"You are so original, carina!" Al giggles, though he is not the least amused. He uses a patronizing tone with Venus, as if she were a child. "Very... dramatic! So much that you got my family scared that this... is not part of the play. When do you take them off? We need to invite people inside..."
But Venus won't answer.
For the first time she looks scared. She glances at the agitation around her, and only then seems to realize the consequences of her act -- only when Al has arrived before her. Still, she won't speak when there are so many people around. She is made especially uneasy when the priest approaches them.
"Signorino Alcibiade, I believe..." The man starts.
Al reads it in her eyes, the fear and embarrassment Venus is feeling, and immediately shouts, "Everybody, move away! Now."
People startle at his shout. They are adults, some of them local authorities -- and yet, the boy clearly expects to be obeyed. Father Alberico's only reaction is to freeze where he is, not taking another step towards the teenage couple, not saying any other word. After a moment of confusion and doubt, the man slowly backs away.
"Now. We need some privacy, here." He addresses his sister directly. "Go away. I'll solve this."
FabiAnna, after hesitating a moment, decides to finally retreat, showing her discontent. Finally, only Officer Pullito stays, resting an watchful gaze on the young couple. Al waits another moment, but the policeman doesn't move, and Al shrugs. He would rather have no one listening to his conversation with Venus, but he is not so confident as to shout to the Chief police officer -- who should have arrested Al a few times, but never has.
Turning back to Venus, it seems Al can no longer be sweet with her either, after having exploded with the others. But she is looking so pretty, so innocent -- just not so fresh anymore; under the full sun, she has begun to sweat -- all dressed in white, with a crown of white flowers -- that have begun to whither -- around her head, that again he softens his tone.
"So what is this, cacarella?" He moves his hand from her hair to the chains on her wrists, inspecting them. " It's fucking sexy, you know, to have you chained like that... At my disposal... Why didn't we think of this before?" Al presses his body against hers. "See? You are turning me on..."
Though she can feel his lust envelop her like a suffocating embrace, the girl is too concentrated, and pays no attention to Al's fantasies, or to his physical excitement.
"We have to stop them, Al!" She whispers to him, with great seriousness.
"What are you talking about, Venus?" Al fakes surprise. He knows what she is talking about. But seeing the situation, it strikes him that she has actually learned about the Gardens being demolished from him.
"We can't let them destroy the Gardens, Al."
"I don't understand what you're saying... Where did you get that idea from?" He whispers like her, his voice derisively sweet. "Now. Let's start with the play. Don't you say it's your chance to prove your talent to the whole town?"
"No, Al! You have to talk to your father. You have to stop him..."
"You are mistaken, Venus. Let's get on with the play. I'll try to remember all of the words, I promise. Otherwise, you can help me. I'll be a good actor, I swear." He caresses her arm, and caresses the chains. They are old and rusty but still seem very solid, resembling grotesque abscesses growing on her delicate skin. "Just do your part of the show." He makes an effort to speak softly, trying to convince her. "Then my father will address the whole town. You will understand his plans. You will agree with him."
Venus is not paying much attention to his words. She looks transfixed at the crucifix on Al's chest. She must know something about the object, of its magical or protective powers, that makes her feel relieved. Though it hangs on the boy's chest, it seems to offer her protection -- as if it were a guarantee about Al's actions, of who he is.
He gets even closer to her, gently fondling her breasts -- and Venus gasps at such intimacy in public, and blushes.
"Al! Stop! Not here..." And she recalls having said the same words the day before, at the Roman Thermae, when they did not stop him.
"Where are the keys, Venus?" He is running his hands on her blouse, feeling her -- for the keys. But she is aware of his invasive caresses only, not of his intentions. "Where are the keys to these chains?" He demands, with authority.
Al then leans in to give Venus a kiss, who indeed softens her posture, welcoming Al's gentlest caress. Taller and stronger than her, the boy's body almost covers the girl's, and it does hide hers partially from the others.
The touch of his lips, feeling his breath mixed with hers, seems to enthrall Venus. They are connected. They are a pair. They are a team. Against the world.
She gasps in surprise when Al reaches for her thighs, and introduces his hand between them, feeling his way up her skirt.
"Al, what...?" Venus tries to retrieve from Al's invasive touch, but she is smashed between the young man's body and the statue at her back. Between the boy of flesh and the marble boy, she can't move to the side, either, for the chains limit her movements. She offers meek resistance, pressing her thighs tighter, as Al tries to break in between them with his hand.
"Where are the keys, Venus? Cazzo! Where are the bloody keys?" He hisses.
Venus is partially exposed now, as Al tugs at the elastic of her panties around her thighs.
Venus looks more scared than she has ever been, since that morning.
She knows her boyfriend, no matter how mad at her, won't assault her in front of his own family. Not in front of the priest, not when they are being watched by Officer Pullito himself... But how can she be so sure? That's when she suddenly realizes they are all on his side. It's just them, the Audace family and their vassals, all around her. She is all on her own, now that the journalist has left. At their mercy. No one might raise a word if he assaults her. She sees the priest averting his eyes as Al fingers her. And she understands that they could all stand as silent witnesses of her rape. They will. She watches Al's sister moving to the back of the sculpture, where she won't see it... Giuliano, too, though further away, stands in the crowd -- to be a witness of her shame a second time... Venus foresees what is going to happen to her...
And she screams, as loud as she can, so that even the citizens of Ferrara outside will hear her.
"Al! No!" Her boyfriend is rubbing his crotch against her. Through his silk tunic, Venus distinctly feels the hardened bulge.
"What, no?" He hisses. "How dare you?! What is your game? I should have fucked you yesterday, puttana... Did you stick those keys inside your pussy? I'll stick my dick into you, if that's how I'll find them... bitch..."
"Help!"
"Alcibiade!", we hear Signore Audace's shout.
Apparently, Al doesn't hear his father calling him. Concluding the keys are not on Venus, he attacks the chains, trying to break them. But they are tightly wrapped and secured around Venus' body and the statue's. The way he is pulling at them hurts her. When he goes for the chains connected to her choker, she gasps for air with desperation.
"Help!" Her voice is just a puff of strangled voice. She glances around, but no one seems to realize she is choking. They are all paralyzed at Al's unexpected violence -- or perhaps mesmerized by it. It even makes him look ugly -- and not any of them have seen Al like that before. Pulling as hard as he can at the chains, in a desperate attempt to break them, they make a rattling noise. Maybe he doesn't notice -- or cares -- that they squeezing the girl's flesh, while beginning to damage the marble of the statue.
Terrified, unable to cry any longer for help, Venus looks at the chains, too. She seems to realize what she has done, chaining herself. She is now rendered completely defenseless, and if Al no longer intends to rape her, he will definitely kill her by asphyxiation. And the local authorities will promptly voice her death was an unfortunate accident, that she herself caused, getting inextricably entangled in the chains.
"Dio mio, what is he doing? He might damage that statue!" Signore Audace exclaims. He then turns towards the mayor. "Get my son here. Now!" He commands, and the man promptly descends the stairs leading to the center of the garden.
"Alcibiade!" Signore Audace again shouts, at the top of his lungs.
coming soon
