C2 THE VISITATION

Annora knew Collins have a way of stopping Sandra's madness. She seems too fashionable just like the Mandonnas she thought as she sat down wearing her high heel shoes and then started applying her Longoria perfume.

And a few minutes later, she watched Bruno use the perfume too. “Alright, it is time. Let’s go.” Bruno said. As he looked around making sure everybody was well dressed.

The streets in Lisbon almost looked similar except that they weren’t. The street that connects the Brunos and their new neighbors looked different in many ways and was the quietest.

It was difficult to say why but Bruno knew he will never get an answer to that even if he tries thinking about that for months. It seems natural but perhaps the people that live in it are the reason. Perhaps they just love a quiet life. He struggled to guess but dropped his thoughts as they approached their new neighbor’s house.

A few minutes later, they arrived. Sandra walked ahead and pressed the doorbell. The house wasn’t strange to her at all. She once lived here and it was like a second home to her until the Mandonnas packed. Even now she doesn’t feel that way at all. She always felt like her second home.

Now, who is now the new inhabitant?

She knew in a few minutes she will find out.

Nervousness crept into her for seconds as she pressed the doorbell the second time. Listening to get a response, she withdrew when she heard moving footsteps behind the closed door and then a voice followed.

“Who is it? I am coming.”

The front door opened wide and a huge man walked out. “Hello—how may I help you?”

Bruno quickly stretched out his right hand for a handshake. “I am Bruno—Bruno Strullid.” He began. “This is my family. We are neighbors here. We saw you moved in yesterday so we thought it nice to come and visit you—”

“Oh, I see.” He didn’t let him finish. “That was thoughtful of you—I am Alex Rexon and behind me. Is my son Duke Rexon—hmm, what is your number in Lisbon?”

“Number 9,” Sandra quickly replied.

Alex's eyes fell on her and then he smiled. “I see you have a brilliant girl here. Well, your number is not too far from mine I guess. This is house 15 for the big guys you know.”

Bruno knew what he meant. He looked around for a while and knew they could be as wealthy as the Madonnas after all.

He could smell the power of wealth from what he saw around him and the way he talks but didn’t allow that bothered him. And if anything was bothering him now, was the boy behind Alex? He looked different and there was something he doesn’t like about him. Bruno’s thoughts dropped when Annora spoke.

“Is this all your family?” Annora asked.

She wanted to know if Sandra could have a female friend like Nelly.

Alex stared at her, wondering why she asked.

“This is my family and Duke here is my only son and child.”

Annora nodded and shut her eyes in disappointment. So was Sandra who knew why her Mum asked.

Collins's eyes were on Duke all through the conversation. The attraction that naturally seems to bring teens together doesn’t seem to do that between them. He looked away moments later when his Dad’s words to Alex hit his eardrums.

“Can we come in for a while?”

Alex was now restless. “No, I am sorry you can’t. Inside is still messy and—”

“We can help you” Annora chipped in.

But Alex was reluctant.

Bruno quickly flushed out the tension. “Not to worry Mr. Alex. It is good to see you and I hope we see each other often just in case you need any help we are just a stone's throw away. Please remember that.” He smiled and motioned to his family to start going.

“Thanks, Bruno, that’s kind of you—”

Bruno and his family were already ahead before Alex finished. If there was anything Bruno can smell now, is that Alex can’t be the Madonnas.

**********

“There is something about Alex Rexon I can’t understand.” Bruno began. “His looks and the way he spoke the other day—is not that he spoke badly. But you know his words just have some ingredients in them. I don’t know how it tastes—”

“Just like my food, right?” Annora cut in laughing. “I think he is kind of shy or perhaps a reserved person if you don’t mind me using those words.”

Annora picked her meat with her fork and lifted it to her opened mouth. Bruno looked away but refused his piling thoughts to vanish. “The word shy or reserve is not it. I think he got secrets to protect. He doesn’t seem to be free—remember when I asked him if we could come into his house? The way he acted. I mean his body language, betrayed him.”

Annora sipped some water out of her glass cup and then stared at Bruno who she felt was becoming too paranoid. “Let’s give them the benefit of a doubt, my dear. The coming days will tell—eat your food or it gets cold.”

Bruno ignored her for a moment and then started eating.

Minutes later, Bruno watched Collins walk into the kitchen perhaps to get more food. Kids eat a lot these days. He thought as he looked away still pondering over what Annora said.

**********

“I don’t trust him. He can’t be Nelly and you know that, as much as I do. Duke Rexon is not a female—”

“It doesn’t mean anything.” Sandra flared as she cut into Collins's words angrily. She doesn’t seem to like Collins antagonizing her as far as Duke’s issue is concerned. “I am used to staying in that house, remember? And if I make Duke a friend I will still be welcome there. Can’t you see my point?”

Collins served himself some food out of the pot on the cooking gas and sat down on the mini-dining table in the kitchen but never stopped staring into the eyes of her defensive sister.

Moments later, his eye caught his chilled drink on the table but reluctantly he looked away. His mind was still filled with thoughts.

He wondered what had gone into his head of Sandra. He hated every conversation that has to do with the Duke’s family and this was one he never liked either. “You are a girl and Duke a boy far older than you as far as I can see the other day we visited. He can’t be your friend. He should be mine but obviously, I am not interested. What a hell do you need a male friend for anyway?” He started eating but was eager to hear Sandra answer his question.

Sandra felt the weight of Collins's question on her for a while and then minutes later, she tore down the silence that seemed to have hung above them for minutes. Stammering, she began. “D—do y—you think I care about that? No, I don’t Collins. Duke may not be a better replacement for Nelly but—”

“—But what, Sandra? Tell me, what do you mean? ” Collins stopped her and the same time placed his cup of water angrily on the table. “Duke is older than you and can never reason the way you do. He never can be Nelly. You better wake up and stop daydreaming.

“I don’t like that boy. There is something strange in his eyes that never seems to connect us—so I suggest you stay away from him or consider having him as a friend or a replacement for Nelly. For Duke can never be Nelly!”

Sandra hated what she heard. The more she tried to push Collins's words away the more they echoed within her eardrums.

A few minutes later as she stared at the food on her plate she knew her appetite has been stolen away by Collins’s unfriendly words. Standing up from her chair, she hurried out of the kitchen, crying.

**********

She stood pressing down the doorbell for minutes. She observed the white limousine of Alex Rexon was not parked outside as usual. She became nervous when she also noticed the curtains in the sitting room were all rolled up.

But why is nobody answering?

Or did everybody go out and forgot to drop down the curtains?

As her mind worked her lips shivered but then she stood still refusing to depart. Thoughts added up to thoughts in her mind but the urge to walk away soon fizzled out when she thought she heard a sound—a sound within the house.

Who could that be?

She became more confused now but determined to meet with Duke Rexon.

Is Alex Rexon lying? Perhaps another person is living with them and not just Duke, Donna, and himself.

What if there was a break-in and—

Her thought slipped once more when she heard another sound, this time more distinct. Her lungs dragged in the air slowly and by the time she released it through her nostril, she felt tension beneath her feet that tends to tighten through her veins and then to her stomach. Instantly she felt some movement in her stomach.

Suddenly the urge to throw up came but she subdued it the moment she felt she heard a third sound. She moved her feet as she struggled to see past the open window. She suddenly heard the doorknob move and Duke Rexon stepped out from the front door.

“Looking for somebody?” He forced a smile as he stood near the open door staring into the lovely blue eyes of Sandra Strullid.

Sandra felt the weight of his eyes on her.

Has he been drinking?

Her heart pounds against her chest for minutes and then the thought of walking back home crept in but soon faded away.

But it wasn’t the redness in his eyes that scared her. What scared her was the look in those two bloodshot slits, a leering gaze that seemed to slash through her clothes, ripping away her blouse and bra so he could see—

See her nakedness or what?

Has he gone mad or just drunk?

The penetration of his eyes through her blouse scared the shit out of her. The urge to use the toilet came but she discarded it.

Moments later, she struggled to cut the thought off. Terrified that he might be able to read her mind, and think...what?

That she was interested in him?

Sandra knew she had only meant Duke before just once when she visited with her family. But now, she seems to see Duke differently. She strained her eyes to see if she was seeing somebody different perhaps Alex lied he got only a child. The more she strains her eyes the more she knew he was Duke Rexon.

But why was he looking different?

Sandra was looking at him in a whole new way. In a way that sends shivers down her spine and made her feel sick with fear inside.

Her heart was pounding fast now, she felt like walking home. But suddenly her knees threatened to buckle beneath her. But when Duke’s voice came again, she felt somehow relieved.

“Hope you don’t mind coming in—I remember you now, a neighbor at house number 9, right? Lisbon is a big estate and most times you just don’t know everybody.” Duke watched her walk in and then he shut the door behind them. “I am Duke Rexon and you—you are Sandra Strullid, right”

Sandra frowned. “How did you know my name? I never—”

“Let’s just say I heard someone calling your name a few days ago and that was it.” Duke cut in confidently.