I sat up slowly, completely ignoring the urgency in my older brother's voice. "What's going on?" I half spoke half yawned, "Did you have a bad dream?"
"No, Ume listen. We have to go, it's not safe here!" His voice was shaking and he sounded almost frantic. As my eyes adjusted to the low light I could see faint trails of tears streaming down his face. "Mako, w-what's going on? I don't understand, why do we have to leave? And why are you crying?"
I started feeling nervous. Mako wasn't making any sense and I had never seen him this scared before. Instead of answering my questions he picked me up out of bed and set me by my bedroom window. "Just listen," he said, "I'm going to open this window and when I do, you're going to get on my back and I'm going to jump. I can't explain why right now, but we have to get away from here as fast as possible."
He reached out and slid my window open, but as he did, I heard him whisper, "I couldn't save Mom, but I'll definitely save you." My body tensed and I started shaking. "C-couldn't save her? What are you talking about, what's going on?!" My voice escalated from a whisper to a shout with every word. "Ume, I'm sorry but we don't have time for this, we have to go-"
"No!" I cut him off and protested, "I'm going to help Mom! And Dad might be in trouble too!" Before Mako could react, I turned and ran. I went down the hall and into my parents' room, but it was empty. So, I rushed downstairs and into the living room. I stopped and called out,"Mom!? Dad!? Where are you!? Are you okay!?" There were no answers so I decided to keep looking. I started my way to the kitchen but stopped when my foot brushed against something soft. I froze and looked down to my right to see my mother lying face down in a small pool of blood.
I sank to my knees and stared at the body. Then, I slowly raised one of my hands and placed it on her shoulder. She was still warm. I felt numb and my body started shaking even worse than before. "Mom..." I called to her but my mouth was dry and my voice was barely audible. I placed both hands on her back and shook her. "Mom... Mom, wake up... Wake up, wake up please! You have to wake up!" I could feel tears welling up and spilling down my cheeks as I rolled my mother onto her side. Her eyes were open, but they were completely dull and empty. I looked from her eyes down to her neck and saw that her throat had been slit.
My hand instinctively went over my mouth and muffled my sobbing scream. After I calmed down enough to speak, I called out "MAKO! DAD?! SOMEBODY PLEASE! M-MOM IS... S-S-SHE'S..."
"Dead."
I whirled around to find my father standing behind me. "Dad!" I cried out weakly as I jumped up and hugged him. I sobbed into his shirt as he held close and stroked my hair. "I know you must be sad and scared, but it'll all be okay soon." He spoke to me calmly and his words were soothing but something about them sounded off. They were hallow, like he didn't mean what he was saying. But I didn't care, I was just glad he was safe. "D-dad, I don't get it, how did this happen?"
"Well... I did it." This time his words made me feel like my heart had stopped. He sounded proud of him self; happy even. I slowly looked up to see him smiling down at me. It was the same smile he'd given me that morning when he said I'd be a great ninja, but this time it chilled me to the bone. I pushed away from him and staggered backwards. "You did it? What do you mean?"
"I mean that I'm the one that killed your mother."
"You killed her? But why? What's going on?!" I was getting overwhelmed. I could hardly breathe. "It doesn't really matter now," my father said as he held up three kunai knives, "because everything is about to end." He was still smiling but the look in his eyes was cold. With one quick movement of his arm the knives came flying towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for the stabbing pain, but instead I felt something heavy fall on top of me. I opened my eyes to find myself pinned under Mako's back. He was lying face up with three kunai in his chest.
He coughed up blood before choking out a few words, "Ume... Run..." Then. He was gone. "Ah, Mako. I knew that would draw you out of hiding, but I didn't expect you to just throw yourself in front of her. You were always so impulsive. That flaw is exactly why I had to kill you." The monster that used to be my father, sighed. He spoke as if he were lecturing his son instead of just having murdered him.
I wanted to run like Mako had told me, but I was too scared to move. It was just me and my father now. He stepped closer and kneeled beside me. I couldn't do anything. My mind was swirling with so many thoughts but the one that kept repeating was 'I'm going to die'. "Ume, don't worry. I never planned on killing you. You're special. I know that someday, you'll be strong. When that happens I'll come back for you. Until then, my dear daughter, do your best." After that, he reached down and stroked my hair again before disappearing. I was all alone. I stayed paralyzed as I tried to make sense of everything that had happened until eventually, I passed out from shock.
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Author's Note:
Geez, this chapter took me forever to write! Hopefully my updates will happen faster from now on. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this (depressing) chapter! By the way, the picture at the top is of Mako and Ume. I drew it myself. Do you guys think it's good or bad? Let me know in the comments, please and thank you!
