Tormented ○ Nouis ○

One

○ niall ○

The sound of gunshots echo through the building and screams follow them. My mother shushes my ten year old brother's whimpers and grabs a key. She pulls the rug up and reveals a trapdoor. She unlocks it and tells us to get in.

Greg does as our mother says and takes me from her. I reach for her and she kisses my forehead. I close my eyes and hear the trapdoor close. Greg holds me close and our mother pulls the rug back over the trapdoor.

"Mummy," I whimper.

"Ssh," Greg whispers. "Mummy will be fine."

Just as he says that there is a loud gunshot and a scream from right above us. Greg covers my mouth and holds me tighter. He squeezes his eyes shut and a tear runs down his face. The rug is pulled from the floor and someone rattles to padlock.

I whimper into Greg's shirt.

"Be quiet, little brother," Greg whispers. "They'll find us if you're not."

I nod.

"Good boy."

Eventually the people walk away, leaving Greg and me locked under the trapdoor. We are still there the next day and the day after, barely surviving on the little food and water that remains under the trapdoor.

We are awoken by a crash the next day and Greg picks me up from the floor. He covers us with the blanket and the trapdoor opens slowly. Someone drops in and a whimper escapes my mouth. The blanket is pulled off us and our yells echo in the room.

I jerk from my nightmare with a yell and hit my head on the low roof of my house. I curse and rub my forehead, looking around my cluttered 'room'. There are only the bare necessities in here, but that is enough to clutter the 'room'.

My single bed in under the only window in the room, the bookshelf holding dust covered books is along one wall, my small cupboard is along the other wall and my trunk of clothes is at the end of my bed. This is all I have.

There are only three small 'rooms' in this 'house', and that's all I need. One of them is the 'kitchen', another is the 'bathroom' and the last one is my 'bedroom'. This is all that I could afford from what my parents left me after they were killed when I was four.

It's been a while since then and I have survived as best I could alone. My brother died when he was only twenty, and I was only fourteen at the time. I am now eighteen and have access to the money that my family had.

I haven't taken any from the bank, but instead I've put all the money I get into the account. It has been a while since I've done that, so I have to put some into it today. That means that I have to go to town and see people. Ugh.

I groan. "Why do I even bother?!"

My cat meows.

"Shut up, Liam."

"You need to get along with them."

"When I move away from here."

"Where are we going?"

"England. Somewhere in the southern area."

"Doncaster?"

"How south is that?"

"Not as south as Wolverhampton or Birmingham."

"South enough."

Liam meows.

I roll my eyes and grab my suitcase from off the top of my wardrobe. I toss it onto the bed and dust flies off it. Liam and I cough, me waving the dust away from our faces. I slowly brush the rest of the dust off the suitcase and reveal bright blue material.