Pay the Price

Chapter 4- Fire

As nightfall came, Maria, Connor, and Myrah had to return to the town, their hopes of finding Christopher diminished. Maria was growling words incoherently, whereas Connor and Myrah were devastated. They lost their brother again.

They returned for dinner, and when they sat at the table, both kept their heads down. Myrah was so angry at her mother, who was likely the whole reason Christopher fled. She was so angry that she physically had to contain her tears.

"Kids, Christopher isn't here. Christopher is gone." Their father spoke, and Connor curled his lip in contempt. "I think we may need to take you for a mental evaluation. There is clearly something wrong with you, like there was something wrong with Christopher."

"No." Connor growled, reaching into his pocket, pulling out the photo he got. "Look at this photo, then look me in the eye, and tell me Christopher is gone. That photo was taken six months ago." He tossed it to Hernando and Malena, who looked at the photo. "Heart shaped mark under his right eye, pin straight, black hair. Light brown skin. And if you want further proof, turn it over and look at the name."

Hernando flipped it over after looking at the horrifying image. The name on the back? Christopher Theodore Aetos. Both Hernando and Malena looked at each other, then at Myrah and Connor.

"Why didn't you tell us your brother is found? We have the right to know as parents." Malena asked lowly, looking as if she would kill someone. But Connor had never been intimidated by his mother. He intimidated her.

"You lost your parental rights to him eleven years ago." Connor spat back. "You signed your rights away of him. Biologically, you're his parents. Legally, he's an orphan." He continued, hitting the table. "And because of you, he ran away. He's in danger. And it's all your fault." He stood from the table. "If anything bad happens to him before we find him, I will fucking kill you. I'm going to go out and find him."

Connor stormed out of the dining area and out of the home to find his runaway brother. Meanwhile, Myrah was so furious that her tears fell. Adhi walked over to his older sister, sitting in Connor's place, wanting to hug her to comfort her. Myrah accepted, glaring at her parents.

"Why do you have to constantly knock on my door?" She snapped at her mother. "I've told you to stop doing that because it disrupts my thinking flow for school, which, by the way, you preach like nothing else. And because you can't just ask your fucking husband or one of your other kids to do something, you always have to run to me, your knocking on my door scared my missing brother off! It hasn't even been a fucking day since he revealed himself!" She started screaming, which scared everyone.

Like Connor, she left to find Christopher. Delilah quickly went to catch up to her younger sister, ignoring the words of her husband. Delilah was pregnant, and her husband was worried about her, so he also followed.

Adhi wanted to also follow his siblings, but he was quickly taken to his room. Allison and Lillian, his cousins that had to live with them for an exchange program, made sure he wasn't frightened by all the arguments.

All the while, the adults of the family argued on the ground floor.

~

None of the Aetos siblings were back, except Adhi, and everyone was getting very worried about them. Their grandmother, Elizabeth, was waiting for their return, and as she was, she began to smell smoke.

She brushed it off, thinking maybe it was just her smelling things, until she saw a figure running away. She recognised the tall, bulky figure easily. Marcus Zandailias. But she knew him by a different name.

"Inta-" she was cut off by the sound of crackling fire.

Marcus Zandailias set some part of the house aflame. Because of the material of the house, it would burn fast. She knew there was no hope of saving the place at the same time as saving her family. And her family was priority.

As quickly as she could, she went to the lounge room, where everyone else was. They looked at her confused until the window near Larisa exploded from heat. Elizabeth didn't have to say a word, and everyone was fleeing.

But as per her predictions, the house was burning quickly. The doorway fell, blocking that door. Because Malena shoved past Adhi to save herself, he was hurt and couldn't run. Lillian sprinted to her cousin, picked him up, and ran to a different window, opening it before climbing out with Adhi.

Allison soon followed suit, and then Elizabeth and her husband, Alexander, were ushered out. Then Hernando and Malena leapt out, and when they did, that window fell in.

Larisa, Bryson, Ophelia, and Grayson were trapped in the house. They all thought that they were going to die as the house was completely burning, and there was no way out. Larisa had the most common sense, and she was trying to think of a way out. But the screaming from all directions was making it hard for her.

She covered her nose and mouth, getting close to the ground to avoid the smoke as much as possible. The three with her followed suit.

"Fuck... this isn't just a simple fire. Some sort of flammable liquid has been spread around the house. A small fire can burn fast but doesn't spread this fast." She rambled to herself, clenching her eyes shut very tightly. She was trying desperately to think.

Ophelia, who had asthma, was having breathing difficulties, and was coughing aggressively. Her husband, Grayson, was trying to help her, but he was also starting to have trouble breathing. Bryson looked to his wife with concern, and Larisa looked back at him.

There was no way out. Not without serious repercussions. But there was zero fire proof room in the place. There was nothing they could do. Something horrible was going to happen, and Larisa started to panic, which was really unusual for her. Bryson army crawled to her, holding her.

"Please calm down, honey." He whispered, looking around. "I'll find a way out, I promise." He was about to follow through, but out of the window, he spotted a dome of water. Then it dropped over the house.

All of the fire extinguished from the water and soaked all inside. But that didn't stop the actual infrastructure from collapsing. The fire had weakened it all, so it was breaking apart.

Bryson looked up, spotting a skinny, tall figure jumping through a window, avoiding all of the falling wood. He recognised the figure instantly.

"Christopher." He whispered as his nephew ran over, helping Ophelia and Grayson out first so they could get to clean air. Larisa and Bryson followed, and soon, everyone was out. All stood frozen as they watched the building fall apart, to the ground. It was mostly ash and soot.

Elizabeth was devastated. Her daughter, Ophelia, would have to go to hospital for examination, her son, Bryson, had glass in his hands and arms, Connor, Myrah, and Delilah were still looking for Christopher, and Christopher was right there, having collapsed to the ground. All of that, and the house Elizabeth built with her husband over forty years prior was gone.

With zero hope of being rebuilt. However, Elizabeth was more concerned for her family. When she went to her missing grandson, who was trying to stand but was falling as he had hurt his ankle, he panicked and dragged himself away from her. She slowed down, holding her hand out to him, noticing his ankle was on a bit of a strange angle.

"I won't hurt you, sweetheart." She whispered to him, kneeling in front of him. He almost cried out like a cat being taken to the vet, but minus the attacking. "I promise I won't harm a hair on your head." She tried to assure him, finally managing to embrace him.

He lashed out at first, but he calmed down, accepting that his grandmother wouldn't hurt him. She kissed his forehead, which was the first time someone kissed him in ten and a half years. He sighed, flinching as Elizabeth grabbed his ankle to observe it.

Christopher winced as she pressed her fingers on the joint, which was swelling up very slowly. Elizabeth was about to find out what was wrong, but something stopped her.

"Our home!" Malena shrieked, startling Christopher. He yanked his foot back and ran again with a lot of stumbling. Adrenaline had taken over.

"No.. Christopher!" Elizabeth yelled after him, but in only three seconds, he was out of sight. He ran at an inhuman speed, no one would be able to catch up to him. Even if they were on a horse. "Malena!" She got up and slapped her daughter. "You need to control yourself! This is the second time you've scared Christopher off!"

Elizabeth and Malena continued to argue, while Bryson and Larisa went after Christopher. They wouldn't be able to catch up to him, but it didn't matter.