A Stormy Night

Copywrite/ Prologue

Copyright © 2020
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher. Portions of this book are works of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

There once was a very happy family with a little boy who adored his baby sister, a mother who loved both of them dearly and a father who considered his children to be his whole world.

The mother spoke quietly to the boy, "Declan go get ready for bed, I have to go put Catrinna in her crib."

"Awe mom, can't I stay up a little bit longer? And would it be alright if I stay with Caty? In her room?"

The mother smiled at her son and tried not to laugh at his latest nickname for her daughter.

"Caty? Why is that my dear?" She asked the little boy.

"Well I don't like rin, so I thought Caty would be better. Plus my friend at school has a name like that too."

It clicked in the mother's head and this time she couldn't hold in her laughter.

"Declan I think you mean Cathy? Right?"

He furrowed his eyebrows together which made him look more mature than a 5 year old, "That is what I said momma." 

She just smiled and shook her head. Then she spoke again, "No my dear, tomorrow is a school day so you can't stay up late. Besides you wouldn't want to sleep on the floor and you can’t fit in your sister's bed."

He looked down at his feet before mumbling an agreement. The father had been listening in to all of this while pretending not to, he was supposed to be doing his paperwork for the witch council meeting. He felt a small hand on his leg and he looked down at his son.

"Papa, momma said I can't stay up late," he said, looking at him with big doe eyes that begged him to say otherwise. 

He sighed at his son and put the papers down, "Well Declan if you're mother says you have to then have to." 

He scooted his son towards the door where his mother was waiting patiently for him to follow her. The little boy gave one last lingering look to his father then followed after his mother. They went down the hall to his room, she squatted down to his level and turned her head to the side. He gave her a proper kiss goodnight and they hugged each other tight.

"Goodnight my little boy. Mother loves you."

"Goodnight momma."

And with that the door was closed. She walked to the next room and changed her daughter into her nightgown. She played with her a little bit tickling her here and there to hear her beautiful little giggles. Then she placed a kiss on her forehead and put her into her crib, where she knew she’d be safe for the night.

"Goodnight my little angel."

She walked out leaving the door cracked as she walked into the living room where her husband was, they both looked at each other and smiled.

“You about ready for bed my love?”

He puts the papers in his folder, stretches his arms above his head, and gets up. He walks over to his wife and wraps his arms around her. 

He chuckles into her ear, "Me? Tired? I have never been tired, not in a thousand years."

She rolled her eyes at him and said," Well I am, I'm going to bed."

She started to leave but he caught her by the hand, "Wait a minute let me put this paperwork away, last time I left it here Declan thought it would be fun to draw on it." 

She waited patiently for her husband to put everything away, then followed him up to their room. They did their nightly routines, turned off the light, and crawled into bed. 

It was around midnight when they heard Catrinna cry. The mother went to check on her and what she found would haunt her for years to come. She screamed bloody murder and she kept screaming even after her husband rushed in to the room. She hadn't seen him this angry in years. She knew if she didn't calm him down the whole world would be in danger. But for a split second she didn't care, she wanted the world to burn. She wanted the entire world to ache with her loss, the loss of her only daughter. She quickly snapped out of it and noticed the ground was shaking, the wind was howling outside, and it looked like it was about to start pouring rain.

She placed her hand on her husband's shoulder and  spoke calmly, "Fridrick, now is not the time or place to go into a frenzy. We have to find our daughter, then we can hurt the people who took her from us."

He knew she was right. She was always right, but he wanted their little girl back. Every single second without her, his heart ached like it was tightly wrapped in thorns. But he calmed himself and the world went back to normal.

"We will find our little princess. And when we do the people who took her from us will surely pay."