The gun shots finally stopped, and I came out from underneath the bed. The room was torn to pieces, papers everywhere and pictures that were once on the wall were now on the ground. I picked up a piece of paper, burnt on the edges, it was a letter. The scary thing about it was that it was addressed to a man by the name of Finn O’Connor. I knew this name from somewhere, and I knew it wasn’t good.
∞
I walked through the airport looking for my gate, B13, walking by my side was my best friend Alice. From everything I can remember from my lifetime, Alice was always there with me. We’d been on so many trips and spent almost every day together, I started to consider her my sister. It was our junior year of high school that we started planning for this trip. We had both wanted to travel to Italy someday, and we wanted to do it together. So, we saved our money and bought the plane tickets. Today we’re getting on the plane to our final destination, Venice, Italy.
After patiently waiting for an hour we finally got to board our plane. Walking through the gangway all that I could think about was floating through the waters of the Grand Canal. I stepped onto the plane, hoping that all would go well, Alice and I found our seats. As I sat down in my chair I noticed someone wearing sunglasses and a hoodie with the hood up. Our plane ride was a red-eye flight and there was no reason for this man to be wearing those sunglasses. I didn’t want to worry too much about him though because I needed the rest. Once everyone was seated the flight attendants started their safety speech. “Welcome on board Flight number 192 from Newark to Venice…..”
When I woke, we were on the ground and it was sunny outside. I looked over and Alice was wide awake. “Rose, we’re here!” she squealed. I nodded, trying not to doze off again. Our plane taxied into the airport and we finally were able to stand up and stretch. My legs were numb, but I was ready to go. I climbed out of my seat and followed behind Alice out of the plane and into the airport. I looked out the windows as we walked towards ground transportation and my breath was taken away. I can’t believe that we actually made it here after all these years my dreams were finally coming true.
We reached ground transportation, and we decided to walk to the hotel because it was only six minutes away. Thankfully neither of us are very heavy packers. We started walking, and the air smelt amazing, it was so fresh and clean. We saw all of the beautiful streets and the canals. Finally we reached our hotel, the Gritti Palace. The hotel is right on the Grand Canal, which meant that we would be taking boats to most places on our trip, and I couldn’t be more excited.
“Here are your room keys, I hope you ladies have a great stay here in Venice,” said the man at the front desk.
“Thank you very much,” Alice replied. And we headed off towards our room. We walked down a long hallway, and then took a left. I wasn’t looking ahead of myself as I turned the corner and ran into someone. My purse hit the floor, and we both sank to the floor to start picking everything up. “I’m really sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I said. He looked up at me and smiled, his perfect white teeth and bright blue eyes hit me like daggers and I knew this is what it felt like when there was love at first sight. I knew that he could feel it too because he didn’t say anything to me, he had lost his words too.
“My name is Finn, Finn Walsh. And you are?”
“I’m Rosemary, but everyone just calls me Rose.”
“Well Rose, even though this wasn’t the greatest way to meet, I am very glad that you happened to run into me. How can I keep in touch with you?” I gave him my phone number, he smiled, and walked away. I looked at Alice who was winking at me. I giggled and we continued on towards our room.
I slipped the key into the lock and opened up the door. The room was huge, it had a king size bed, a bathroom, living area, and a balcony over the Canal. It was absolutely gorgeous. I rolled my suitcase into the room and sat on the end of the bed, took a deep breath and flopped backwards into the pillows. “This is incredible Alice. Everything that I’ve ever wanted is finally happening, I am so glad that we’re here.”
“I am too Rose, but Italy is waiting for us, we can’t spend the whole two weeks in our hotel room, now come on and get dressed. We’re going out.” I threw on a black dress and heels and we headed down to the lobby.
As the elevator doors opened, I saw someone familiar inside, it was Finn. I waved and we stepped inside the elevator. “So Rose, I never got your friends name,” Finn said.
“I’m Alice,” Alice replied. “Where are you headed tonight Finn?”
“I’m actually just going down to the lobby for something to snack on.”
“Well I think Rose and I would love some more company if you want to tag along.” I nodded.
“Sure, that sounds fine to me.”
We reached the lobby, and headed outside towards the dock. The three of us climbed onto a gondola and the gondolier started paddling away from the hotel. The canal was glistening reds, oranges, and yellows from the sunset. I was lost in my own world the entire boat ride, watching the buildings pass by and watching the sun go down on the beautiful horizon. All of the sudden the boat stopped, we had reached the restaurant.
∞
That night when we got back to the hotel, Finn and I stayed out on the dock and admired the stars above us. I had never seen so many stars out at once and they were exceptionally bright tonight. Finn looked at me, piercing me once again with those blue eyes. He leaned in towards me, so I followed his lead. My eyes closed, and my lips were touched by his. His lips were delicate, like the wings of a butterfly. Silky, smooth, and warm against mine. I was bubbly. He pulled away and we both smiled.
∞
Finn and I spent the next seven days together, and I fell even harder for him. I didn’t know how I would leave Venice without him. I’ve known Finn for eight days, and I already know that he is the one for me. I would not usually do anything like this, especially someone from another country, but I knew this was the one for me. I loved him.
∞
I woke up at 7 this morning, rolled over and checked my phone. I had a text from Finn, it read,
Hey Rose, headed down to the bakery, it’s called the Tonolo, meet me there at 8? Let Alice sleep in if she’s still sleeping.
I turned my phone off and crawled out of bed. I put on some clothes, brushed my teeth, and headed out of the hotel room. When I reached the lobby, I headed out towards the taxis, and whistled for one. The car slowly rolled up to the curb and I hopped in. “Take me to Tonolo please,” I said. The driver nodded and off we went.
I arrived at the bakery a few minutes after 8 and started searching for Finn. I saw him on the patio drinking coffee and reading the paper. I walked over towards his table and sat down in the seat across from him. He looked up and smiled at me, “How are you this fine morning Rose?”
“I am fantastic, I couldn’t be happier. How are you?”
“I’m good.”
“Finn, can I ask what you’ve done for work, like in the past couple of years?”
“Umm… I was a teacher at a school in Ireland. That’s pretty much it…” He stuttered and I knew there was something that he was hiding from me, and now I needed to find out.
“I see,” I replied, “Do you have a house here in Venice?”
“It’s just a vacation house, but yes.” I nodded and smiled. The smell of coffee and pastries started to lure me inside, so I went and ordered a coffee.
As I came back to the table Finn looked ready to go, “Would you like to come see my house?” He asked.
“I would love to,” I replied and we started walking towards his house.
∞
The floor was shining, the chandeliers were sparkling, and the house was flawless. “I…I love it. This is stunning,” I said looking around in admiration of the beautiful house. “You live here alone?”
“Yes,” he said, “Sometimes I have visitors, but not very often.” I kept wandering down the hall, until I stumbled upon the living room. It was an open room, with huge windows, a chandelier, bookcases lining the walls, and marble floor.
I sat down on one of the couches, “Do you want to get some lunch it is almost noon?” I asked.
“Sure, I’ll have to run down to the store and pick something up, you can just stay here if you’d like.”
“That sounds good to me, I’ll see you in a few.” I knew that it was time to look for some kind of clue about Finn’s past. I started marching up the stairs, hoping to find his bedroom. Instead I found a small office filled with filing cabinets. I searched through every cabinet, until I came upon some papers, they seemed to be some kind of receipts or something.
A few minutes later I heard a car pull up into the driveway, so I ran downstairs and back into the living room. When Finn came into the house he had some boxes of food and drinks as well. Instead of bringing the food into the dining room, we just sat around the coffee table in the living room. After Finn sat down I asked him, “What exactly did you do in the past Finn?”
Before Finn could answer my question we heard the front door slam open and five men walked into the house. I hid behind the door to the living room and peeked through a crack to see everything. The man that was in the middle looked surprisingly familiar, he wore a hoodie with the hood up and sunglasses. Then it hit me, it was the man from the plane. “Finn, we need the money now! If you don’t hand it over I’ll blow you to pieces!” Finn stepped out of the living room with his hands in the air.
“I swear you will get the money, I just don’t have enough right now. I’ll have it by the end of the month if you’ll just wait until then please.” A gunshot went off. It must have hit Finn because I heard something hit the floor. I ran up the stairs and into the bedroom, praying that those men didn’t hear me. “Please don’t do this,” Finn mumbled. It was so hard to hear him like this, but I had to hide, so I climbed underneath the bed. I heard another hard thud on the ground, and I knew that he must have died. My heart sank in my chest and a tear slid down my cheek.
∞
The gun shots stopped, and I came out from underneath the bed. The room was torn to pieces, papers everywhere and pictures that were once on the wall were now on the ground. I picked up a piece of paper, burnt on the edges, it was a letter. The scary thing about it was that it was addressed to a man by the name of Finn O’Connor. I knew this name from somewhere, and I knew it wasn’t good.
Finn O’Connor was one of the most infamous drug dealers of all time. I had fallen in love with a man who I would not be proud to love if I had known the truth. He was a dangerous man, and this time I guess he hadn’t paid off his debt. I pulled out my phone, I had seven missed texts from Alice, but I needed to call the police. I dialed 118, and the phone started ringing. “Hello, what is your emergency?” The operator asked me.
∞
The police arrived at the house a few minutes later and checked to see if Finn was still alive. I was praying for him, even though he had lied to me, I needed him to be alive. “I’m getting something! He’s still alive!” Someone yelled from the ambulance. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be happy, angry, or upset with this news. Finn lied to me, and I’m not so sure that I want him alive.
We arrived at the hospital and Alice was waiting there for me. “Thank goodness you’re okay Rose. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost you,” I tried to smile, but I was feeling too many emotions at once to smile.
∞
Alice and I ended up staying in Venice for 6 months, to make sure that Finn stayed alive. A month ago Finn was still on life support and the doctors were about to pull the plug on him and give him up. I refused to let them do it, I felt something, and I knew he would be okay. A week later, Finn woke up. He was confused and frightened, so I told him about everything that had happened over the past few months, and that now I could help him get out of his past and start a new future. Today Alice is flying back to New Jersey to go home, but I’m going to stay here with Finn. I can’t leave him, and I know I’ve made the right decision.
Alice cried into my shoulder as I hugged her goodbye at the airport. She smelt like fresh roses, one of my favorite smells. I hugged her tighter. “Please visit, we have plenty of room here in Italy for you. Just come whenever you want to,” I told her.
“I will Rose, I promise I will come see you,” she said, squeezing me even tighter. Finn joined our hug, my stomach felt warm and fuzzy inside. This feeling doesn’t happen very often, it’s called love.
