Ashes of the Future

Chapter 14

It was a terrible night, no light to be seen and no laughter to be heard. Just darkness, and the sound of rain beating down on the ground, hollowing away the ditch that a young boy stood before.

A family of three; a mother, a father and a young boy aged 5. They're stuck in this night, their car taken, their home no longer there's. The boy wasn't sure why they were running, or what they were running from. He just followed. Each of them had similar features, tanned skin, dark hair, dark eyes.

The mother, her eyes wide with fear, staggered towards the boy in the pouring rain, squeezing him into a hug so tight he could hear the sound of her heart beat pulsing into his ear. "Damiron, you need to promise me that you will listen and do everything I say. Understand?"

Damiron nodded at his mother, a smile on his face as always, looking to his father for comfort, but it wasn't there. Only worry. "Yes mom, I understand"

He didn't think anything of it, he barely could. A child of his age was only focused on the love his mother and father gave him, obeying their every order like he had always done.

Damiron had seen everything these past few nights while living on the streets; sleeping in dark alley ways and stealing food at any chance they could get. But he still didn't understand why.

One thing he had never seen was the look on his parents faces right now. It was a mixture of upset, worry and pity.  His parents knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught. They painstakingly cut their trackers out when the news was announced, but a world like this was hard to hide in.

The father could only do one thing, one thing he could bring himself to do, knowing what was about to happen. And that was to hug his child, bending down to his height as his little arms stretched around his father's neck.

"Damiron, me and your mother... We both love you very dearly. Promise you will remember that, promise you will remember us." His words were unclear, stuttered out in fragments as he shivered from the cold air that infested the night.

And all the boy could do was nod.

Damiron couldn't tell if his parents were crying or not, the rain seemed to blur their faces into the night sky, everything, every colour merging into one as the rain seeped into his eyes, the storm getting closer.

"We best get going, settle down somewhere. Don't want to get caught in this now, do we?" The mother wrapped her hand around Damiron's, leading him through dark alleyways and abandoned streets. His thick hair stuck to his forehead, as the rain got heavier and heavier. The dirt and blood on his clothes from previous days seemed to wash away. He tried stopping his mother, noticing that his father wasn't following. But she wouldn't budge, tugging at his arm harder than before.

"Dylan, I asked you earlier to do what I say. You promised, so you have to follow through with that. Listen to me!" Her voice cracked a little, taking deep breaths frantically. His mother and father were crying, and this wasn't just a normal night.

"Mommy, why are you crying?"

The word 'mommy' caused her to loosen her grip, her hand slipping away from his as they arrived at their destination. A large building, shaped like a dome similar to the ones his parents had come out of before, running.

"Sit here, and stay here until I say so. We will be back soon" And with that, she was gone, running yet again, back to the father. Damiron patiently waited, sitting himself down on the step, cupping his hands together on his lap as the rain beat down harder and harder.

Singing. It was the one thing him and his parents used to do every night before they went to sleep. A wish, a pray of good luck before they fell into their slumber. So he sat, and he sang, away into the night.