BULLETPROOF

i. flashback

"Mary! Come back here!" Michael says while trying to chase the little girl running away from him, her pretty little pink dress swaying beautifully in the wind. He puts an extra effort to act like he can't reach her, and when his little sister Mary turns around to check on him, she giggles and michael swears it's the cutest sound ever.

"Haha! You can't catch m-" But then Mary trips because of her attention on her big brother and not the way she's running off to. She falls on the grass, slightly scraping her elbows and knees.

"Mary!" Michael immediately runs and crouches down beside her, helping her sit up. "God, are you okay? Does it hurt? Where? Tell me!" He asks, checking on her arms and legs worriedly. Their parents are surely going to blame him if his sister gets scars out of this.

Mary remains silent for a while, staring hard at the grassy ground, the expression on her face hard just like what michael does whenever he's angry. He cups his sister's cheeks to make her look at him but Mary still has the serious look on her pretty face even after looking at his brother this time. "What's wrong? Are you mad at me, Mary?" Michael asks, rubbing his sister's back to distract her from the pain she's probably feeling because of the fresh scratches.

Mary pouts and says in a small voice, "My elbows hurt, but I'm not going to cry! Mary is a big girl and she's not going to cry!" But her eyes are already turning glassy from the tears starting to form in the sides of her calming green eyes similar to Michael's.

He shakes his head and hugs his sister tightly, making Mary's heart burst of thousand emotions. "Hey, it's okay to cry sis. Sometimes letting your emotions out shows just how strong you are." He pulls back with a caring smile.

And that's all it takes for Mary to cry because her elbows and knees are slightly bleeding from the scrapes and michael realizes that they have to go back inside their mansion now, before his little sister's wounds become infected. He crouches down and gestures for Mary to get on his back. Mary's cries immediately stops, because she's always liked getting piggy back rides from Michael because then she can play with her brother's soft hair and nuzzle her face in the crook of his neck.

The two little clifford just loves each other so much, because they are all that they have besides their parents who are always out working day and night. He promised himself back then that he's going to take care of Mary, unlike the maids in their house (that his mother hired to take care of them) who, instead of playing with Mary, gets her toys and give it to their own daughters instead. Of course, michael has told their parents that, but they never seemed to have the time to actually listen and understand what he's trying to point out.

He remembers that their silly maids are out this week, because their parents are on a little break and are actually spending it in their real home for once, so michael huffs and walks faster inside to tell his mom what happened. He might get blamed for it, but his sister always comes first making it not a problem at all. At least Mary's scrapes will get treated as soon as possible.

When they get to the back entrance door, michael carefully sets Mary down and looks up at the second floor, observing the place. There were no movements upstairs so his eyes roll heavenwards. Please don't tell me they left without a word again, he thought to himself.

"Blood is running down my knees and it hurts, michael. What should we do?" Mary asks, a slight panic evident in her tiny little voice. Michael looks down at her without saying anything and starts walking to the stairs. Mary's about to follow him but he shakes his head at her. "Stay there for a while, you can't walk without being hurt so I'm going upstairs to tell mommy that you scraped your elbows and knees okay? Stay here."

Mary reluctantly nods and pouts at him before saying "okay, I get it."

"Good. Stay there and be a good girl." Michael nods and silently walks upstairs. He sees a lot of rooms and notices the one with the open door, so his eyebrows connected and before he knows it he's slowly walking towards the direction of the said room. The second floor is suspiciously quiet that his heart starts to beat fast and his breathing become irregular. Could it be a ghost? No, it can't be. He chuckles at the ridiculous thought so he mans up and walks faster to check what's inside.

He didn't expect it at all.

There, on the floor lies their parents bathing in their own pool of blood, eyes wide open and mouths slightly parted. He gasps loudly before he even realizes that the killers might still be around the house, and Mary's fucking alone in the first floor. His eyes widen at his realization then his heart starts to pound violently against his chest. He runs downstairs and becomes more than happy that Mary is still in the same exact position he left her.

"M-mary, try to bear with the pain for a little while okay? We sh-should go somewhere safe," Michael's lips quiver in fear, and he can't help the crack in his voice when he speaks. He's trying so hard to keep his cool and act like his parents aren't dead upstairs, but he knows he's failing miserably. He's just an eight year old, for fuck's sake.

His little sister becomes confused, noticing his hands trembling like crazy. "Somewhere safe? But we're safe he-"

"Listen to me!" Michael hisses and his hold on her arm tightens, "stay silent and we'll leave. Please listen to me, Mary. I can't lose you too."

"You won't lose me," his sister said, determination laced in her voice that it almost convinces michael that she's telling the truth. But no one knows the future, really.

"That's what they always said," michael whimpers, remembering their father and mother always telling him those words before they go out of the house to leave for work, leaving a sad michael in the house with no one to play with. "But they broke it."

"What do you mean, big brother? Where's mama and papa bear?" She worriedly asks, fear obvious in the look of her face. Michael glances at her and abruptly wipes his own tears, slowly exhaling.

"They're gone!"
-

Just a flashback of Michael's past before he actually became an agent with his fictional cutie little sister Mary.

The next chapter will be in the present time and I'm excited for this lmao. Comments and votes are appreciated.

Malum trash,
Kate xx