Light of the Dragon's Eye

Chapter Twenty-Six

Above is five year old Akira. Enjoy!

FLASHBACK

"Hey, Mom? Dad?" Her brother called out as he opened the door to the house. "Aki and I are back. Hello?"

Akira skipped into the house a bit. "Maybe they're out back," she suggested, running to the back door before falling flat. She sat up slowly and sniffled in pain as she touched the red bruise forming on her forehead. Her older brother sighed slightly and picked her up as he headed to the backyard. "Aki, I've told you before not to run in the house. Why have I told you this?"

"B-because I might slip and fall," she squeaked in pain.

"And what ended up happening?"

"I...slipped...and fell..."

He nodded. "Promise you won't do it again?"

"Promise," Akira nodded back quickly as the pain faded. Together, the siblings headed out into the backyard, where they saw their parents standing solemnly before two graves. Aki's brother's eyes darkened slightly, and he set Akira on the ground before approaching his father.

"Dad? Why are you guys out here?" he asked, even though he felt he knew the reason. "Is today one of your bad days?"

His mother answered for her husband. "It's particularly strong today. We'll be alright in a little bit."

Akira watched from a ways back, a frown on her lips. Every once in a while, her parents would become depressed and sad for a whole day, and then be back to normal the next day. But on their bad days, they's spend most of their time in front of these two graves.

Even though most five year olds wouldn't understand, Akira was smarter than most, so her brother gently explained everything to her when she started noticing the regularity of her parents' sadness.

Her brother was twelve years older than her, and she knew that such a large age gap was unusual in a family with only two children. When her brother was three, her parents tried for another baby. The pregnancy had gone well, but inexplicably, the baby boy had been born dead. Nobody knew why. So, fearing for his wife's health, Aki's father had put off trying to have another baby for a while.

When Akira's brother was seven, the couple tried again. The pregnancy went well, and a seemingly healthy baby girl was born. However, she didn't eat or sleep, and died only a few weeks after being born.

The couple never said much about the girl, except that they noticed that the look in her eyes had seemed fractured. Crazed, even.

Rumors had started floating around town. The family was cursed. The mother was a cannibal. The father was a murderer. The son was a psychopath. Everyone kept talking.

When Aki's brother was twelve, his mother went strangely quiet for a small period of time. She wanted another baby. She wanted to try again. Even though her son and husband were against it, she seemed strangely confident, as though she knew the baby would be well.

So, after weeks of persuasion, the couple tried one last time. The day the mother showed signs of being pregnant, she returned to her normal self, and the family waited nervously. The day came when the mother started going into labor. When it was finally over, she was holding a healthy baby girl.

But this one was different.

Instead of the sun kissed complexion that everyone else in the family had, including the two dead children, this girl had milky pale skin. Rather than possessing brown eyes like her father and brother, or hazel eyes like her mother, she had molten silver irises.