Prologue
The night was dark, the moon hidden beneath layers of cloud. It was quiet except for the rustling of tree branches as a cold breeze passed through the air.
The trees brushed against a window, not waking the sleeping children who were tucked safely in their beds.
Everything was peaceful until a gunshot echoed through the house, waking the family. The two adults rushed downstairs to see the source of the gunshot. They had barely made it down the stairs, when what they saw would haunt them forever. Two burly men were holding their children. A child to each man.
This caused the mother of the two children to cry out, catching the attention of the men in the room, the men smirked enjoying the terror they were already causing the family.
The two adults began to run towards their children, only stopping when one of the men holding the children brought a small black handgun up to one of the children’s head. The young boy was shaking in fear, unable to hide the absolute terror he felt from his little sister, who was quickly losing blood from the wound in her side.
Their mother looked at them in helpless fear as another gunshot sounded, the bullet embedding itself into the young boys head. His body falling to the floor lifelessly as the man holding him let go and chuckled watching the small girl that was held by the man next to him scream in agony and terror.
The young girls father took a step forward, towards his wife. It was the wrong thing to do. One of the other men immediately raised a gun, aiming it at the girls mother and pressing the trigger. Both the girl and her father screamed loudly, the girl was shaking, which did nothing to stop the blood seeping from the bullet wound in her side. She would have for sure fallen to the ground if it wasn’t for the strong man holding her up in place.
Her father looked at her, trying to conceal his feelings of guilt and fear. It was no use. For such a young girl, she was smart enough to see past the cracked walls in her father.
He felt guilty for allowing a child so young to see such horrors, she was only 8 after all. Her dark raven hair had fallen in front of one of her green tear- filled eyes.
They had both lost more than they ever should have, neither knew what the men wanted. It seemed that the only aim of the three black-clothed men was to simply cause them as much pain as possible. This night was something that was sure to traumatise them both. It was something that no adult should ever have to go through, let alone a child.
The men watched in amusement, glancing at the girl, then at her father. Seeming content in the carnage they had caused. One of the men nodded at the other two, causing the girl to go crashing to the floor, holding her still bleeding side, as the man holding her up let go of her. They wordlessly left the room, sparing one last look at what damage they had left behind.
With that, the men were gone from the house. Leaving the two lifeless bodies who were once the girls mother and older brother, the girl who was barely conscious with all the blood loss and the girls father.
