LAST DAY ON EARTH ---five hargreeves

Prologue

I remember the first time our eyes met. The confusion behind his gaze was undeniable just as much as my horror.

//

December 20th, 2001

Today, Anabelle was celebrating her fifth birthday. Her mom was preparing a cake, and Elvis Presley's songs were playing on repeat in the kitchen as Anabelle danced around the house happily. They were waiting for her dad, who was supposed to return from work around 6 pm with a surprise.

When someone unexpectedly knocked at the door, her mom left all the unfinished food in the kitchen and quickly wiped her hands on her apron. She walked to the front door and swung it open. Anabelle was still carelessly dancing around her room to the music echoing throughout the whole house.

All she heard was a loud woman's scream and a thud. The cries did not stop. Annabelle listened to her mother's helpless voice coming from the living room.

She didn't dare to move let alone go downstairs to check what it was.

"Very good," she heard a man's voice from the living room. There was no response, just another loud hit to someone's flesh. She felt the tears filling her eyes as she tried her best not to move an inch.

"Not now, Vanya," the man's voice faintly sounded in her ears. Her heart was beating so fast she wasn't sure how she was still alive. The one thing that came into her mind was to open the closet and lock herself inside it, so that's exactly what she did. She carefully let her feet lead her into the other side of the room and opened the doors to her walk-in closet. Then, she slowly crawled inside it, careful not to make any noise, and closed the door after her, turning all the lights off. The darkness filled the small space and her breath hitched as she almost choked on her tears. Her hands were still shaking as she fought the urge to let out a loud cry.

Minutes felt like hours spent in the dark closed place. She couldn't see a thing, only heard the steps slowly approaching each room, finally reaching the one right next to hers, where her mother was hiding. She reached for the nearest coat that she could find and hugged it close to her body for some comfort, praying that whoever it was, would not find her mom.

Her hope was short-lived as she heard her mother's voice from the other side of the wall. She leaned against the back of the closet to listen and her heart broke into a million pieces at the sound of a woman's cries for help and helpless screams.

"Hiding who?!" she heard her mother's confusion as the tears fell down her face like waterfalls. "Please, we didn't do anything, I swear," the girl's breath hitched at the sudden silence.

A moment later, a whisper sounded as someone leaned directly against the wall. "Fucks sake," her eyes opened wider at the boyish voice. She kept her hands over her mouth, careful to keep quiet until the footsteps started becoming louder and louder. She knew he was coming her way,  and he would have no problem finding her. All she had left to do was pray that he would end her life fast and possibly find a way for it to be painless.

The door squeaked as he entered the room, each one of his steps made her blood run cold. Her face was now fully covered as she buried it in between her knees squeezing both sides tightly. The horror ate her alive as she felt her heartbeat rising with every passing second.

Finally, the handle on the closet doors moved, and she looked up immediately. What she saw made her gaze soften for some reason. The teenage boy standing right in front of her had a lifeless expression on his face. A red ax he was holding was covered in blood, a small amount of it was sprayed on his hair and the corner of his mouth. He was wearing a dark blue suit, with short trousers and knee-long socks. His hair was messy and a little bit too long, falling right on his face and covering his right eye.

Their eyes locked for a long moment as neither of them said anything. She uncovered her ears and pushed her hair behind her ears to show her face. The expression on the boy's face changed slightly, a glimpse of care and sorrow appeared behind his defunct eyes.

Anabelle didn't need to say a thing for him to understand her completely, she was terrified, begging him to spare her life.

As if he read her mind, he whispered an answer to her. "I can't," he said.

The girl backed toward the end of the closet helplessly, and so the boy, Five, followed her in. His grip on the weapon tightened as he simply walked inside.

"Please, please," she kept repeating begging him for mercy. "I swear, I won't tell anyone," the boy looked unamused by her pleas as he moved his finger against his lips to signalize her to be quiet. She obeyed and shut her eyes as she finally reached the end of the tight closet and backed against the wall.

"Look at me," he whispered. Annabelle opened her eyes slowly and met his gaze. He was kneeling right in front of her. He watched her childish figure huddled in the corner of the closet. She looked at him with a mix of anger, confusion, and fear.

"I don't have a choice," he said furring his brows. "we don't have time, the others are coming." He repeated forcing his grip on her tiny hand this time. She felt a bolt of electricity travel throughout her whole body as the darkness clouded her sight. The boy's hand was still securely wrapped around her wrist. After a quick second, she felt the absence of his touch as her feet were met with a hard rock ground.

She looked around terrified. All she could see was fire and clouds of smoke. There was absolutely nothing like she was trapped inside of a void of ruin. Her head snapped at the sound of a woman's voice behind her.

"Finally, I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it," she said. The woman's figure was slim and tall, her hair was pinned into a tight bun and a huge decorative hat covered her head. She was wearing a rather short floral dress and red lipstick. Her right hand was holding an umbrella whereas her left was gripping a black suitcase. "Come here, darling," she said lifting both her hands in the air, like she was going for a hug. "We're coming home."

//

here's the prologue...hope you're excited because much more is coming:))