Episode 5

Ofelia

I woke up very early in the morning, with a pain in my body that was killing me; it must be from the kicks I got yesterday because of the damn ice. My face is throbbing, which tells me I must have a good mark on it too. When I'm badly beaten, I'm not allowed to be around people. I have to stay as far away as possible from those who aren't from the house. For those who live here, it's almost normal to see me bruised, but for outsiders, that's impossible. So, I already knew my chores today would be outside in the fields, or with the laundry in the laundry room.

I got up and looked at myself in a small mirror I had, and yes, I had earned myself a good bruise on my face under my left eye, and a cut lip, all because of some damn ice. I put on my uniform and headed to the laundry room. I start sorting and preparing clothes for washing. As I wash and tidy up, it's a solitary task; I've been in charge of this for a long time now.

It's a huge place, and there are several industrial and common washing machines, each for a different type of garment.

As I wash, I hang the clothes. The day is beautiful, so I take the opportunity to hang as much as possible outside. It's then that I see someone in the distance watching. I don't recognize him, so I turn around to face away; I don't want any trouble.

Iddo

Upon arriving at the house, I'm waiting with Vicenzo outside in the garden for Graviano to arrive. Vicenzo gets a call and has to go answer it. The weather is warm, and I prefer to wait outside.

I start to walk around the property a bit. It's truly a huge place. The house looks like an old construction, perhaps from the 1900s. It's enormous and well-preserved. The land seems endless; it has space for stables, an employees' house, two giant storage units, and many vegetable gardens and fruit trees. Further down, it has a vineyard. I continue walking, and as I turn around what would be the back of the house, I see a young woman hanging sheets in the distance. She's a petite, thin girl with honey-colored hair. She's very focused on her task until I think she saw me and turned her back. It made me laugh, as if hanging clothes were so confidential. I chuckled to myself, and just then, Graviano arrives.

We greet each other and wait for Vicenzo. When he tells me he wants something to drink, he decides to go in through the back door, since according to him, it surely leads to the kitchen or some service area. We enter, and to our surprise, it's the laundry room, and inside is the young woman who was hanging clothes. I recognized her by her hair and uniform. She gets scared by the sound of the door, almost jumps instinctively, and becomes more afraid upon seeing us.

"- Well, well, what happened to you? You took quite a hit, hahaha - Graviano blurts out mockingly."

The girl has a black eye, an injured nose, and a split lip. Something makes me think she's the young woman who forgot the ice yesterday.

"- Are you okay? - I ask, getting no response. When I try to get closer, she backs away and only then does she speak."

"- I'm fine, thank you. You shouldn't be here."

"- In the laundry room? Is it your personal section or something? Hahaha, what are you saying, brat? - Graviano replies."

She just looks at him with fear and apprehension, but I think it's more the fear and dread of looking behind that door, that it could open at any moment and our presence there would bring her more trouble.

"- Let's go, Graviano. Vicenzo must have finished his call."

We went out, and as I said, Vicenzo was coming around. We headed to the enormous warehouse he had behind the property where he kept a portion of the weapons and drugs. We run the tests, and it was of maximum purity. Now, to finalize numbers and logistics.

I left that day still thinking about the young woman. I felt bad about her condition; her face was devastated. They had really hit her, and with fury. She looked too young to be working as a servant there; everything seemed very strange to me. It's not that life in the mafia isn't violent; I've seen and done worse things. But as far as I knew, that girl got a beating for forgetting some ice, and it didn't seem like such a big deal to me. It's not like I'd be at my house beating up my cook or chauffeur. And what struck me as oddest was that Vicenzo Leggio gave the impression of a meticulous man. In the months since we started doing business, he always seemed upright and irreproachable. I couldn't believe he had a girl working for him, who was surely underage, and that he treated her that way. Something about it bothered me, but I tried to forget it. After all, it wasn't my problem.