The Tested

Prologue

She lifted up one of her dolls. Its hair was a mess, so she pulled a look of concentration on her face, as she, a two-year-old slowly brushed it out. She smiled, as the hair slowly went back to normal and continued playing. A sudden crashing sound from the kitchen startled her, and she quietly walked down the stairs to see what had happened, assuming that her parents had just gotten into another fight. Walking into the living room, she saw that was not the case. Instead, two men had guns pointed at her mom and dad. She looked up at the men, one taller, but skinny, and one shorter, but fat. She giggled at the short and fat man, thinking he looked funny. The man snarled at her. "She your child, eh?", he said to her mom. Her mom nodded slowly. "Please, she hasn't done anything wrong! She's only a child!", her father begged. The taller man shot him in the leg, the bang resonating through the house, in harmony with his cries of pain. "I never said you could talk", the taller man snarled. The little girl, no longer laughing, ran to her dad in tears. For all anyone knew, they could have been twins, they looked so alike. The same dark midnight hair, and the eyes that seemed to see all. She hated to see others in pain. Her father held her protectively, not letting anything happen to her. The men started to laugh. "Run, my dear Ali, run from the home, into the backwoods, and don't come back", her father whispered into the girl's ear. She was smart for her age, and even though she didn't know what was going on, she nodded and ran for the door. The men looked at her and laughed harder. "Think you can let her get away now do you!?", the shorter man said. He raised his gun at her and fired a shot. The girl turned around, just in time to see her mother jump in front of her, and take the bullet. The men stopped laughing. She saw as the light disappeared from her mother's eyes, and heard her last words. "Run", she had said. But this time she couldn't. As one of the men fired a shot at her dad, she screamed, releasing all the pain. Everything turned white.