Inner Beauty

Prologue

    The sirens rang through the humid night as daylight slowly approached the city.

Panicked voices shuffled among the parents and the grandeur neighborhood witnessed the distress of the four parents who had missing children.

'When are you going to find our children? We have been waiting all day for your reply! What happened to our kids?'

The husbands frowned alongside their worried wives while they waited for the reply from the officers.

'We apologize ma'am, we are still on the lookout for your children. It is impossible to find missing children within 24 hours, we will definitely report back to you once we find a clue. The best thing you can do is wait and I apologize for your inconvenience.'

It has been 2 days since the kids were missing and they couldn't file for a complaint until the 48 hour mark has been hit.

The husbands hushed their angered wives as they contoured up a plan whilst walking towards their car.

'Honey, I think it's time we stop relying on the police and we use our side to help search for our kids. I definitely don't believe that the police will be of any help.'

Both the husbands whipped out their phones and made a few calls while they got into a taxi to leave for their base. The wives had no choice but to take the car back home while waiting for any sort of news from their husbands or from the authorities.

Three days had passed and a shrill sound of the ringtone filled the quiet house, 'Have you found them? Please tell me that you found them!'

A familiar voice grimly says, 'We found them and they don't look too good, we are on our way home so please prepare a warm bath for them first, then some food.' And the call ended.

The wives looked at each other with tears in their eyes as they rushed off to prepare food and a warm bath.

After what seemed like 45 minutes, the husbands carried in two kids who seemed awfully quiet and petrified while they were covered in a blanket.

The parents passed each other a glance and the husbands rushed into the bathroom. The boys were set in the bathtub as the wives slowly took in their appearances.

Bloodied, torn clothes and muddied hairs with unusually lifeless eyes stared back at them.

The boys huddled close to each other as a pair of blue eyes started shedding a few tears. The wives slowly wiped the kids, watching the dirt, grime and dried blood muddy the crystal clear water in the tub.

The husbands took out the first aid kits waiting for their wives to finish showering the kids. The fearful looking blue eyes and lifeless looking green eyes were what left off of the children who had lost their jovial child-like innocence.

The boys were huddled close to one another while they were being fed and given first aid to their wounds which were caused by what seemed like whips and knives.

Their skin was littered with blue-black marks on every inch of their skin.

Their sunken eyes and their dull faces told them many horrid stories. The fathers made sure to send off the perpetrators of their children's nightmare to their base to take care of the issue themselves.

The fathers decided to insert a chip into their sons' arms, just like the chip they had in their arm, which monitors their heartbeat and shows their location.

The boys were taught of the horrors in the world at a very early age so now, they were given a phone which has an application to track each other's location at any given time.

The fathers brought their children to their dance studio which they always visited at least 4 times a week. The mothers were watching from the side as they all reminisced about their past.

The children's eyes were slowly filling up with memories of their child-like self playing around, following the steps of their fathers as their fathers moved with the tunes.

The kids were brought with the fathers to the gym as the fathers started sparring with each other.

The green eyed boy specifically took an avid interest in what their fathers were showcasing to them as he finally opened his mouth asking to learn how to protect his brother and himself.

'Atticus, are you sure you will not lose interest in martial arts? It is a very slow and tedious process to learn it. If you still want to learn how to fight like us, I will make a call immediately. It's up to you son.'

The green eyed boy looked at the fearful blue eyes looking back at him, small hands clinging onto his shirt.He turned to his father and firmly said 'Yes dad, I want to protect myself and Waylen. I don't ever want us to go through the same things again.'

Determination filled the green eyed boy as he stroked the blue eyed boy's hair. Their closeness left the parents in awe as they looked forward to what's to come, hoping to see them live a happier life in their future.

They could only pray that this event won't stop their children from experiencing the good still left in the world.