Scarlet's Backstory - Book 1 ~ (The Dead City Series)

Chapter 1

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen to find my dad, Charlie, making breakfast.

"Mornin' Scarlet!" He sings at me happily.

"Morning dad, what's for breakfast..?" I grumble.

I wasn't necessarily a morning person, but I still tried to be polite.

"For you, your brother, and I, it's pancakes. For your mother..." He trails off.

Anytime he does anything nice for my mom, it's a little awkward. You see, my mom and dad were going to divorce very soon, as in that, I meant that week.

"She wants me to make French toast for her." Dad finished and smiled weakly at me.

My brother, Johnathan, suddenly slid down the stair railing, and fell onto his back. He did this every single day in the morning, so me and dad didn't freak out when he did it anymore.

"You're going to break your back if you keep doing that." I said to him as I walked over and helped him up.

"You know I don't care, Scar." He teased me and smiled.

Scar is my nickname my family called me since my name is Scarlet. My hair is a blueish black, and my eyes are a dark green. I'm very unlike my family, other than that I acted like them. My brother was 1 year older than me. He had blond hair and freckles. I was 16. I walked back over to my seat in the kitchen, and Johnathan followed me.

"Is mom here, or out finishing paperwork?" My brother asked carelessly.

He was just happy that he got to stay with dad. Our mom was always on 'vacation', but we know that she's never on vacation and just hiding from the police. She was always in the wrong place whenever something bad happens. One time a robber was running from the police, and they just happened to look like her then slipped a couple hundred dollars into her purse. My mom hadn't noticed the money until the police came down the road and saw it sticking out of her purse. They had pulled over, and since she looked like the thief, they mistook her as the robber. Eventually they found out she wasn't actually the robber, and let her go from the police station. That's not even the worst thing that has happened to her.

My dad hesitated in answering my brother's question, but then said softly, "She's out filling the rest of the paperwork..."

My brother and I sat down at the table. We all sat in silence. Dad broke the silence.

"Breakfast is ready!" He said, ignoring the awkwardness.

He gave us a soft smile and gave us pancakes. As me and my brother inhaled them, as they are our favorite food, I suddenly heard a screeching outside. I stopped eating and we all looked up in confusion. We walked over to a window and looked outside to see what the sound was.

"What in the world-" I start right before I see the flaming car heading straight for our house.

I screamed as my dad grabbed me and Jonathan got us out of the way.

"GET DOWN!" My dad shouted at us right before the car hit the house.

Then, everything went silent, and the temperature started to rise.