I was frozen in shock as my brother clung tightly to my waist, soaking my shirt and dampening my skin with his salty tears. NO! There was a deafening roar in my ears, and I had trouble thinking straight. But it was true. My parents were dead. Had ceased to live. They were really and truly gone. I was never going to be tucked into bed again, would never again get kissed goodbye or get my jet black hair braided by my mother. We were alone and abandoned in this world, my brother and I, yet we were so juvenile and naive.
I heard someone clear their throat in the background, and I refocused my attention on the three intimidating titans that towered over me. I felt as microscopic and vulnerable as a mouse, cornered and trying to hide from a pouncing tomcat. The shadows slithering up the walls made it hard to focus on the faces in the gloomy, shadowed room. I made out a stocky middle aged man in the center of the group, who looked like the ringleader. He sympathetically led me a the soft leather couch and had Trevor and me sit down.
"I know this is hard for you to take in, but you have to listen carefully," the man said softly. "As we told you before, your parents have died in a car crash, and you have no living relatives. So, you are supposed to go to the foster care system."
I nodded my head to show him I was listening, my eyes widened in horror.
"However, we were... well acquainted with your parents," The tall muscular man on the right chuckled softly, and the man speaking shot him a look of exasperation.
"So, we are willing to take you kids in, as a favor to your parents. With us, you'll go to a huge private school at no cost in Venice. All you have to do in return is do a minimal amount of work for us. Then, you won't have to deal with the horrible foster care system, and you'll be around a lot of kids your age. So, what do you say?"
Even in my wretched emotional state, I knew that something here sounded fishy. Maybe it was because it sounded too good to be true, or because my mother had always told me to never trust strangers, but I didn't want to go with this shuddersome man.
I opened my mouth to reply, but just then a boy that looked around my age barged through my maple wood front door. He walked towards us, but his smile couldn't hide the sheer terror in his eyes. Something about this picture was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on what. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, but unfortunately I was not in a deep nightmarish slumber.
"Are they coming or what?" The boy asked. I was taken aback at his bluntness, but surprisingly the head-honcho guy just looked at me, anticipating my reply. Inside I was having a giant debate. To trust or not to trust? That is the question. I sighed. How much worse than foster care could this possibly be? I exhaled in defeat, and was about to agree when I remembered one small detail.
"Um.. what kind of work will we do?"
A gleam of nervousness flashed in the man's eyes, but it was gone so quickly I started to doubt it was even there in the first place.
"You'll just be recruiting other newly orphaned kids like yourself. It's really cool to know that the kids are in a way better place." I was surprised that the boy was talking again, but that helped me to trust these people more.
I reluctantly sighed and nodded.
"Okay, we'll come with you guys. Just let us get our stuff."
The boy smiled at me, but the still there terror deluded most of the brightness of the smile. His name, I would soon find out, was Fredric.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! I can't wait to work in this book! I'm really excited about it! this is only my second story and sorry if it isn't very good! vote, comment, and enjoy! please don't be a silent reader!
<3 When_Oceans_Rise_00
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The Assassin's Secret (on hold)
Adventure"Well, you see, we aren't really taking you to a private school-" he started out cautiously. I interrupted him, "What?!? Are you kidnapping me or something then?" I heard him mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "That would have been ou...
