Guardians - Death

Prologue - Amira's memories

I was 8 years old when my parents died. I even remember the exact date. 31 October 2009.
I barely remember anything about my parents.
I don't know what exactly they looked like. I can't even remember their voices. Neither their names. It's as if they never existed until the moment they were killed. Like.. ghosts.
Which is weird, because I was 8 years old back then. I remembered elementary school, meeting Travis for the first time and hanging out with him. I remember how we used to play hide and seek near the woods. But I can't remember my parents. Nobody except Specter seems to know what exactly they looked like. What if they never really existed?
But how do I exist then?

One thing's for sure: I will never forget nor forgive the demon who'd killed my parents. I might have completely lost my memories about them or may have never made any, but I shared a deep bond with them which I still feel today, as if they were still there.
That demon. Those evil, black eyes with red glowing pupils. Big, pointy ears and that blonde curly hair. I'll never forget that face.
He's grown large claws on his hands and feet as well as wings and spikes on his back as he approached my parents. We were at the playground at that time, I remember standing on top of the metal slide I loved to climb up on as the demon appeared.
I didn't realize what was going on as the monster grabbed one of my parents and straight off ripped their head off. Again, I can't remember my parents’ faces but I knew they were there. The other one tried to take me off the slide as I was just quietly watching in horror, shouting at me that I needed to run.
But I moved no single inch. I stared at the demon, and it stared back. The red pupils changing to light blue for a second as it tilted it's head, it's ears twitching as if it was curious.
Then the eyes went back to red as it grabbed the other parent and ripped them to tiny pieces. I was terrified, looking at all that blood and spilling guts, not believing what I was seeing.
The demon looked back at me. I just stared as anger and grief filled my heart, and I began to shout at it while staying on top of my slide. The monster slowly walked closer to the slide, every other child and parent has fled a long time ago. I continued to scream until I passed out from slipping on the metal and hitting my head on the ground.
I remember how I woke up in Specter's house with bandages all over my body. My throat was sore and my arms and legs hurt like crazy, as if I’ve been stabbed with a thousand knives. I had a burning headache, and as I touched the bandage covering my whole forehead it was wet and cold. I looked at my hand which was now covered in my own blood.
I stayed quiet until Specter went into the small room I was in, and I immediately asked about my parents and if they were alright, though I knew they would never come back.
“They won't come back, Amira.”, he said. “I'm going to take care of you now, if that's okay for you. If not, I'll do my best to find a new, loving family for you, little one.”
I knew Specter. Everyone in this town did. He was a successful engineer, surgeon and scientist. Honest, polite, caring, funny, the best friend and father anyone could have.
And he wasn't human.
Specter looked like a giant crow that grew feathery hands instead of wings and moved and acted like a human, which I guess you call anthropomorphism.
But his feathers weren't black or grey as you would imagine when someone mentioned the word “crow”, instead they were a deep blue with a pale light blue stripe running down his head, starting behind each of his big yellow eyes which were curiously looking at me through those tiny glasses laying on his beak. Specter was wearing his white lab coat as he almost always did. I couldn't remember him wearing anything else back then.
As soon as he spoke to me I had already accepted the fact he would be my new dad. I don't know what happened during the time I was passed out but I believe Specter saved me from that horrific monster so I didn't have to face the same fate my parents did.

And ever since my parents were gone, I've been hearing this one voice. Usually at night, sometime around 2 am. “I will guide you, lost spirit.” “I am here, lost one.” Something like that. I kept asking the voice, trying to figure out what to do. But it never answered. Sometimes I thought I was going crazy until it started replying to me.
It was always the same voice, too, it sounding like a young woman who has felt the pain of losing her loved ones and who has given up, stopped fighting for a better life.
Just like I did back then.
Maybe that's why I feel so connected to that mysterious woman I can't see. Or maybe I'm a ghost myself, a spirit, trapped in this human body of mine. That might explain why I can't remember my parents. And why I can even hear that voice.
Or I'm just completely crazy and belong in a mental hospital.