Seven

Prologue

READER DISCRETION ADVISED.

———

"Happy birthday, Adron!" Von shouted, tackling his best friend. "How's nine feel?"

"To be honest, it feels just like eight did," Adron replied with a straight face.

The two boys raced upstairs to Adron's room, cackling hysterically as they went. Their moms laughed, then began chatting by the front door.

"When is everybody else gonna get here?" Von asked Adron while laying flat on the carpet.

"I dunno, in about thirty minutes?" Adron responded. He sat on the edge of his bed, mindlessly fondling a toy gun.

"Are you doin' okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I'm good."

"Are you sure? You were sorta spacing out."

"Oh, was I? Sorry."

"No biggie. I care about you, y'know. Wouldn't want your special day to be sour!" Von paused. "Did you invite Zayda?"

"Zayda? Of course, I did. I invited most of our class. Why?"

"No reason."

Adron crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Liar."

"Me? Lying?" Von huffed, smirking. "Everyone has a crush on Zayda. I bet you do, too! So don't go 'liar' me."

"Eh, she's not my type."

"Not your type? You have a type now? Sheesh. You think you know a guy and then he turns nine," Von shrugged. He grabbed a nearby miniature basketball and tossed it to himself a few times. "Hey, let's have a contest! To determine our brawn and brute strength!"

Adron's eyes lit up. "I'm in. What are the rules?"

Von gestured to the mini basketball hoop attached to Adron's bedroom door. "Simple. We shoot baskets and whoever gets the most points wins."

"So you want to play basketball?" Adron laughed. "You're on."

The contest ensued, causing the pair to lose track of time. Before they knew it, Adron's mom was yelling at them to come downstairs and greet more party guests.

"That's seventy-six points for me and fifty-two for you," Von chortled, dusting his hands off.

"You definitely lost track of points somewhere in the middle and just made that up," Adron snarled competitively. "Plus, you're not very good at counting."

"Shut up. We both know counting isn't my strong suit."

"Why didn't I think to keep track of the points?" Adron facepalmed.

The boys returned downstairs to greet the slew of new guests. After about an hour, Adron's mom gestured to their living room. She announced it was time to open presents, so a tsunami of elementary school kids flooded through the hallway towards her.

Shortly after opening the first gift, Adron found himself opening the last.

"It's a leather bracelet with a black clasp-thingy," Von explained.

"Thank you," Adron replied.

"And look!" Von held out his wrist, displaying it proudly. "I have one too!"

In contrast to Adron's, the clasp on Von's bracelet was white. Adron was silent, unsure of what to say. One of the other kids poked him in the arm to see if he would respond. "Adron?" they said.

Von was quick to comment again. "If that's boring, there's also a few action figures in that bag," he said with an anxious grin.

"No." A tear rolled down Adron's cheek. He continued, "It's perfect, Von."

Von raised an eyebrow. "Why are you crying? That's dumb, stop it right now!"

Without another word, Adron nodded and put the bracelet on.

A few moments later, Adron's mom declared it was time for cake. The kids and their parents gathered around the table, celebrating the boisterous occasion. Von sat next to Adron at the table, patiently waiting for the dessert. At that moment, Adron looked completely flustered, and it didn't take long for Von to notice.

"Okay, you've seriously been acting weird today," Von said to Adron, making sure no one else could hear them. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Von could sense Adron's uneasiness. The boy's gaze wouldn't move away from the lone paper plate in front of him. A few of the parents began counting down from three, causing Adron to flinch. He suddenly turned towards Von, smacking his fork onto the floor. "Oops, sorry!" Adron said blissfully. He then leaned forward to whisper in Von's ear. "When you go down to grab that, stay underneath the table."

Apprehensively, Von crouched down and squeezed underneath the table. He located his fork and stared at it, listening to everyone's voices as they sang.

Happy Birthday Dear Adron.
Happy Birthday to —

A loud bang caused Von to jolt upward, hitting his head on the table. He heard the same sound again and again, over and over. People had started gasping and screaming. Worst of all, Von couldn't bring himself to cover his ears. More than anything, he wanted to mute the world around him. Unfortunately, all he could do was stare at the ground, unable to blink or breathe. He counted how many times he heard that dreadful sound go off — four, five, nine, thirteen, seventeen — after that, he lost count. He had glanced upward ever so slightly, watching as the pairs of legs under the table went limp, one by one.

For Von, feeling lightheaded would have been an understatement. Shortly after the gunshots stopped, Von could hear Adron's father's voice. "Wonderful job, Adron," he said. "This is the beginning of a reformation like no other. Aren't you excited to be a part of it?"

Von watched as Adron got up from the table. Von's wide-eyed gaze hesitantly shifted to his right, locking onto the familiar body of his mother. She was lifeless, lying in a pool of blood. Next to her was Adron's mother — also lifeless. Von heard one more gunshot just before collapsing onto the ground and passing out.

———

Thank you for reading! Please remember to vote and comment! As a side note for all of you, the rest of this book takes place seven years after the prologue. See you all next update!