Lying in her bed, Isabella journeyed through her mind into her distant past.

Isabella Szabo reminiced about her memories.

Her memories were like files from the past that she locked deep inside her soul.

 She grew up in a small town in Italy with a troubled mother and no father.

 Her mother, Laurel, divorced her demented Slavic husband shortly after Isabella was conceieved.

 Isabella thought about her older brother that was sent away to a convent as she remained home with an unsteady grandmother.

Isabella's mother was cold; her presence was like that of a phantom, fleeting and inconspicuous.