Order Of Confessions

Chapter 1: Kill Order

Lara's POV

The moon cast a menacing glow at the tiny rooftops of scattered homes, foreshadowing the events that would unfold as a slight carbon scent hung in the air from the interim chimneys.

"How much longer? My feet are killing me," Lara said, stopping to catch her breath.

"It's not too far. This is just a different route. Mom and Dad found out about us sneaking out to the town so they closed up the other one," said Elliot, Lara's brother.

"So now they care about where we are huh?" said Lara, exasperated.

Sneaking out to get to the town was the best part of Lara's day. She felt like a normal 10-year-old kid for a few hours before she had to head back to her "home". She liked calling the town her home instead because that's where she could really be herself without the butlers' and maids' eyes on her 24/7.

Elliot and her would go to carnivals and eat loads of food, go on the rides, walk around the streets breathing in the very familiar carbon air or climb rooftops just for the fun of it and today was that day. She was going to beat Elliots time and be the fastest to climb to the top.

"I'll go first!! I know I can beat you this time!"

"Fine. But be careful" Elliot said smiling.

"I will" Lara hollered as she raced to the building wall.

She felt a slight breeze on her skin as she climbed up, she felt like the wind was rooting for her too. She looked down to see Elliot looking up at her and when he noticed, he gave her a thumbs up sign. 

" 49... 50....51! 1 min and 51 seconds!! Yess!!" Lara exclaimed. She wanted to learn how to parkour and much more but Elliot told her she was too young for that. Maybe he would reconsider it, now that she beat him.

She stood up on the rooftop, dusted herself and took in the magnificent view in front of her. On the far left she noticed the hill on which their mansion sat. Although the mansion was huge and bright, she always thought it looked gloomy compared to the liveliness of the town. It stuck out like a sore thumb or like one of those licorice candies in a pack full of fruit ones . Yeah that seemed about right, she thought to herself.

Just as she was about to call Elliot, she heard murmurs and footsteps down below. Now that was surprising, nobody came by this lot especially at night.

She looked down to see three big burly men in black suits and hats with one of them confronting Elliot. 

"Do you have any company?" one of them asked, pointing what looked like a gun to Elliots' head.

"No, it's just me. What do you guys want anyway?" said Elliot, with a calm tone.

"Don't ask questions, son. Just follow the damn orders" said the guy behind the first guy.

"Tell me who you guys are, I'll decide if I want to come with you or not after that"

"Don't make this hard for us, kid. We don't want to hurt you"

Elliot let out a sharp whistle alerting Lara of possible danger, he had taught her how to do that ever since they started sneaking out. She knew the situation was going downhill the second she heard it, but she couldn't just leave her brother in a war zone.

A sudden sharp sound pierced the air, the sound so loud she flinched and covered her ears. Her gut feeling told her to run, run away now or she was going to die too.

She looked down to see Elliot lying down on the cold, concrete road. His body lifeless, as blood soaked through the fibers at his torso. She wanted to scream, wanted to go down and kill those men herself, wanted to do something...anything but she couldn't. Her body froze on the spot as tears trickled down her cheeks, her mind was scattered with a million thoughts running through it.

She saw the men turn their backs and leave, not an ounce of remorse on their faces. No, she wasn't going to let them go that easy. How dare they?

"NO!" she yelled, letting out her anger.

"Who said that? Who's there?" a voice called out.

A series of bullets pinged by the rooftop. At this point, she knew she wasn't going to survive and had to let her instincts drive her. She ran with as much speed she could muster, her tear-filled eyes didn't make it easy for her.

Lara knew if she leapt down, they were going to find her. What would Elliot have done? Thankfully, the buildings were close enough so she could jump to the next rooftop and go through alleyways. She ran to the edge of the rooftop and leapt to the next.

At this moment, she felt the time slow down. She could still hear the bullets from a distance and see the next rooftop so close to her. From the corner of her eye, in midair, she could spot the stray cats moving about on the streets. She stretched her arm to get a grip of the rooftop edge.

Her hand slipped. 

Luckily, she managed to hold onto a window sill just below it. A couple more seconds on that window, and she was done for.

"God damn, not now," she said, trying to lift herself to the top.

She glanced down and noticed a tiny passage on the side of the building, she didn't have a choice and she was running out of time. She dropped down and ran through the passageway and ran through a series of other passages until she couldn't hear the bullets anymore. She didn't know where she was but knowing that she was still in town made her feel safe.

The moon was going down and so was its glow. The town was in a deep sleep and unbeknownst to them, a soul just took an eternal one tonight.