Something Dark

Prologue: That Night

The third floor apartment was hot, the fans had stopped going their highest speed and only worked when they were at their lowest, which wasn't much. The windows were open trying to get some breeze in but really it was just a hot night with no wind blowing. The sun was setting in the background, the sky was getting darker and darker by the second, not even the stars were out.

My parents were lying on the sofa, asleep, the TV in front of them was turned on. Disney's Tangled was playing and Rapunzel was singing about when will her life begin, my younger sister was sitting on the ground, her back against the sofa, intently listening and eyes wide. I was sitting on the recliner, my back facing the front door and on my lap was a half-eaten bowl of popcorn. My head was hanging back, my eyes closing every few seconds. When I hear it, footsteps loud and clunky in the hallway outside my door. My eyes open again, this time wide awake and ears listening hard for anything else.

Nothing. That's weird. My eyebrows crease.

I get up quickly, trying not to make much noise, I got to my parents and shake them gently awake. When my dad's eyes open I put a finger up to my lips and shush them and point to the door. He tells me to pick my sister up and take her to my room. I listen and walk down the hall to my room dragging my sister by the hand and quickly close my door the moment the front door bangs open and hits the wall. I cover my mouth to cover up a small scream. My sister runs to hide under my bed, but I catch her and put her inside of my closet, then push my desk chair under the door knob of my door.

I place my ear against the wall and listen. More footsteps, clunky like the first ones, I think about two pairs one. I hear a shotgun cock in the hallway, the crackle of my parents magic, and the smell of burnt sugar. Sweet but acrid.

The last time I smelt it, was when I was about five. I was outside on the balcony, and I was reaching towards a butterfly that was fluttering on an arrangement of flower pots we have on the railing. I guess I never noticed how I was standing on a chair to reach the butterfly, or how I was leaning against the rail, or when the butterfly flew away I almost did too. My mother screamed and threw out both hands, and held me but not really. I didn't feel her hands but I felt her energy and smelled her magic. That was the last time I felt her magic, until now.

Two shots rang out and I feel two heavy thumps hit the ground. I jump away from the wall, wide eyed. Maybe my parents used their magic on the shotgun and turned it away from them, maybe they shot the intruders.

Maybe. Just maybe, I still have my parents.

But then I hear the clunking, the loud clunking of shoes walking down the hallway and stopping in front of my door. Tears streaming down my eyes, I slowly step back away from the door to get to my closet, but the next step I take, a shot rings out and a hole is now in the middle of my door the buckshot making the hole jagged around the edges. A man with dark hair looks into the room with a sinister like smile and kicks down the door.

He walks in and behind him comes in two others, a second man with light colored hair and a woman with hair so red it looked like fire. When they walk in I notice that all three are wearing black leather jackets, shirts, and jeans; the men wearing steel toed construction boots while the woman was wearing thigh-high steel heeled boots. On all of their jackets were emblems of, what I assumed, was their rankings and their hunter's group name and number. They're armed too. The woman has machete, the man with light colored has a bow with silver tipped arrows.

But it was too dark to make any sense of. Shit.

The guy with the trigger happy finger nods at Mr. wannabe-Robin Hood and smiles. Next thing I know I'm on the floor with two arrows in my thighs and a machete to my neck. The woman looks at me in disgust while the men smirk at me. "Trigger Happy" as I deemed him looks behind me at the closet, then back at me, and again back at the closet doors. He walks towards the closet doors and pulls them both open, making my sister let out a scream. He reaches into the closet, grabs her hair, drags her out. I go to make him stop, but the machete that is cutting into my skin reminds me that I have no choice. But the guy says nothing to me, doesn't even give a backwards glance while he continues to take my sister out of my room. He yells at her, "Shut up you witch!", and knocked her out cold with the butt of his gun. He then yells out to his comrades, "Knock that one out too. Don't want her coming after us now, she doesn't even seem to have gained her powers yet."

I look up towards the woman and the look of disgust has not left her face at all. If anything it had intensified. The last thing I see is the back of his jacket that had a skull and crossbones like a pirate's flag the color of red, as some light shines through the small window. Then she hits me and I'm out. When I woke back up, my legs were still stabbed through with the arrows the blood had dried up around them, ignoring the excruciating pain I grab one of them with both of my hands and break the stick in half and repeat for the second one, screaming, and slowly lift myself up, the arrow having also puncture the wooden floor under me. Once I get up, I lean against the wall closest to me, breathing heavily, almost passing out again. I just want to stay against the wall but the thought of my sister and parents being gone push me. I drag myself to the living room quickly. But when I get there, I wished I hadn't.

My parents' bodies were mutilated beyond belief. The faces were blasted off with their faces were just flaps against their skulls, brain mater was splattered against the sofa and walls. Their midsections were slashed through as if the damn Wolverine had cut them up. Not being able to continue to look at them, I turn around with my eyes closed tightly shut, and without being able to hold back any longer I vomit. I vomited all that I had, which wasn't much and was left dry heaving and sobbing.

Then I realized I shouldn't just be sad but angry. Angry at the hunters. Angry at the world that this had become. Angry at the humans and their only way to feel powerful is to kill innocent lives.

From then on, I vowed to always remember that night. To remember what was done to me and my family. Because that pushes me even closer to finding the hunters that killed my family. I will hunt down each every hunter on this damned to hell earth until the day I die. Though, I doubt the day of my death will be coming soon. For, I no longer am the prey. 

~~~~

This is my first book that I'm actually publishing here, and I'm kinda nervous, because I suck lol. Mostly the reason I got the inspiration for this book was because of @ASmallFiction on twitter, the person writes like really cool small fictions, hence the name lol. I have other books that I haven't published or even ideas that I haven't written and they just inspired me to write this so... here is this. Also, @javi_draws on twitter draws these beautiful drawings of like witches and other things, I really like her drawings so please check them out if you want. :) Thanks and enjoy.