Silent Bullets

Goodbye

8 year old Andria wakes up to the faint sound of something falling to the ground with a big thud. She gets out of bed and walks towards her door. Grabbing the door knob, she opens the door and looks outside.

"Mommy?" Andria asked as she walked out. There was silence in the pitch black hallway. "Daddy?" Andria continued down the dark hall.

Not being able to see anything, Andria keeps walking down the hall, down the stairs, and towards her father's study room.

"Daddy?" Andria called out, but with no answer, she aimed to open the lights. Suddenly someone grabs her by the hand and pulls her into the dark room and under the table. They put their hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

Surprised, Andria started kicking and punching whoever grabbed her.

"Andy, it's me." Her father said breathing heavily. Upon recognizing her father's voice, she stopped and turned around. She couldn't see him clearly, but she could see his facial outline and knew that it was her father. And only her father would call her Andy. She hugged her father tightly. He had beside her 4 year old baby sister Elaina, who was sleeping.

"I need you to do something for me." He whispered. Andria nodded. "I need you to keep as quiet as you can be. And no matter what happens tonight, I want you to run with Elaina. Just run and never look back. Nanny Florence will look after you two. She lives two houses and when she sees this locket, she will know what it means."

"But why..." Andria began to question her father. Her father hushed her.

"Just do as I say. No questions asked. And just know that your mother and I love you." He said as he gave her a kiss on the forehead along with Elaina. He gives her a locket. "And hold onto this."

Suddenly, there was noise coming from outside the room. Her father looks around and takes her to the wall near the window. He opens up a small door that is well hidden against the wall.

"Get in here and do not, I repeat do not make a sound no matter what." He rushed her inside a small room in the wall. Before closing it, he looks at Andria and Elaina one last time. "I love you baby girl."

He shuts the door closed and that's when the lights turned on.

"Where is the code?" A voice boomed into the room as the lights turned. Andria peeps through the small cracks of the door and watches her father behind his study desk.

"I'm never going to give it to you." Her father said. "Michael, I can't believe you betrayed our country for money."

"When countries pay for money for it, that's when the deal is done." Michael said.

Andria remembers Michael as one of her parents best friend who came by in the last 5 years with gifts for Andria and spent quality time with her and her family.

"We worked so hard to decode them and now you want to use them to get money out of the country?" Her father said.

"Look Richard, there is nothing that can be done about it. I promised them a code and that is the code I will give to them, whether you like it or not." Michael said pressing the gun across Richard's chest. "You can give me the code and I'll let you walk away or you can say goodbye to this world like Elise."

Elise, Andria's mother, gets dragged into the room.

"Elise." Richard called out after seeing his wife.

"Richard." Elise said as she saw the gun at his chest. "Don't give him the code. Don't."

"Stubborn aren't you?" Michael said as he went over and slapped her across the face that she started bleeding from the corner of her mouth.

"Michael!" Richard yelled as he ran towards Michael. One of the men shot at Richard and he fell to the ground.

"Richard!" Elise shouted as she kicked the man holding her in the shin and ran towards him. She grabs him and starts crying. "You low life. You swine!" Michael flicks his hair back and sighs before he lets out a chuckle.

"You leave me no choice but to kill your whole family." Michael said as he quickly shot Elise in the head.

"Elise!"Richard yelled. Witnessing her mother's death, Andria cupped Elaina's ears and cried silently.

"Next, will be you and then your precious little girl." Michael said. Richard glared at Michael. "The code." He laid out his hand.

"Not in any lifetimes." Richard said disgusted at Michael's actions. Michael gets up and pulls the trigger on him. Richard breathes his last while looking at the door that he has put Elaina and Andria in. Andria and him met eyes, as tears flowed down her face.

And that was the last time she saw her parents.

------------------------------------------------To Be Continued---------------------------------------------------------