Milan 2167: Capital of fashion and injustice

After a short walk, Giulio reached the complex where his ‘flat’ was located: it was quite a large building, and in fact he had always thought that, during the time it had been in operation, it had probably been a warehouse or something like that. He looked for a few seconds at the main door, which was huge and made entirely of dark steel: the ‘factory’ life to which thousands of people all over the world were condemned had always been something that frightened him greatly; he certainly wanted an honest job, but also a happy life, which he would not have had by being enslaved in one of the many factories located in his area.

When he had freed himself of such distressing thoughts, he approached the door, then walked through it sideways until he reached a sort of checkpoint; he tried to open the door, but it did not move an inch. He tried again with more force, but the lock would not budge. And when the door withstood even several kicks and shoves, the expression on the boy's face actually began to get worried: «O-okay... this wasn't supposed to happen», he said in a low but obviously annoyed voice. «It took me a month to find this place, but I can't go on like this. Ugh… I’m too tired tonight, but next time I really need to fix the lock problem, or at least try»

He continued walking along the metal wall for another minute until he found a small ventilation shaft. The grating was battered and had not had screws in it for a long time, so Giulio managed to get in easily. But that was not the difficult part: in fact, the boy had to spend quite some time in the dirty ducts among the cobwebs, dust and pieces of iron and plastic; his groans echoed throughout the ducts, but he knew very well that the building had been abandoned for more than a decade. At one point he found his way blocked by a grating that had evidently not suffered too much from the years, but this did not worry him much. After all, it was not the first time he had been down that road.

As he left, he found himself in a small room with monitors hanging on the walls, all the wires destroyed and in disarray. The various machines in the room were also not working, but from the atmosphere he thought it had been a security station. Then he went out through another door, which by the way he had had to break through on his first trip, and entered a very long corridor: there were large pipes coming out of the walls, and underneath conveyor belts with small machines similar to robotic hooks every six or seven metres; he went through another room with crates and scaffolding, another with even a half-destroyed wall, and then came to some stairs.

He descended to the ground floor and came to a door with a sign saying ‘Cleaning Section’: after that door, he simply had to turn left, walk another twenty metres, and finally arrived at his hiding place: a dirty broom room, but big enough to hold half a mattress, on which the boy always lay sideways, with his legs bent.

When he finally threw himself down on his bed, he was suddenly happy: he finally had that money, and he could go back to his former life; not that it was a heavenly thought, but it was still better than that legalised form of slavery. Moreover, he was actually very tired: it had taken him a quarter of an hour to get there; every time he went that way, he always remembered the first time, when he had been wandering around the building for almost two hours.

That heck of a building was enormous, and meanwhile the boy could not help but notice that despite everything, it was also a small building compared to other buildings in Milan; very often, even when he walked down the street, Giulio felt oppressed by those abnormal buildings: he thought it was unimaginable that practically half of all human beings were forced to live in those conditions, trapped in complexes that block the sunlight, full of machinery that produces noise and noxious substances, full of sadness; in his opinion everyone, not only the rich, should have the chance, at least once a year, to visit a beautiful and interesting place, where they could relax for a few days, far from the stress of the ‘beautiful’ Milan. Or at least, he would have done anything to go there with his sister.

But in the end he convinced himself that it was really time to go to sleep, unpleasant as it was, and so the boy curled up on the side, like a snail, put a small pillow under his temple and tried to fall asleep. But it wasn't easy at all: for some strange reason, perhaps because of a problem in some nearby plant, it was much warmer that night, a humid heat from the rain earlier.

And even after he fell asleep, his troubles did not end. As had happened to him for a long time, he had the usual nightmare: a little girl is walking happily in what looks like a forest. She is with a man, and it appears to be her father, or someone protecting her, because the little girl is holding his hand and staying close to him. But at some point it becomes night, and the man goes away. Leaving the little girl alone in the woods. The little girl tries to remain calm, but when she looks around she begins to notice strange presences circling around her, hiding in the bushes. Out of the blue, Giulio begins to see out of the little girl's eyes: her vision is blurred, and the little girl is clearly trembling. Then the poor girl stops, and gives up following the presence with her eyes; after a few seconds, she starts to turn to the right, slowly, ever so slowly, and the last thing she sees is a fist coming straight at her face.

Julius sprang to his feet. He was furious. He began to walk around the room, muttering incomprehensible thoughts that even he himself could not understand. He tried to calm himself, put his hands to his face, closed his eyes, prostrated himself on the floor. But it was not enough, because suddenly he heard a faint voice: «Come home»

The young man collapsed, stood up again, and walked over to the wall, only to smash terribly hard into the concrete wall. It wasn't the first time this had happened to him, but he couldn't figure out what to do. Or at least, that was what he repeated to himself every time he had that nightmare: «What am I to do? What can I do about it?», and things like that. Because in reality Julius knew what that terrible vision meant.

Exasperated, the boy threw himself onto the mattress, supine, raising his shins and bending his neck to get into the narrow bed. His brain tried to shift the target of anger, and Julius began to blame himself for not being able to sleep. Yeah, because he couldn't sleep. But in any case, he knew he had to sleep, because the next day another good argument was waiting for him. An argument, and pehaps a fight.

But once again his short rest was disturbed, this time by a more practical problem: footsteps. Whoever it was had been sneaking into the palace for quite a while, because he was close to the hiding place; Julius realised he had not noticed it because of the nightmare-related thoughts, but now he had to think of something. He didn't know the edifice well, and he couldn't retrace his steps: whoever had entered had done so because they wanted to catch him.

Perhaps. But what if it had been a simple homeless person? Actually the second possibility was much more realistic, but Giulio had already learned that in such cases one must always automatically assume the worst. Meanwhile, the footsteps were getting closer and closer, and the boy also knew that if he panicked, he would not make it. The first thought that instinctively occurred to him was to at least get out of the storeroom. He turned towards the door and... heard a loud noise. Broken glass. The boy looked around and on the floor he saw his doom: he had kicked a glass bottle, breaking it. Indeed, he could not believe it.

Giulio put his hands in his hair, and after a second rushed out of the room. He had to find a way out. He was about to start crying, when he heard a scream: «G-Giulio? Is that you? I know you're in here, but... don't scare me like that!»

And, as if his guardian angel had intervened, among other things for the first time, the boy recognised the voice: Luca. He immediately called out to him, also shouting: «Luca! Have you realised where I am?»

«No!»

«Did you see a door marked ‘Cleaning Section’?»

«Cleaning... oh my God! There it is, I'm looking at it! Should I go in there?»

«Yes, yes! Turn left, walk for not even a minute and... you're there! In fact, I'm right in the corridor, so you'll see me as soon as you turn!»

The other did not answer, but Giulio heard the door open and, in the darkness of the abandoned building, Luca appeared. He looked very tired, but also cheerful. He ran up to him and the two of them gave each other a firm handshake. And then Giulio asked him the most natural thing in the world: «Listen, can you tell me how you found me? I mean, did you really come all the way up here for... me?»

«Ah, of course! If not, what kind of friend would I be? So, now, be honest... what did you do this time?»

«What... what do you mean what did I do? I don't understand what you're talking about, I didn't do anything to anyone»

«Yes, of course...», he said, and then laughed. Giulio was indeed confused, he couldn't grasp what Luca wanted to say or ask him. He looked him straight in the eye and asked again: «Man, what are you talking about? What am I supposed to have done?»

«So tell me, why would you come here? Because you like to sleep alone, in the darkness of some industrial complex that has been abandoned for a few years, which by the way could... collapse... at any moment… fuckin’ hell, how do you sleep here?»

«I sleep here for... personal needs »

«Yeah, yeah, personal needs. Whatever, maybe you're ashamed, so I'm gonna ask you explicitly, and make sure you tell me the truth or else there'll be trouble. Who is looking for you?»

Giulio burst out laughing: «Oh Madonna mia, you’re such a fool! Do you really think that... no, my coscience is clear, don't worry», but as he said that, he thought again of the person he was looking for, Francesco. And, without even knowing himself why, he decided not to say anything to Luca, changing the subject: «So, anyway... did you find out what school Carla goes to? Please don't tell me she goes to some high school up north, there they're all... what can I say, easy»

«Eheheh, you ain’t gonna believe my luck»

«No, don’t tell me she really goes to...»

«Yep, she goes to our exact same school! I feel weird saying this, but I've never been so happy to have to go to school! Seeing her every day... a dream, basically!»

«Ah, you keep talking about being a gangster, and then you get charmed so easily, in less than three days. Hey, I don't want to jinx you, but… be careful»

«You think I’m gonna let her make me look like a fool? Sure, she's pretty, nice too, but you know what they say, especially here. Trusting is good, not trusting is better. Although I don't see her as a cheater»

«That guy in second year said that too, and then at the party in the park...»

(italian high school is divided into five years, so that’d be sophomore year in the US and Year 11 in the UK)

«Hm, and what's that supposed to mean? Forget about it, let's try to get some sleep, I wanna see her tomorrow morning. ‘Cause you... you have a place to sleep, right?’

To that question Giulio didn't quite know how to answer. Luca noticed, and also noticed that the open door was that of a broom closet. He looked at Giulio smiling and said, with the most cheerful air possible: «Whatever, I understand. Then I guess I'll sleep on the floor. So you'll understand that I can adapt too, that I'm not as spoiled as you guys like to believe», and, saying that, he lay down on the floor.

Giulio decided it was too late to start any more discussions and went back to sleep. But, inside himself, he felt it would have been better if his hiding place had remained secret. He felt that this unexpected visit would lead to something, sooner or later. Luca, on the other hand, liked that place: it seemed quiet, but in a good way, calm and privacy. At that moment, he wished strongly that the building would hold out, because he would have liked to make a hiding place there too, perhaps together with Carlo.

Fortunately, Luca had underestimated the building's resistance and the moment finally arrived when they both fell asleep, Giulio much earlier than Luca, who however did not complain at all.

They woke up early the next morning: Giulio because he woke up early on his own, Luca because he rolled into the wall. The latter consequently woke up already angry, but when Giulio pulled two small croissants out of a bag poor Luca was immediately happy again like the night before. Getting out of the complex was easier than expected: Giulio wanted to try his luck with the front door, and for some strange reason that time it opened. «Maybe this place like you», said Luca, amused by Giulio's surprised and almost annoyed face staring at the door.

They walked for almost twenty minutes before the place they went to almost every morning appeared before their eyes: the small Francesco Sforza Technical Institute. It was a four-storey building, nice and tall, but quite shabby compared to the big buildings in the area. A good part of the walls had been defaced by students or whoever wanted to, and the other part was a few months away from collapsing, even more than the complex where Giulio was hiding; in fact, just the night before school started that year, a piece of the corner of the roof had come off and, to the great joy of the students, school had started two weeks later.

But it soon became clear that it had been a somewhat pointless joy: in fact, in that school, out of every two students, one did not study, and the other did not study either. Some even said that ‘for every student who opens a book, three don't come to school’. Meanwhile, Giulio was doing well at school: well even when compared to a boy who went to a normal school, but when compared to his peers, he would have been a sort of fusion of Planck, Einstein and Newton, perhaps with a bit of Tesla when he committed to a test.

And, an insurmountable paradox for his friends, even for those who actually listened to some lectures sometimes, he didn't mind studying too much; sure, he didn't hope to end up in the newspapers as a local genius, but rather than that he did it because he wanted to get a serious job. He knew that, as that man had told him last night, he couldn't dream too big; and yet there was still a part of him that indeed dreamed of taking his sister around the world, free of that lousy place. However, his future plans were interrupted by Carlo's voice: «Luca, Giulio! Say, where have you been?»

«Carlo, my twin! Did you know that Giulio has a flat of his own?», replied Luca cheerfully. Instead Giulio was not very cheerful about this: perhaps he should have told Luca about his desire to keep that place a secret.

But he decided to continue the discourse started by his friend, seeing Carlo's incredulous face: «What are you talking about... it's a sub-hole in an abandoned building. I use it because... eh, this will stay a secret», the boy finished dryly.

The other two exchanged their usual look of understanding, and Carlo, sensing Giulio's situation, did not insist: «Ah, okay, don't worry. And... how do you get there?»

They continued to talk about Giulio's little hiding place for quite a while, even as they walked through the corridors. They were wide enough, but the building was still quite small: at that moment, there were streams of boys on all sides, and logically they were also very noisy boys.

Meanwhile, in that bedlam of people, Luca managed to find his primary target, his beloved Carla, and thus he suddenly disappeared. Instead, Giulio and Carlo entered their classroom: it was half empty, but they were pretty used to that scenario; the usual three or four guys standing in the corner talking about who knows what, the girls also gossiping about everyone else, and then one guy who was always on his own business.

They sat down, and after a few minutes Luca arrived, who seemed very happy; in fact he made a sign with his hand to Carlo, saying: «I'll tell you about it later». But when Carlo turned around, he too noticed something strange: Francesco's seat, in front of him, was empty. He immediately wanted to tell Giulio, but from the look on the boy's face, Carlo realised that he must have already noticed; so he decided to warn Luca: «Oh, but did you see that Francesco hasn't arrived yet?»

When Luca saw the empty seat, he was even more surprised than his companion: «What? What the... where on earth is he? Today we have to talk about that thing, he knows very well that it's important»

«Yeah, we’ve already lost Simone, I was hoping there would be at least four of us. I hope he arrives quickly»

Suddenly, Giulio broke into the conversation: «Nah, don't worry. I'm sure he'll come. Maybe he'll just be a little late, what do we know. Maybe he's... got some business tonight»

But he realised he had talked too much: in fact, Luca and Carlo became even more suspicious and looked him straight in the eye, and then Carlo continued, ‘What do you mean “business tonight”? Don’t go around saying stuff like that, cuz. Francesco is quiet, he would never do, let's say, night work. You know what I mean, right?»

Giulio tried to divert the two's interest to another topic: «Yes, you're right. More to the point, do you know how Simone is? I was hoping he'd be able to come...»

«You were hoping my ass. We know very well how Simone is, he texted us two days ago. When we were all together. Honestly, I'm more interested in Francesco's situation now», Luca pressed him. They realised he was trying to change the subject, and Giulio didn't know how to get out of it; he certainly couldn't tell him the truth, or the whole project would be blown.

Fortunately for Giulio, they had not noticed the time, and in fact at that moment the bell rang. They all turned towards the door, and in walked Manfredi, the maths teacher; it was one of Giulio's favourite subjects, but at that moment he was thinking of nothing else but a credible excuse to make up for later.

However, the teacher was a little strange that day: he seemed very happy. And indeed, he immediately turned to the students present: «Guys, I have good news for all of you; in particular for Giulio, Carlo, Luca and Fran... ah, no, he isn’t here today. However, the good news is just… well, look at it with your own eyes» and he turned towards the open door, signalling for someone to enter the classroom.

A not too tall boy came in, with curly, thick, particularly dark blond hair and sweet blue eyes: Simone. He looked fit, and even smiled, as if that bad accident had never happened. He immediately greeted everyone: «Hey there, gang! Giulio! You missed me, huh, you tell the truth?»

Giulio, as if he hadn't been at school, got up and went to hug him: «Simone! Oh my God, thank goodness you're fine. It wasn't so bad after all, huh?»

«Apparently not. Maybe so, but my uncle gave me some medicine that made me feel better straight away. I don't actually know how or where he got them, but I don't care»

«Yeah, the important thing is that you're fine»

Simone went to his seat, next to Carlo, and immediately noticed Francesco's absence too, but decided not to ask any questions for the time being. The lesson continued with a strange silence, and after two heavy hours of maths and another lighter one of substitute teaching, it was time for business.

The four boys got up and, following their plan, went to the bathroom downstairs: that part of the school was so run-down that only boys who were actually classifiable as criminals went there. They wanted to go there precisely because neither the teachers nor the janitors ever went to check what was going on, to avoid trouble. But Giulio and his friends knew that on that day the group that had now conquered the bathroom would be engaged in a fight with some boys from another school, something quite frequent not only in that neighbourhood.

When they entered, they decided that they would start the discussion immediately, and Julius began: «Well, well, well. We have all the money we need… we have a lot more, actually. Finally we can go to that damned cinema near the station, and then we'll take a few nice trips to the shops»

«Yeah, and this time we'll buy everything», Luca continued, all excited. «I want to see if that dickhead of a clerk will still have something to say when I put two hundred euros on his counter»

«But in reality, it's just a facade... it's all the money we have, do we really want to spend it to get revenge on some stranger who made fun of us?», asked Simone, a little worried.

But Luca was more determined than ever: «Simone, you’re overthinking again. How are they supposed to understand it's all the money we have? Come on, try to imagine the faces they will make... really priceless»

However, the meeting was interrupted by a hand slamming on the door. Everyone turned worriedly, but immediately recognised the voice: «It's me, so don't get nervous»

It was Francesco's voice. Giulio felt a pang in his heart: even though he knew perfectly well that he had not recognised him the night before, he was worried at the idea of seeing his friend after what he had heard; but he could not show concern in front of Luca and Carlo, or they would have realised there was something bad going on. So, to show his happiness at seeing his friend, he immediately went to open the door and welcomed him: «Francesco! Always on time, right? We were waiting for you»

«Yes, yes, I know. ‘Scuse me, but I had a little… problem»

«Ahah, what, the alarm didn't go off?», asked Carlo with an amused expression. The others laughed too, but Giulio was even more worried than before. But he had to resist and continue to look relaxed, so he tried hard to let out a giggle. However, he couldn't manage it and asked: «Well, what’s them atter? Nothing too bad, I hope»

«Um, actually I have some bad news to tell you», and when he said this, Giulio hoped like never before in his life that the boy would confess, but he knew very well that he never would; so, like the others, he simply waited for further explanation from his friend.

«A disaster happened at the Gallery near the station. A real disaster. And maybe you have already guessed who it is», but the others continued to look at him, curious.

«Those guys who’re always here, in the bathrooms. Like the dumb monkeys they are, they well decided to have a fight at the Gallery with their rivals from the other school, who obviously agreed. They met right at the entrance of the cinema, and proceeded to beat the shit out of each other. And you must be thinking ‘whatever, one day and everyone’s gonna forget about that’», and indeed the boys were thinking just that.

But Francis continued with an even more annoyed air: «But no! A group of boys from our school isolated one of the others, and the guy obviously ran away. And because they are such cowardly scum, they didn't go back to the main fight; no, they chased the poor guy. And you'll never guess where the motherfucker went to: into the cinema! They followed him inside, and I heard they even searched for quite a while: eventually they found him in a bathroom, probably pissing himself. And now, who wants to try and guess the ending of this story?»

The other guys looked at him confused: they had no idea what could have happened, as the strangest and, unfortunately, also the most violent things always happened on those occasions. After a minute Francis decided to end the story: «They killed him»

When he said that, the boys couldn't believe it: Luca and Carlo looked at each other, and then at Giulio and Simone; after that Giulio turned to Francesco again, incredulous: «The fuck are you on about?! What on earth are you saying? How? How did they kill him?»

«It's not like they beat him to death, luckily they didn’t get to that point. It looks like the guy tried to defend himself, but then somehow, I think due to a punch or a hard blow, he slipped on the floor, which was wet by the way, and as it seems he hit his head on a sink. And then, the usual: those dickheads immediately thought he was dead, and got scared. They ran away, and they probably told someone, because it seems fucking everyone fleed after the accident. The funny thing I heard was that the police said they could have saved him if they had helped him. Talk about bad luck»

Everyone was stunned by the story, and no one knew what to say. It was certainly not the first time someone had died in a fight, and meanwhile that accurate description of the poor guy left for dead with his skull cracked would have silenced even a serial killer.

But after a few minutes Simone looked at Francesco and asked him: «Wait a minute, did you say something about police? Does that mean the police are there now?»

The other sighed and said, even more annoyed: «Eh, that’s the bad news, I mean for us. The Gallery will be closed for a while I think. And the cinema, I don't even want to imagine. They have to find out who the real culprits are, not to mention that other investigations will also be starting. Maybe the cops will even come here at our school in a few days' time»

«Can’t fucking believe it», said Luca. In that moment, all the five of them were thinking the same thing, and the boy, with an annoyed look, expressed the thought aloud: «Where the hell do we go now?»