Newcomers - PT. 1

Ìspirah and I had decided to buy focacce from the panetteria across Marilyn’s and have lunch together in the park.

For the sake of tranquility, we’d chosen a well-hidden bench.

The amount of trees and bushes made a great deal of shade, which allowed the local park animals to take comfortable naps, without the risk of being disturbed. The most you’d hear would be the occasional car, from beyond the park’s walls, and squirrels jumping from branch to branch.

Ìspirah was out of her waitress uniform and in a cozy pair of jeans, a cotton sweater, plus whatever long necklace she always kept hidden.

Without realising it, I’d finished my focaccia rather quickly, entirely wrapped up in my thoughts concerning what had happened earlier with Sara.

“So,” I blurted “you’re a helper”

Ìspirah stopped herself, mid-bite.

“What do you mean?”

“You help people. You help fix things around Marilyn’s, you helped Lillian when she got attacked, you’ve helped Sara with her own personal issues, and you’ve-” helped me feel less alone “been really nice to me, and pretty much everyone else around here”

Her brows had shot up, surprised.

“Oh, well-” she fumbled “All in a day’s work, right?”

“I mean, you don’t have to. It’s nice, but I just hope you don’t feel as though you have to. No one will like you any less, if you don’t help them when they haven’t asked you to. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone”

She swallowed her bit of focaccia and remained quiet.

Perhaps, I had crossed a line.

“Thanks, Michael” she stared at the ground “I do appreciate you saying that, but you have no idea”

I assumed she was referring to her father.

“Well, maybe I don’t. But, seriously, just you being you has a great enough impact on the people around here, I can assure you of that”

“Really? Like who?”

Stretching on the bench, I readjusted myself to be more comfortable.

“Well, Gloria from the cartoleria actually changed her displays for the first time in, at least, fourteen years. I went back a few days ago and poof - no more old products and no more dust on the shelves. A miracle. Never thought I’d see the day”

Ìspirah frowned.

“Doesn’t she hate me for being rude?”

“It takes a lot for someone to hate someone else around here” I scoffed “She’ll never say it, because she’s too proud, but I think that, in retrospect, she appreciated your genuineness”

Smiling with dejected eyes, my new friend quietly got lost in her own thoughts.

“Ìspirah, I’m sorry” I tried, guilt rising “I meant it in the best way pos-”

“No, no! It’s not that, it’s just…” she linked her gaze with mine “It’s nice to be appreciated-”

As she looked away again, my heart kept beating in my throat.

“-Doesn’t happen often back home”

My impulse was to reach a hand out, but I refrained, not knowing how comfortable she’d be with physical contact.

“You can talk about it with me, if you want to” I gulped - she seemed so sad, it was horrible to witness “I’m happy to listen to whatever you’ve got going on in your mind”

“I don’t think I can, Michael”

Hearing my name, uttered by her voice, sent a tingle down my spine - a new type of tingle, which I was not accustomed to at all.

“It’s only if you want to, you don’t have to share anything-”

“Oh! But, I do want to!” she let out a heavy sigh “Believe me, I do. But, I can’t drag anyone into this”

“It’s ok” I nodded “But, if you ever need to vent, I’m here for it. Besides, I’m not exactly a chatter box, so anything you’d share would be safe with me”

A soft chuckle escaped me in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Michael…” there was that tingle, again “Can I, uh-”

She appeared to be a bit flustered, fingers fidgeting.

“Can I hold your hand?” she blurted “Sorry, I know your have your physical boundaries, so-”

“Yes!” I interrupted her, much more hastily than I would’ve wanted.

We both paused with surprise, then laughed, relief shared.

“Sorry, I’ve never really done this before” she admitted, cheeks rosily tinted.

“Don’t worry, me neither” I smiled back “I mean, with Lillian and Jeff when we were younger, but not with-, well, you know-”

Words got stuck in my throat, feeling her slender fingers intertwine with mine.

My heart was going a million miles an hour and my face felt like fire. Some would laugh at all of this, being that we were just holding hands, but to me, this was more than a lot.

“Sorry” she giggled “I got impatient”

“Oh no, please, don’t be sorry” I reassured her and nodded to our locked hands “This is nice”

She smiled, wistful.

“Yeah, it is”

Her hand seemed to fit so well in mine… I spontaneously started to rub my thumb against hers and noticed that the tips of her fingers were slightly calloused - most likely due to all the manual labour she did at Marilyn’s.

She tightened her grip and scooted closer to me.

“Do you mind?” she asked, nodding at my shoulder.

My whole back tensed up.

“Nope, go ahead”

Her thick blonde hair cushioned her head against me.

I wouldn’t dare to breathe. I didn’t want to risk moving her.

It took me several minutes of silence to finally ease up. The quiet time spent together was strangely comforting, as we simply sat there, taking in the moment, once again.

“You can lay your head on mine, if you want to” she suddenly peeped “But, only if you want to”

“It’s ok, Ìspirah”

She snuggled in closer and I laid my head on hers.

Her hair was soft, emanating the scents of strawberry shampoo and coffee - the latter from her shift at the shop.

I closed my eyes and let time stay still, in what felt like a mixture of eternity and mere seconds, listening to the sound of the wind and the rustles of the trees. The bell tower went off, letting us know it was already two. Our breathing patterns had fallen into sync, as I continued to softly rub her hand with my thumb.

It was all so peaceful and-

“ÌSPIRAH!” yelled a female voice “Oh, my gosh, girl! What were the chances!?”

“Oh! Who’s that guy with you~?” a male voice followed “You naughty, naughty angel!”

Eyes shooting open and hands detaching, we bolted up straight.

My stomach dropped, I didn’t want this to be the end. It was far too soon.

When Ìspirah turned around to focus on who the voices belonged to, all blood drained from her expression.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Don’t worry about us!” they answered in unison “We lost our key!”

I felt paralysed - I couldn’t face whoever it was who might possibly be here to take her away.

“Wait, you lost your key?”

The footsteps on the gravel were getting louder.

“Yeah, you know us” the male voice chanted, followed by the female voice “It happens all the time!”

“How did you find me? Did you know, or-?”

“Oh, no, no! We didn’t find you on purpose!” the girl replied “We were just bored and got lost”

“So, you’re not here for me?”

“Pffft, don’t flatter yourself, Ìspirah” the boy continued “It’s nice to see you in one piece, but we just wanted to find some fun”

Ìspirah burst into laughter by my side, mumbling “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

She looked back at the pair.

“You two should at least try to blend in, then. It could be dangerous, if-”

“Can’t do that without our key” they replied in unison, again “Come on! Introduce us!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Go on, we’ll behave~!”

“These two, I swear…” she whispered to herself, pinching her nose “Michael, it’s ok. They’re not from my family, but from a family who knows my family. Also, they look a bit odd, but it’s just their family traits, ok? Please, don’t freak out”

When I turned around, had Ìspirah not told me not to, I would have most certainly freaked out.

In front of me were two very tall, long-limbed, ghostly pale individuals. Both were dressed as eighteenth century European nobility, with matching emerald, finely embroidered, outfits, engraved golden buttons aligned wherever necessary, and shiny noir leather buckle latchet shoes. Their hair was straight and white - yet, the tips were bright violet - longer on the girl and shorter on the boy, styled with a loose bow each.

What would have mainly caused a freak out, however, were their facial features: unnaturally large black eyes, severely arched noses, dark purple lips, and pointed ears, full of silver piercings.

They could not have been for real.

Against all of my instincts, I’d decided to hold my tongue for as long as Ìspirah was calm about everything.

We both got up and walked towards them.

“Michael, these are the Crivelli twins, Aspion and Pryra. Aspion, Pryra, this is Michael Baston”

“Oh-ho~!” Aspion purred “Hello, boy-toy~!”

“We see you’ve caught quite the catch!” Pryra added.

“Hi- I’m pretty sure I haven’t ‘caught’ anything, or anyone”

So far, I didn’t like them.

“It’s ok, Michael. Their specialty is chaos, don’t take anything personally, ok? They’re decent at heart”

“Chaos is our specialty! You know how easy it is to get bored with the kind of time we have on our hands! We just like to have fun, that’s all. Isn’t that right, Aspion?”

“Very true! And, oh shucks, Ìspirah! You’re too kind, calling us ‘decent at heart’ and all that” he half sang, waving a hand with feigned innocence.

“Either way, you guys stand out way too much like this” Ìspirah flatly replied “Where did you lose your key?”

The Ìspirah who had been holding my hand, just minutes ago, had disappeared. She’d reverted to the same attitude she’d had when fighting off Sara. If the situation was serious enough to bring that determination back out of her, I wanted to support her.

“We don’t know~” they unnervingly chirped in unison.

Somehow seeing them speak together was far worse than just hearing them.

“Urgh…” Ìspirah shook her head “Well, we’re gonna have to do something to hide you two”

“What’s the rush?” Pryra sang “We just got here. Besides, we wanna know more about the fellow who’s going to cause such terrible trouble in the near future”

She bent forward, lowering her face to my level.

“Oh yes~” Aspion mimicked her “Such terrible trouble”

Both of them had gotten too close. I took a step back.

“Don’t say anything more!” Ìspirah pleaded “I don’t wanna know, besides-”

“I would never do anything to get Ìspirah in trouble” I defended myself.

“No, not intentionally you wouldn’t - you’re such a strong pure” Aspion took another step in my direction, while Pryra snickered “But, we know what’s coming~”

Ìspirah yanked them down by their jabot frills.

“That’s enough, you two!” she was losing her patience “Now listen, in this place, you have no power, no status - just like me. And, while we’re here, we can’t cause any havoc whatsoever-!”

Seeing such tall people bent over, curving like snakes, was a unique sight. I had no idea what Ìspirah was going on about with them, but it was getting them to behave.

“-Now, we’re gonna find a place for you two to stay, until we locate your key and manage to send you back home. All this, with having as few people as possible even see you. Is that clear?”

“What about your boy-toy?” Pryra asked, still playful “We saw you two cuddled up earlier, aren’t you worried about Gabriel~?”

Ìspirah changed colour.

If she’d been losing some her temper until that point, now she was pissed. I, on the other hand, felt my stomach sink - I didn’t want to get her into any trouble.

Also, ‘Gabriel’ was a new name.

“Now, listen! First off, Michael is not my ‘boy-toy’! Second, we were not cuddling, we were not flirting, it was completely platonic and with no interest, whatsoever!” ouch, that stung “And third, even if there were an interest, the only way Gabriel would find out, would be if you two said something. Are you two planning on reporting me? If so, I’m sure the Crivelli Clan will be oh-so pleased to know you two lost a damn sacred key! Here! Of all places! There could be so many catastrophic consequences for such an accident! Not to mention-!”

“Wait? Report you?” Aspion remained unfazed “Nah, where would the fun be in that?”

“Besides, we don’t care to interfere with your ‘time off’, Ìspirah” Pryra reassured “You can take a chill pill”

Ìspirah deeply inhaled. I wanted to hold her hand to calm her down, but if that could get her in trouble, I’d hold back.

“Good” she pinched her nose, again “Now, let me think of where I could take you two-”

I wanted to help.

“They could stay at my place”

“YES!” the two exclaimed, before Ìspirah could reply “We get to bunk with the boy-toy!”

“Do not call him that!” Ìspirah bursted “His name is Michael, you dimwits!”

She sighed and looked at me.

“Are you sure about this? As you can see, they’re a lot to handle”

“Look, Ìspirah, I don’t know what’s happening, but you need them to be seen by as few people as possible, and my house is around the corner from here. The space upstairs is uninhabitable, but I’m sure we can do something with it. Plus, no one would suspect they’d be staying with me in the first place”

Offering my home like this to complete random and creepy strangers was absolutely out of my norm. But, I was slowly realising, more and more, that Ìspirah made me want to take extra steps.

I didn’t know where these extra steps were leading to, but I definitely wanted to take all of them.

For her.

Her shoulders eased, finally.

“Michael, can I-” she suspired “Can I hug you, please?”

My stomach went into a knot “Sure thing” and she threw herself into my arms.

“Thank you, Michael. This means the world to me”

“It’s ok” I reciprocated her hug, stroking her back.

The twins sang a soft “Awww~” from behind us.

“Don’t you two start” Ìspirah turned to them, remaining in my embrace “You’ve given me enough heart attacks for one day. Let me recharge - I feel like I’m gonna pass out”

And with that, she snuggled right back into my shoulder.

She was so warm. I loved holding her like this - being that we were about the same height, she fit perfectly. This was a very welcome ‘new’, for sure.

When Ìspirah finally felt ready to take care of these two chaotic twins, who had seemingly materialised out of thin air, we headed towards city hall’s gates.

“How did you two get here anyway?”

“Oh, you know” Pryra commenced “We went through our Father’s Hall of Keys and thought we’d try out a new one”

“Exactly” the other confirmed “And then, before you know it, we’re coming out of the manhole behind that coffee shop where you work”

“Wait a second-” Ìspirah stopped “You came out from behind Marilyn’s? How many people have seen you?”

“The staff-” Aspion was clearly very relaxed about the matter “-and a few oldies outside the park”

“The staff saw you?! What did they say?”

“The one girl with glasses just yelled ‘Cosplayers!’ and asked to take a picture with us. She wondered how we’d gotten into the shop without her seeing us come in” Pryra laughed “Can you believe that? Cosplayers! Now, that’s a first”

“Lillian took your picture?! Are you crazy? You don’t have your key!”

“Give us some credit, angel. Of course, we declined” the other shrugged “But, I would have loved to see the look on her face when-”

“Hush it, Aspion” Ìspirah cut him off.

He peeked at me and his sister followed.

“Right, not in front of the boy-toy” she giggled “Sorry, girl”

Ìspirah was about to yell at them again, but we were almost at my courtyard. I told them all to wait in the alley - I needed to make sure Nonna Rosi wasn’t on her balcony. Her shutters turned out to be closed and locked, meaning she wasn’t even in. Good.

We silently walked through and, once we reached my door, I welcomed them in.

“Make yourselves at home. We’ll have to fix up the upstairs, but I’m sure we’ll manage”

“Thank you, Michael~” they sang in unison, wide excited eyes far too big for comfort.

Gosh, did they creep me out.

I pulled out a flashlight from one of my living room drawers. I hadn’t really been up there since I’d moved in, but I knew for sure that the lights didn’t work.

The twins’ heels clicked against the marble steps, echoing throughout the upstairs hallway.

Coughs were unavoidable - it was ridiculously dusty in the small hallway. We found ourselves before three doors: two rooms, that were meant to be bedrooms, and one bathroom.

Wiping dust off one of the handles, I showed them inside.

A fan, ripped from the ceiling, laid on the broken double bed, surrounded in rubble and dust. The bed was heavily stained, while the wardrobe and mirror were smashed to pieces. The room smelled awful too, possibly due to the mould and humidity - there was a hole in the ceiling, after all. I was certain water made its way in, whenever it rained.

“So, this is one room-” I led them to the next door “-this is the other one”

The second room had obviously been used as a kids’ room at some point in time. Two separate beds, also stained. Broken toys were scattered across the floor, along with pieces of, what I assumed used to be, a desk.

“We love it!” the twins squealed together.

“Also, this bathroom doesn’t have running water, so you’ll have to use the one downstairs. Just make sure you cover up when you go through the back courtyard, if you need to stay hidden”

Ìspirah looked very perplexed, if not shocked.

“Michael, what exactly happened in this house?”

“The person who lived here before me, apparently, went mad” I shrugged, used to the story “And, after destroying everything in the upstairs area, he hung himself, thus the fan on the bed. Someone from the Church came over to bless his house around Christmas that year and, since they knew him, they let themselves in, only to find him in there rotting. Poor guy… None of his family had shown up to check on him in months. Plus, no one was traceable in the aftermath, so there was no one to pay for repairs. The house just stayed like this for ages and city hall didn’t really feel like going into fixing up some random citizen’s house. The real estate agency did what they could, but they couldn’t find anyone willing to buy it. You know Italians, super-superstitious, especially when it comes to the dead”

“And, you haven’t tried fixing it up?”

“Well, I’m still paying off the mortgage, so I can’t really afford to go into the bureaucracy required to fix a historical house like this. The guy really damaged the walls and, consequently, the heating, the lighting system, and the pipes. Besides, I live here alone, I don’t need the space. I don’t mind”

“Doesn’t your family help you?”

“It’s fine, really-”

“This place is perfect~!”

Aspion and Pryra had been exploring the two rooms.

“Aren’t you scared of ghosts, Michael?” Aspion chanted “What if the soul of the man still lives here?”

His sister laughed from the other room.

“I wouldn’t mind” I admitted “If his soul is around, he hasn’t done anything to harm me, so far”

“You’re no fun, boy-toy” Pryra lamented, as she climbed on the double bed to jump.

“That bed is broken, you know” I pointed out.

But, my words didn’t matter - she carried on, slipped, and got herself covered in dust and who knew what else. She couldn’t stop cackling.

“This is great! Ìspirah, I wanna chill here forever!”

“Well, you’re not”

“Waaah~!” Pryra fake cried.

Ìspirah was too pensive to take notice though, glancing around the two rooms and checking the state of the old bathroom.

“Michael, I-”

“Look, I know it’s far from great, but we could fix something up for them”

“That’s exactly what I had in mind, but- Please, allow me to do most of the fixing, along with those two. You’re already doing enough hosting them, the least we can do is clean this for you”

“I mean, you don’t have to. I can work on it, too - it’s been a long time coming. I should’ve cleaned up around here a while ago”

“No! We like this mess!” Aspion pleaded from the children’s room “It speaks to us!”

Ìspirah rolled her eyes.

“See? They love chaos. But, in all honesty, just to pay you back, let me fix this place up, ok?”

I couldn’t say no to her.

“Sure”

“Good. Now, don’t you have work to do?”

“Yes”

“Then go down to your studio and get to it! The twins and I will work out what to do up here. You don’t mind us throwing stuff away, do you?”

“Not at all, just, if you find something that might’ve been important to the guy who lived here, let me know. I’d rather take it to his grave, than throw it away”

She smiled, endeared “Of course” and then pushed me “Now, shoo! We’ve all got work to do!”

“Fine, you win! I’ll go!” I laughed “But, come get me if you need anything”

I left her with the twins and made my way downstairs, wondering what a sacred key could possibly be and how that might affect them getting their picture taken…

Ìspirah’s world was much more complex than what I could imagine.

So much for helping her have a normal and peaceful time in Corbetta.

Well, maybe we could still sort something out…

Back in my studio, I got to work.