Red Lake | Ghost & König [II]

chapter 3

"Father?" you called out, your voice echoing through the empty home. The smell of something irony and stale filled your nostrils. Then, something rotting intertwined with the stench, and your nose scrunched. "Ugh," you said in displeasure. What the fuck was that?

"Anyone home?" you called as you walked cautiously inside. A really, really bad feeling washed over you as you stepped through the foyer. Everything looked completely still, too still, and it was unbelievably quiet, so quiet you could hear your heartbeat thumping in your ears. Maybe they were at work, or something... Right...?

Oh, God, you had a really bad feeling.

Tears brimmed your eyes as you thought the worst, your voice cracking as you decided to walk into the living room, "Mommy?" You sounded like a scared child.

Your heart dropped. Your blood ran cold. Time stopped. And all you saw was blood.

Oh no. Ohhhhh no no no no no no.

You screamed the most blood-curdling scream you had ever let out in your life, the most bone-chilling shrill sound you had ever heard echo back to you as if from another entity.

"No!" you cried, running over to the bodies, falling over on your knees, arm bruised from barreling into the side of the recliner. "No!" you sobbed.

On the floor, on the stained carpet, was your mother and father's deceased bodies, riddled with bloody bullet holes, their flesh torn apart from the bullets. You couldn't breathe. You grabbed your mother's body, cradling it in your arms and rocking her back and forth as you wailed. You didn't care if the entire world heard you shriek and scream. You were in agony.

The bullet holes were from a military grade SMG gun; you recognized it from the length and width of the bullet holes, of the consistency of the shots. This was a murder. This was an assassination.

This was war.

"Mommy..?" you whispered, voice quivering as you pushed her hair out of her bloody face, bottom lips shaking, tears and snot running down your red and purple face, struggling to breathe correctly. You gasped for air, choking on your tears and saliva as you began to hyperventilate. "Mére..? Please wake up. Wake up, please. It's time to w-wake up..."

But she was lifeless, her aged, sagging skin devoid of color, taking on a grayscale tone. Her eyes stared soullessly at the ceiling, those same dark eyes that you had. Her lashes were long and frozen in place, her eyes wide and her expression still reflecting the fear she must have felt in her final moments. Your eyes drifted to your father. He looked the same.

Your hands shook so badly that every time you moved, you twitched violently like you were about to seize. You gasped for air, in and out in and out, as you reached for your phone in your pocket, dialing the police.

"What's your emergency?" said the feminine voice on the line."

Words failed you. You gasped sharply, rocking back and forth, eyes wide and insane and shocked as you shivered. "My mom... They're dead. Somebody- Somebody killed my mére and papa.." Your face contorted into one of pure agony. "Please help.."

She requested the location and you struggled to give it to her, but did eventually manage to speak aloud the address to your house. She informed you that authorities were on the way. You hung up on her, holding your phone in the air for a moment and allowing it to drop and clatter on the floor.

This can't be real. This wasn't real. I'm going to wake up any second now... Any second now...

But it was. It was very real. You let out a pained wail, like a dying animal, and curled up into yourself, your body lurching as you sobbed in shock and despair and disbelief, cradling your mother's corpse with one hand and gripping your father's button down shirt with the other. He always loved to wear those kinds of shirts.