A fire's shadow

A family's love

A/N Umm, get your tissues ready, 'cause we're about to go for a slight emotional rollercoaster here, or maybe you are strong and won't tear up, in that case, congratulations, you are not easily moved to tears. And also this one will be a lot longer than most other chapters so just bear with me here.

Amy's POV

"Why do you live with your aunt and not with your parents?" I was taken back by how bluntly the question came, but at the same time, I could hear the nervousness in his voice, proving he had barely had enough courage to say it.

But the more I thought about the question, the more the memories came flying back.

My mom's sweet yet sad voice, my dad's half-open cold eyes, my little brother's heartbreaking scream piercing through my ears.

The sounds only grew louder and louder and I just wanted it to stop.

Suddenly the sounds started fading away and I felt a pair of arms wrapped around my stomach. And then Shadow's voice blocked out the sounds in my head, "It's okay....."

Opening my eyes, I noticed that I was sitting up. Feeling tears trickling down my face I realized I had started to panic.

"I.....I....." My throat felt dry and I couldn't form the words and it all faded into quiet sobs.

"It's okay...I'm here.....don't worry......just let it out....."

I could almost feel my defense crumbling down as I buried my face into his tank top, staining it with tears. But Shadow didn't stop me, he just pulled me closer and held me close to his chest.

I had not felt as safe as I did at this moment in a long time. A small sad smile formed on my lips, and I slowly closed my eyes and let the tears just escape at their own will while my sobs slowly faded away.

".....I was only eight when it happened......" I don't really know how I found the words, but I did, and then I started telling Shadow about everything that happened that day.

Flashback

It was an early Saturday morning when my brother Albin woke me up by shaking me, "Come on Amy! Wake up!"

Groaning, I pushed away his hands, "Just....*yawn* just five more minutes....."

He pouted and crossed his arms, "You say that every day and it always ends up with you sleeping another two or three hours."

Smirking a little at the annoyed tone in his voice, I held back a chuckle, "And what if it does, I need my sleep, Pipsqueak. Something you apparently don't need."

He rolled his blue eyes, "Both you and dad are impossible, he's not out of bed either. And if you wanted to sleep longer then why didn't you go to bed earlier last night?"

"Because I wasn't tired then, but I am now, so beat it. Shouldn't you be trying to get dad up anyway, you know he's the one driving the car."

His face lit up a little, "Oh I forgot about that! But you still need to get up, you take the most time to get ready out of all of us."

"No, I do not."

"Yes you do, you take an hour just to get dressed."

"Stop being dramatic, I don't take more than twenty minutes max, and mostly it's because I either don't know what to wear or because I don't get out of bed immediately."

Hearing a sigh coming from my younger brother, I opened my left eye a little and smirked wider.

"I don't understand you sometimes Amy."