Rust Upon the Soul

"Maria just had a really bad morning sickness again. Give me your son right now. No matter how painful it is, you have to deal with it. If you don’t, then forget about me going to the parent-teacher meeting."

After threatening me, he hung up the phone. He knew I would obey.

Angelo hated me. He didn’t like my son either. Even if I wanted him, my son’s biological father, to go to a school meeting, I had to give him blood from my heart.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Angelo sent a location. It was a nightclub.

[Bring your son here right now. Also, don’t forget to buy a box of condoms and some sexy lingeries on your way.]

My hands shook and my knuckles turned white from gripping the phone too hard.

Then Maria sent a message too.

[I’m allergic to cheap fabrics, so make sure to hand-wash the sexy underwear you bring.]

She even sent me their clothing sizes.

I blocked both of them.

I turned off the phone, placed my hand gently on my belly and spoke with a hoarse voice.

"Help me end this pregnancy."

"Mrs. Lombardi, I’ve taken care of him for five years. But I can’t stop the nightmares. Please think of helping my whole folk doctor community as something separate. I should leave now."

I was an orphan, raised by my grandmother. She came from a long line of folk doctors. Seven years ago, a company tried to force all the folk doctors to leave the mountain. They wanted to use our skills for something illegal.

However, my grandmother refused.

A few days later, a bulldozer came to the foot of the mountain. They said they would destroy our home if we didn’t obey. Some of our people were badly hurt. They almost died.

We were ready to run as we began moving deeper into the northern mountains.

But then Mrs. Lombardi came to us. She used her power and connections to solve the problem. She asked me to come down the mountain with her to help her grandson. He had terrible nightmares that made him lose control. If it got too bad, he could kill someone without meaning to.

The only way to calm his condition was with the blood of someone from the folk doctors’ bloodline. Unfortunately, that bloodline was nearly gone. I couldn’t let anyone else in my community suffer. So, I followed her down the mountain alone.

Whenever Angelo lost control, I held him. I gave him herbs, gave him my blood, cooked medicine and stayed by his side day and night.

Little by little, he went from hating me to treating me kindly. We even had one warm year together. But then, at Angelo’s birthday party, Maria showed up. She held two urns and cried while accusing me in front of everyone.

"You folk doctors told my parents to invest in medicine. But then you went against the Lombardi Family and tricked them. They lost all their money and owed hundreds of millions. They jumped off a building. They’re dead now. Are you happy?"

I realized then that it was Maria’s parents who had tried to force my people down the mountain a year before.

I wanted to explain, but Maria shaved her head right there and said she would become a nun. She looked at Angelo and said, "If I hadn’t carried you down the mountain when we were young, you would’ve been eaten by wolves."

"She’s my enemy, Angelo. If you still have a heart, kill her for me. If not, I’ll hate you forever."

Angelo didn’t know what to do. His illness flared up again that day and all the progress we made that year was lost. Mrs. Lombardi didn’t want Angelo to suffer more. She begged me not to tell him the truth.

So, we made a deal. A five-year promise. After five years, no matter how bad his condition was, I could leave.

When Angelo woke up, the girl he loved from long ago had become a nun. And I couldn’t say anything. For the next five years, I endured his anger and his cruel words. I gave him everything. My blood, my care and my heart.

But then something unexpected happened.

I got pregnant.

After that, Angelo tried to control his temper. He would be gentle with me, even if only for a short time. But a year ago, Maria got pregnant and returned to the normal world. Her return broke everything we had built in the last five years.

And things only got worse from there.