Beyond the Point of Return

“No Samuel.” I say with finality as I burst through the garage to my car repair shop. My brother has come yet again to beg me to return. That’s all in the past. I will no longer soil my hands with the blood of others. I left for a fresh start, a chance at a normal mundane life.

“Please Ares, I know you’ve built a new world for yourself. But the Vanders are back and you were my best man. Think about your family, brother. We need you.” He says with his hand on my shoulder to stop me from moving further.

“I am thinking of my family. My wife and kids. Not the people who raised me as a soldier for a ‘business’ I never signed up for. Get out. Do. Not. Come. Back.” There was no room for a debate. I’ve had it with the pop ups from him and my other blood relatives. I watch him walk out of the door after we share our I love you’s. What did he expect. I have more than just myself to protect here. I’m done with the fighting and the criminality.

8 hours later, I’m walking into the door of my house after a long day of work. “Hellooo anybody home?” I say jokingly. That’s odd, i’m usually greeted at the door. Entering the living room I am immediately hit with that oh-so-familiar smel, blood? I’d recognize it anywhere considering I spent my whole life surrounded by it. Everything goes numb, I lose all senses but sight as I barge room to room looking for everyone. Where’s my wife? “Loren? LOREN?” Where are my babies? “ZIANNA? VIOLET?” I’m frantic now. Door to door. Area to area.

That’s when I see it. Loren slumped on the ground with a bullet in each ear. My two daughters in the same position. They are all dead, on the floor, in my baby girl’s room. I can do nothing but stare. I stare as I feel my heart shatter, I stare as I feel everything I’ve worked for go down the drain, and I stare as I feel nothing but emptiness. Now is the time to act.

Switch.

I rewalk through the house and look for clues. Broken glass in the kitchen. A knife missing. My wife was always a fighter. A lover. A protector. I miss my family. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. Come back… No. Focus, get through this for them. I take another look at their bodies, inspecting for any sign of who did this. A stunning realization hits me as I look at their wounds. Bullets through their ears. All in the same spot. “The Vanders are back and you were my best man.” My mind flashes back to my brother’s statment this morning. Their signature move is piercing the ears. I look around and see the only forced entry is the door to the bedroom. This does not add up. Meine Frau knows better than to open the front door for just anyone. But it is clear here who is at fault. Tears fall down my face as drop to my knees, letting the sorrow and loss consume me. Only for a moment, I will allow myself to cry for the loss. I cry for the loss of my children. The loss of the love of my life. The loss if warmth. That is all I will allow myself until every single one of them is gone, by my hands.

I pick up my phone and dial my brother’s number. “I want the names’s and locations of every single Vander. I want the men I trained and your computer junkies to meet me at the old warehouse in an hour. I want control of the weapons and explosives. You got what you wanted Sam. Consider every last one of them dead.” I pick up my keys and stand to walk away. Pausing, I turn around and carefully remove the rings I bought all of my girls as a token of my utter devotion. I kiss their heads one by one, give them one last glance, and set the house ablaze. With ny hands in my pockets I watch as everything I once valued crumbles to the ground.

“Daddy we made you breakfast!” I hear Violet giggle as I enter the kitchen. I love waking up to their happiness. “Ah ah baby don’t touch the fire, it’s hot.” My wife gently warns Zianna as they flip the “unicorn pancakes”. “Is this all for me-“ I begin to say as a huge bowl of flower is dumped in my face. Suddenly I’m a flower monster chasing my girls around. Catching them, I tickle them as they try to fight me off. “Come on girls, 1 2 3” they all get up and stand in front of me. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” I’m brought back to reality at the crackle of the embers laying waste to my house.

A single tear falls as I take one last look, and enter my car. They will pay for what they took from me. They will pay with their lives.