Forgive Me Father [OPEN]

[Alessandro Moretti]

Wolfe's Pond Park,
Staten Island,
New York,
11:46PM

Whereisalice: I have to go.

“Perdonami.” Alessandro spoke with a mouth as dry as cotton. There was no bitterness in his voice and 'nor had resentment surfaced. Instead, acceptance stood forward from the darkness. He had come full circle on his life and had nothing to show for it. He had lost everything and the more he searched, the harder it was to find. He was out of ideas. He could not think of any conceivable course of action that would allow him to rectify all wrong-doings in his life. He had no-one to talk to. No friends or no family: - he was alone.

His appointment with the Company had not yielded the results he was hoping for and all other routes to forgiveness had either been taken from his clutch or had collapsed beneath his feet. He had been left him with an unimaginable hole in his heart; there was a void in his life and he could not fill it. It felt like a ship sinking deep into the depths of the dark ocean and Alessandro was locked in the cabin.

And as the ship tore itself apart from the pressure, Alessandro became submerged and though the water was cool and reassuring, his breaths were limited. It would only be a short while before he drowned. And time was running out.

Alessandro moved his mouse over to the red 'X' and left clicked. The chat window shrunk into nothingness. A spent sigh left his lips and he pushed himself up from the computer chair and looked around the room, scanning for his firearm. He found it lying on his bedside cabinet loaded with two rounds. He could not afford to purchase much ammo anymore. Money was wearing thin but had come to live with that; he did not care for material possession. He would not need it where he was headed.

Pulling on one of his jackets, he attached the firearm to a fastener on the inside lining and walked out – leaving his keys by the door.

It did not take too long for him to reach his destination; a quiet bench in the dark alongside the coast overlooking the ocean. Wolfe's Pond Beach, he believed was the name. Alessandro had ventured to the Staten Island beach on a few occasions. It was peaceful and was usually empty at this time. Here would be his resting place.

“Padre,” Alessandro spoke quietly, turning his gaze to the black sky, “Non posso vivere così.” And he could not. It was killing him from the inside and despite the pain he was feeling not being of physical origin, it felt as if he had been stabbed by a thousand swords and each blade had been surgically twisted to cause as much pain as possible.
“Mi aiuti.” He begged.

The Italian dropped his gaze to the floor and a single droplet of water fell onto the sand, “Please..”

[Alice Taylor]

Running away wasn't something Alice was accustomed to, but there were certain things she simply did not wish to face. Alessandro, the man that had been a father to Alice for much of her life and disappeared without a trace, leaving nothing more than a vague letter, suddenly appeared again. So much had happened since that time, and so much time had gone into forgetting him. The wound the Italian left in Alice's heart was so close to healing... and now it was tore wide open once more. She couldn't bear it, and with one look at little Sharon smiling in her arms, Alice gently touched the baby's rosey cheeks, and ---

****************************************

White. On and on and onto infinity, the backdrop was nothing but blank white space. She felt small, as she often does in this state, melding her mind with Sharon's. Alice took on the appearance of her younger self, age 6, and before she was taken by the Company, just a little blonde girl in a little blue dress, tears streaming from her little face. Sharon, however, appeared as an adult version of herself, her features a mixture from Alice and her father Charlie, based off of Alice's memories. Her hair was brunette like her dad, but her eyes shone like her mum. Instilled in her heart was the kindness of Charlie, and the courage of Alice. The best of both worlds.

Sharon was on her knees and holding Alice lovingly, gently patting her on the back as Alice buried her face into Sharon's shoulder. Alice was just tall enough to wrap her arms around the kneeling Sharon.

"I'm so sorry for doing this..." apologized Alice. It was wrong to take advantage of her powers over the mind to seek comfort from a girl no older than two years.

"You named me after your own mother, and I wear that name with pride. It is fitting that I should comfort you as Grandma would have." Sharon replied. "But you must know, as always, any advice you ask of me would purely be from your own mind. Without you, I am but an eighteen-month-old baby."

Sharon may take on the appearance of a full-grown woman, but much of her intelligence and memories come directly from Alice herself. Alice didn't mind. With their minds linked, Sharon acts as an objective voice of reason for Alice, free from the emotions Alice was feeling at the moment.

"He abandoned me... like a puppy that has gotten too old... left me to the mercy of a world hidden from me for more than a decade, with nothing to guide me. I could have died, and he wouldn't have known. He... wouldn't have cared. Now he comes back, wanting me again. I am not a toy for him to pick up and leave on a shelf when he gets bored. I'm a human being!" As Alice spoke, images of what she was describing flickered about around the mother and daughter, filling the otherwise blank space surrounding the two. The images in Alice's mind from the last time she saw her parents alive, the last time she saw the light of day before being tucked away in the depths of the Company's secret lab, and the day when Alessandro took his leave.

"Well..." Sharon began, still holding Alice tightly as the teary one sobbed. She gave pause, processing the vast memories from Alice's mind, searching for things to make her mother feel better. "You did not die. You flourished marvelously. An abandoned puppy could not be a big movie star, or one of the biggest advocates of Specials rights, or fight for your country like a hero, or be friends with some of the most powerful people in the world! Look deep in your heart... do you think Uncle Alex wanted back in your life because of your accomplishments, or because he still cares about the little girl he was tasked with protecting, for more than a decade of his life?" As Sharon listed out her well-reasoned response, images appeared in the background again, of quick highlight reels from Alice's movie career, and the speeches she gave regarding Specials rights in defiance of the Registration Act, and chaotic battles against the Dominion, and meetings with the likes of President Lucius Kilvayne, Christian Moynahan, and other powerful figures of the world. When asked the question, the background images were of Alice and Alessandro together, the scenes indistinguishable from if the pair were father and daughter, loving moments from when they were together.

Alice peeled away from Sharon and viewed the pictures around them. Sharon had chosen the memories well, as Alice was left speechless. Alice was certain Alessandro had his reasons for leaving, and his plea to make up to her was nothing but sincere, but the pain of abandonment had hurt her trememdously. The pain... it was overwhelming, and the happy moments of Alessandro and Alice together were replaced by the pain and sadness she felt from the void in her heart, which went on for years. All the times she was unhappy and alone, sobbing and grasping for solace, of all the time she wished Alessandro was there for her, and he was nowhere to be found.

"He's hurt me... so deep... so much... I can't do this again..."

Sharon paused again. She knew how to answer Alice, but she wasn't sure if it's what her mother wanted to hear right now. Sharon hugged Alice and gave her kisses, like a mother would for a child, but Alice needed more than this. Alice wasn't a child.

"Mother... have you ever hurt anyone like Uncle Alex has hurt you?"

Images of two people appeared. One set of images was Alice's fiancee, Claudia. The woman was given existence solely from the love Inaki once had for Alice, a woman that had devoted herself to Alice, and the person Alice had betrayed with the birth of Sharon. The other set of images was Charlie, Sharon's father. The young man was Alice's Company mission, a kind and gentle soul Alice had manipulated on behalf of the Company due to his genuine love for her, one who has helped Alice in getting her new ability of telepathy under control, and one who has a part in giving her a wonderful daughter. In the end, Alice had broken the trusts both those people had for her, and hurt them on a level Alice couldn't compare, except...

"What do you really want from Claudia? What do you really want from Dad?"

A cycle of pain and suffering, Alice was so focused on her own that she lost perspective on the big picture. In the end, everyone that has hurt someone else wanted one thing only. Alice pulled away slightly from Sharon and wiped the tears from her eyes before looking up at Sharon. Sharon, too, was in tears. Alice had exposed her young daughter to a massive amount of painful memories, and a lot of sadness. It made Sharon realise that her existence had caused much of the rift between Alice, Claudia, and Charlie. In this moment, Alice felt like the worst mother in the universe. Alice reached a little hand out to touch Sharon's lovely face, and wiped a little droplet of tear from it with her little thumb. There was but one thing Alice wanted from Claudia, and Charlie, and now from Sharon. It was the one thing Alessandro desperately wanted from Alice.

"Per favore mi perdoni..."

***************************************

Alessandro had no way of contacting Alice directly, and while Alice wasn't ready to directly contact the man, she could send his cellphone something, perhaps a picture, accidentally on purpose. She could play it off as simply texting the wrong person, and go from there. A text was sent to Alessandro's phone. There were no words, but just a single cellphone picture of Alice and a girl that worked in Ark Industries, both in hockey jerseys. Alice still had no idea who the girl was, but Alessandro could never forget the face of Agent Vayne's asset, Fiona Kingsleigh.