The Quiet Man

Chapter 1

''Aurora, for the love of God. The plane leaves in 2 hours, we have to leave at any minu-. '' Aurora groaned loudly at her younger sister who was yelling at her from the front door. Aurora quickly let her eyes scan the house that they had been living in for the past couple of years, it has become their home. The siblings had two different views on what a home actually meant. Bella, who was only 17 believed that a home had to have a specific feeling of warmth and love. Aurora, on the other hand simply thought that a home meant that they finally had a roof over their heads.

''I'm on my way, Bella. Did you remember to pack everything? We both know that you can't sleep without your teddy bear. An-. '' Aurora hurriedly jumped away when she saw Bella throw a shoe at her head. Bella looked at her older sister as if she was ready to bite her head off, ''Yes, I fucking have everything. Can we finally leave this shithole?'' Bella had sadly learned her profanities from Aurora, although Aurora can proudly admit that she had gotten much better at it.

As Aurora locked the front door of their tiny blue home and walked towards the yellow taxi that had been waiting for them, she noticed how deadly quiet the neighborhood had suddenly gotten. It was remarkable how a tiny blue building had memories of a past that had kept her up at night for the past 3 years. The midnight moon was shining brightly against the windows of the taxi, it looked like a black canvas with various strings of light. She let out a breath of relief as they sat down next to each other in the taxi. Bella suddenly squeezed her hand as she silently told the driver where they were headed. Aurora continued looking out the window into the darkness while whispering, ''Goodbye, mama and papa.''

*-*

As soon as they walked outside the boarding gates, both siblings were welcomed by strong arms that belonged to their uncle, Khalid Leaf or as they call him Amo. He looked like an older version of their father, they both had styled beards, dark brown eyes and looked like someone you didn't want to meet in an ally at night. Aurora can't remember the last time they had visited him, but they still considered him to be a second father to them. He had been determined to keep looking after them, especially after their parents had gotten into that-

She's not fucking doing that again. Breathe, Aurora.

''Amo, I have missed you,'' Aurora said while she placed one of her mocha hands on her uncle's shoulder. ''I'm sorry for not visiting earlier. I just haven't gotten the time between working and taking care of our little troublemaker.''

''Don't be ridiculous, I completely understand,'' Amo sighed. ''I just wish that you would have accepted my help earlier, you don't have to do all of this alone.''

Aurora glanced down in embarrassment and saw that Bella was already on her way out from the crowded airport. ''We'll talk about all of this when we get home, Ya Jamila.'' Amo told her as he motioned for her to start walking towards her younger sister.

She sighed silently and then nodded at her uncle while she grabbed her luggage from the ground. ''Alright, that sounds good. Let's go, Amo.''

*-*

She climbed out the of car and saw the estate that belonged to her uncle. ''Holy shit,'' she whispered as she took in the garden that was showered in red roses, a bright white mansion and high fences. It almost felt as if her uncle was purposely trying to keep something outside the walls of his estate. Aurora was full aware that her uncle was economically stable, especially after being promoted to president at work. It just didn't occur to her how different his life had changed since they last visited with their parents.

She heard her sister gasp besides her. ''Holy fucking shit.'' Bella corrected her loudly before running towards the front doors of the mansion. ''Well I'm glad that you both like your new home,'' he chuckled, looking amused at Aurora before following her sister.

She noticed that there were men wearing black suits in different corners, ''Just ignore them, they're just doing their job.'' Her uncle mentioned briefly as they were passing them and walking towards the main area of the mansion. She found the amount of men in suits alarming but decided to listen to her uncle and kept walking after him.

The main area was utterly beautiful, it was a mix between a brown and white color that collided perfectly together. The room was connected to an enormous balcony, which had a perfect view of the entire estate.

''I'll be right back.'' Aurora's uncle had said when his phone suddenly started ringing. She yawned loudly before sitting down on one of the brown couches, it didn't take long before she saw her uncle getting angry at whoever was on the other end of that phone call. ''Jax, I don't give two fucks. I'm not putting them-'' She wasn't able to hear the rest of the conversation, since her little sister decided to interrupt her eavesdropping.

''You won't believe how the much food there is in the kitchen, Aurora. I'll probably spend the rest of my life in that kitchen. I'm literally in love.'' She rolled her eyes at Bella's dramatic personality, which resulted with Bella getting mad at her for not taking her seriously. ''Anyways, where's Amo?'' Bella sighed loudly, which Aurora answered by pointing her index finger in the direction of her uncle.

She saw him take a deep breath and turn around to meet their gaze. ''I'm sorry about that, it was work. I'm guessing that both of you are tired, let's sleep and talk further tomorrow.''

*-*

It was 03:41 AM, she could hear the birds chirping outside her window. She had been tossing around in her bed for hours now, it was impossible to fall asleep. She groaned loudly and decided to walk downstairs to get something to drink. ''Fucking shit.'' She whispered as she accidently hit her left hip against the kitchen counter.

She started walking down the hall towards her room, when she suddenly realized that she was walking in the wrong direction. It was ridiculous how unaware you become when you're tired, she thought as she chuckled at herself but stopped abruptly when she suddenly heard a loud noise from one of the guestrooms. It was like a muffled scream, a faint sound of distress.

''Hello?'' She whispered before pulling her nightgown tighter around her tiny body. She slowly tiptoed towards one of the doors in the hallway, when she started feeling as if she had hallucinated everything due to her lack of sleep. The doorknob was cold in her hand, as if no one had touched it for ages and it wasn't opening when she tried to twist the knob. After trying every room in the hallway, she came to the conclusion that her uncle had for some odd reason locked all of them.

''Are you lost, Miss?''

She screamed in surprise. ''Don't fucking creep up on people. Are you purposely trying to give me a heart attack?'' It was one of the guards, who was still wearing a suit at four in the morning. He wasn't showing any sympathy or any other emotion at all, instead he looked extremely unfazed by Aurora's alarmed reaction. He had a few tattoos on his neck, which hugged him as tightly as a turtleneck, penetrating blue eyes and both eyebrows were pierced. Aurora's observing thoughts were interrupted by him, ''I asked you a question. Are you lost, miss?''

She completely ignored his attitude, ''You work for my uncle, right? We haven't meet yet. I'm Aurora, it's nice to meet- ''. He interrupted her once again, ''That's irrelevant. Are you lost, miss?''

''Who pissed in your cereal this morning? No, I'm not fucking lost. God, is anyone happy around here?'' She sighed loudly when she noticed that he still wasn't pleased with that answer, it looked like he wanted to know what she was doing here this early in the morning. ''I was tired and walked in the wrong direction. And voila,'' She dramatically moved her hands around her and rolled her eyes, ''I ended up here but I'm heading back right now.''

He took a few steps towards her and narrowed his eyes at her, ''This area is under renovation. Mr. Leaf made it clear to everyone that no one should be here. It's for your own safety.'' Aurora nodded when she noticed that this guy was determined to follow her uncle's orders. ''Alright. Uhm ... Well then. Good night,'' she said as she hurriedly walked past him before he could say anything else, ''What a fucking grinch.'' she whispered to herself before shaking her head. 

*

 Everything is great, until it's not anymore.