm with a painful sting. As soon as he broke through the door, he ripped the handle of the vespa backwards with such force, he felt it go past it's rotation limit with a loud click. The red vespa drifted, leaving Alberto and Giulia to swerve with an ear-piercing screech of the vespa's tires.

"Jump!" Alberto cried as he watched the stone wall on his left approach with rapid speed. Giulia didn't hesitate, and the two let go of the vespa as they let their bodies fall to the ground to avoid hitting the wall. As soon as Alberto hit the stone on his side, he covered his head as he felt the impact of the vespa hitting the wall vibrate through the ground beneath him. The bang from the vespa's crash filled the air as a loud whistled pitch pierced Alberto's ears. The smell of gas and smoke surrounded Alberto as he realized what was happening.

Alberto shakily stood up, horrified at the prospect that Luca had gotten hurt during the break in. Alberto wiped his eyes, only to realize that his vision wasn't blurry like he thought it had been. Dark dust and smoke clouded the cellar, affecting the visibility around him.

"Luca!" Alberto shouted as he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Luca, where are you?"

Alberto felt a warm hand grab at his leg and he jumped with surprise. He looked down to see a hand claw at his shirt as the figure stood up. A red and white striped shirt emerged and Giulia coughed as she found her stance to let go of Alberto.

"Al- berto," Giulia coughed, shakily pointing to the right. "He's- there. . ."

Alberto frantically turned, and realized Giulia was right. Two shadows seemed to emerge from the cloud of smoke. Alberto stepped closer as the smoke and dust began to clear and his heart began to beat at an alarming pace.

Ercole was standing in the center of the room, his eyes wide open. He was slightly bent down, his arms almost seemed to wrap around something. Alberto looked closer and realized what that something was. Luca was shirtless, on his knees, his head tilted up with Ercole's hand slapped over his mouth while the other with a firm hold around his throat.

"LUCA!" Alberto shrieked, sprinting towards his best friend. In an instant, he had wrapped his arms around Luca's body as he ran, not stopping as he pulled the boy away from Ercole's grasp. Ercole let go almost immediately as Alberto started to pull Luca up.

But something was wrong. Luca didn't stand. Instead, Alberto was hit with Luca's weight pulling him down. Alberto was confused by Luca's lack of- reaction. Alberto didn't have time to comprehend what was going on, but he knew one thing. He had to get Luca as far away as possible from Ercole. Alberto bent over to slide his hands under Luca's arms, dragging what seemed like a limp body over to the opposite wall.

As soon as they made it, Alberto collapsed to the ground, pulling Luca's body over his lap. His stomach seemed to make a sickening flip at what he saw beneath him. Luca barely even looked like the boy who had left Alberto's sight the day prior. Luca was soaking wet.

Blood was covering his body. Luca's chest, back, and legs held nothing but the cold redness, its snaking rivers dripping over Alberto. A dark purple spot on Luca's rib cage was the only visible thing Alberto could see through the blood. He was all too familiar to what it was.

It wasn't the only bruise either. Dark blue spots littered Luca's body, it's color severely contrasting the paper white of Luca's face. Blood seemed to spill out both of his nostrils, creating streams pooling between his lips and running down his neck.