The Child Executioner

Prologue

I'm Serenity-Louise. I go by Serenity. I have dead grey eyes and pitch black hair. I'm fourteen. I live in a ramshackle little house on the edge of the kingdom. I have three siblings Aviva, who is ten, has vivid green eyes, a pointy little nose and platinum blonde hair. Forrest is six. He has black hair, green eyes and the same nose as Aviva. Ivory is the littlest. She's two. Her hair is black, she has a round little face and has the same eyes I do.

I love them. I love my Dad too but his job makes things a little rough sometimes. He is the Royal Executioner. He has no mercy while he is doing "work" but that translates into no emotion for us either. My mother left nine months after Ivory was born. She decided we were worthless children that didn't matter. She didn't love my dad anymore either so she figured she had no ties here.

I basically run life here. There are so many executions. I watched my first one when I was nine. I've never let the others watch. That's an awful thing for a kid to watch. I have a boyfriend, His name is Robert. I call him Rob. Life isn't so bad, especially with Rob but it could be better. This is just life as usual. It's repetitive, reliable and most aspects are pretty good. Everyone knows my dad's the executioner but he still has to wear the mask. I call it the mask of death.

The worst thing that happens on occasion is an angry family member of the executed comes by trying to round up trouble. I've gotten in a couple fist fights with them myself. Once one brought a blade. I had to defend myself with a book I had been holding. Nothing is going to change for a long time. I don't know it yet, but I am so wrong. God I am about to be proven so very, very wrong.