SABRINA & SMILE : THE UPTOWN DISTRICT {FINISHED}

[Wolfy]

At first, Adrasteia's decision seemed like a blessing, but it turned out to be one of the worst things he could have done. Her father told his wife about what happened, and (since she took every chance to torture Sabrina) overreacted. "We raised her better than this!" said the woman, which made Sabrina seethe.

She said that if they let her go off on her own so much, this was bound to happen, and they needed to keep a closer eye on her. Thus she so lovingly suggested that Sabrina be locked in her room and be watched carefully in the places she was allowed to go - which was only school - she was watched by teachers constantly and they would report every misbehavior. She also assured her that "It's for your own good". She also suggested that they hire a maid to replace Sabrina since she couldn't do housework anymore. That would have too much of a risk of her sneaking out.

To make her happy, Sabrina's father had to agree, though he looked a little skeptical about it. Despite her fighting, he brought her up to her room and had a locksmith install a latch to her door that could be opened by a key that her father placed in his pocket. "I'm sorry, Sabrina," he sighed before shutting the door. She could hear the lock latch behind him.

She was fuming. How dare they lock her up? She was only defending Memini when he was hurt. She paced around her room for awhile before looking out to see her parents walking around in the courtyard. They seemed to be going somewhere. She walked to the large French-style window in which the panes of glass were separated by decorative wrought-iron.

It really wasn't a bad place. She had a suite with a bathroom and a nice view of the courtyard. She could ask for anything she wanted to be brought to her room when they came by. Her room was filled with music and books, and many other fun things.

She was literally trapped in paradise.

She was all alone in that huge house? What if something happened while they were gone? She would have no way to escape or help herself! She was so angry that her hand balled into a fist and she couldn't stop herself. Before she realized what happened, her hand had gone through one of the bigger panes of glass of the window.

She pulled it back quickly when she realized what she'd done, but only managed to cut it on the still-attached pieces of glass. She was shocked at how much it bled, and so hurried over to her bed and wrapped her bleeding wrist in her blanket.

She had just been worried about just such an occasion, and just made it happen herself. She had no idea when they would be back to help her, and she couldn't get out through the window because the opening was too small! She began to panic, thinking that she might die before they got back, which only worsened her situation.

[Rad]

“Smile, where exactly are you taking us?” This particular question, said not without a slight hint of irritation, was voiced by the red-haired mobster seated in the front row passenger seat. Although young, this man had climbed swiftly up the ranks and accordingly had the marks to show for it. It was said that he only had one eye; the other (if it even still existed at all) was hidden behind an eyelid permanently closed by a long diagonal scar. “We passed our exit at least half an hour ago.” The displeasure was evident this time.

“I’m simply taking an en route detour to visit someone special.”

There was a resigned sigh followed by another question, “Would this be the same under-age girl from last time?”

“Precisely!”

There was a moment of thick silence subsequently shattered by a loud proclamation from the red-head: “DAMMIT SMILE! NOT ON MY WATCH YOU AIN’T!” The shout was so loud that it caused the conditioned mobster to flinch quite visibly; an act that caused the vehicle to veer off the road and straight into a ditch.

“F***ing Asian driver.” The red-head muttered, glowering at his subordinate and former superior. As one could probably guess, the youngster was the quixotic type and wasn’t about to take responsibility for anything even if it was something he had triggered. He also wasn’t going to tolerate slacking-off during his supervision for fear it was going to get him a bad report from the higher ups.

Using the slant of the vehicle to his advantage, the red-head shifted his position in the passenger seat and launched a firm kick in Smile’s direction. The force rammed Smile into the driver’s side door, temporarily winding him. Choking from the surprise of that brutal attack, Smile fumbled with the catch, accidentally opening it and making himself topple straight into the muddy ditch.

Seeing that this blunder would work to his advantage the red-head quickly maneuvered into the driver’s seat, slammed the door and promptly drove off. It was clear that Smile had just been, quite effectively, ‘ditched’.

Oh well, that didn’t seem to faze him all that much and once he had gotten over his initial surprise the Mafioso was back on his feet. He even considered it fortunate that he had been dropped off only a 5 minute walk from Sabrina’s place.

-

Thus it was that the Mafioso was soon slinking around in the shadows of the Matthews’ estate when he heard the sound of a loud crash. Immediately assuming that his dear Sabrina was in trouble he rushed towards the direction of the noise only to see…

A scene which was truly peculiar.

“Sabrina, what on earth are ya doin’?”

[Wolfy]

Sabrina was desperately trying to stop the blood, but it looked as if she’d nicked the arteries and veins in her wrist that wouldn’t stop. Her wrist was still wrapped in her once white blanket. However, the blanket was slowly becoming more and more drenched in red as her blood ran out onto the soft cloth. She was beginning to tear up with the pain and fear.

Then, Sabrina heard something that could prove to be her rescue, or her fate. She recognized the voice instantly as the Mafioso, Smile. She heard the lock break and then his footsteps as he stepped in, but since she was facing the other way, she was too scared to roll over to look at him. “What am I doing?” she asked angrily. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

At this point, there were only two possibilities left. He would either save her, or he would take advantage of her weakened state and try to capture her again. Her breathing seemed to be getting faster by the second as her panic increased.

She turned her head and looked at him with her big, tear-filled eyes. “Smile, I…” she hesitated for a second. “I need your help. I don’t know how much longer I can bleed like this…” She hoped he would do the honorable thing and save her, but with him being in the Mafia…

Well, she wasn’t expecting much.

She couldn't bear the thought of dying there. Her father was still angry with her, and she still felt like everyone was disappointed, and that if she died, they would forever be angry with her. She hated that thought.

[Rad]

“What does it look like you’re doing? It looks like you just tried to off yourself that’s what!” Smile replied, a furious expression on his face. He truly was enraged by the prospect of what he thought he was witnessing. “What? You got tired of living by the rules of your family so you decided to end it all? Really?” For one responsible for the demise of so many innocents the Mafioso was really fuming at the thought losing this one girl.

In fact, Smile was so horrified by his perception of her actions that for a while he simply stood stoically in the doorway, angrily watching her helpless attempts to stop the bleeding. Then, at last, he sighed, a resigned expression replacing the one of fury. Next, the Mafioso swiftly withdrew his trusty dagger from its holster and sheath.

“Sure, I’ll help you.” He said impassively as he advanced, bringing the blade down with blunt force onto…
the curtain behind the girl and promptly slicing it up into manageable strips.

Once he was satisfied with those substitute strips of bandaging cloth he again approached Sabrina (dagger safely put away this time) and proceeded to fasten them above her wrist. He was, however, being a little more rough than was necessary; he was doing his best to staunch the bleeding but at the same time he was still livid about what he thought Sabrina had tried to do.

When this was done and the bleeding had been lessened somewhat he practically yank her arm into the air and begrudgingly growled out a “hold it there” as he turned away.

“Honestly, Sabrina! What were you doing?! Did you decide to kill yourself only to regret it once you saw blood?” He was gazing out into the hallway as he said this. If the way was clear then he’ll have to grab Sabrina, rush out into the courtyard, and hijack one of Sabrina’s family’s vehicles to send her to the nearest hospital.

As was to be expected, the thought of notifying her parents or seeking their assistance on the matter never crossed his mind for even a second. That was, of course, not how the mind of a Mafioso worked.

[Wolfy]

Sabrina had an expression of confusion mingled with fear on her face. She hadn’t been trying to kill herself at all! It was an accident! And why was Smile so mad about it? She was about to explain when he threateningly said, “Sure, I’ll help you.” She watched in horror as he unsheathed his dagger and strode toward her.

“No! No!” she pleaded. She covered her face with her good hand and slammed her eyes shut. Shaking, she waited to feel the dagger sink into her skin. When she didn’t feel any pain, but heard the sound of ripping cloth, she looked to see Smile shredding her curtains. “Wha-?”

Suddenly, her mangled hand was being pulled over to him and having a slip of curtain tied roughly around her arm. An audible yell escaped her when he yanked her arm up into the air. The pain that had newly been added to what she was already having made her head spin. Tearfully, she looked up to Smile.

“I was not trying to commit suicide, Smile,” she said through clenched teeth. “It was an accident!” She glanced toward the window and paused to breathe for a second. “They locked me in here for something that I didn’t do… I was mad.” She gulped to prevent herself from crying. “It was the broken glass, not me.”

She curled up as some blood dripped right under her left eye from the wrist being held above her head. “Smile, please, you have to help me…” Her voice quivered as she thought if he could do anything at this point. What if even with his help she would die?

“My parents took the car, but they couldn’t have gone far,” she said. “I don’t know where they are, though… Did you come in a car or a van? Or is one of your friends a doctor?” It was obvious that she wasn’t keen on the thought of going to a hospital.

[Rad]

“You weren’t?” Smile asked, somewhat unconvinced. However, at the mention of the smashed window and broken glass (which were all well within sight) the Mafioso at last heaved a sigh of relief and said “Jeez, don’t scare me like that.”

Now that his anger had waned and left him, a contrite expression was clouding Smile’s features. This, in due time, became mixed with worry as Sabrina disclosed that there were no longer any vehicles left on the premises.

Fortunately enough for the pair of them, a delivery truck took this time to make an appearance and destroying what was left of the window Smile promptly leapt to the nearest tree. Making his way down as fast as was humanly possible without injuring himself, the Mafioso then sprinted towards the vehicle as it came to a stop.

From Sabrina vantage point the view was blocked by a row of elegant oaks but even so one would know there was a scuffle going on by the noise now issuing forth. Eventually, at some point in this conflict, it was evident that the mobster lost his temper and there resounded the blast of a gun.

Afterwards there followed a few minutes of silence before Smile appeared below once more with a sheepish grin on his face. “Come on Sabrina. Our ride’s all set to go! Just jump and I’ll catch you!”

“And oh…the driver was stronger than I had anticipated so I had to injure him a bit before I could tie him up.” That wasn’t a lie at all! In fact, the mobster was already beginning to show a rather obvious black-eye for his endeavors.

If the red-head could see him now he’ll sneeringly say that the former ‘ruthless killer’ had gone soft.

{OoC:// Sorry for this not-so-good reply. I don't know when I'll next have time to write a response so I figured I'll fight my writer's block to get this in~}

[Wolfy]

Sabrina watched in shock when Smile burst out the window. Her parents would kill her for that – that was going to cost a fortune to repair with a seamless motif compared to the other windows. When he leapt into the tree and began sliding down, he left her line of vision. She craned her neck to see, but he was gone.

So, carefully and slowly, she got up and walked to the window. Cradling her bad hand, she tried to see her savior behind the row of oak trees. “Smile?” she called, hoping that he’d made the jump. Two injured people wouldn’t be any help at all, and they would probably both end up dead.

She suddenly heard the gunshot and jumped. There were a few very quiet, very tense moments, where she didn’t know who’d been on the wrong side of that gun. She was about to call his name again when he reemerged. “Smile, my gosh!” she said. “I thought you were dead!” And at that moment she confessed to him that she cared whether he lived or died without intending it or even realizing it.

She frowned and looked at the two story drop. Smile could do it with no trouble, but he was a highly trained mobster. In her case, she was a small, young girl with only one usable hand. She paced around a little where the floor ended, deciding whether or not she could or not.

“I don’t think I can,” she whimpered. She finally sat down at the edge and looked down at him. “I’m really scared…” She didn’t think Smile would be able to climb back up to carry her down and she didn’t think she could make the jump.

Just then, though, she dropped her injured wrist that then landed on her leg. With a yelp, she visibly flinched, which proved to be just enough to send her off the edge toward the ground. She slammed her eyes shut with a fearful expression and waited for the pain of her crashing into the ground.

[Rad]

As Sabrina fell towards him Smile spread out his arms, catching her gently at just the right time. “See, that wasn’t so terrifying, was it?” Then, refusing to let the injured ‘damsel in distress’ walk for herself he carried her towards the awaiting truck.

-

Meanwhile, in a grimy little phone box back downtown a rather ominous conversation was taking place:

“Hey Boss, jus’ reportin’ in on tha’ lil’ issue ya told me to inspect for ya!”

A pause.

“Nope! I been in contact with our lil’ ambitious red-head and Smile ain’t with him! In fact, it don’t seem like he went thru with yer assignment at all this occasion.”

Another pause, longer this time. Obviously the ‘Boss’ on the other end had a lot to say about this development.

“No, sir. Yes, sir. I agree, sir. He’s become somewhat o’ an uncertainty…a liability…recently.”

Yet additional pause, broken only by a rather sharp intake of breathe from the informant before he continued again.

“Oh, that matter. So you had it checked up. Well that certainly is rather severe…letting a member of the enemy escape like that. Well then I thoroughly agree! A member o’ the family should keep the protection o’ their family as the utmost priority and I guess he no longer knows just what we mean by ‘family’. Pity, me having work’d with ‘im so long an’ all…”

One more respectful pause, hurriedly interrupted by, “No, no, Boss! I ain’t defending ‘im at all! Your word is lore an’ all. I understand what must be done…for the family.”