𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚 | ✎

𝐩 𝐫 𝐨 𝐥 𝐨 𝐠 𝐮 𝐞

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨...

"Mom!" I yell as I run out of my room and down the stairs, "Have you seen Dino," I run into the kitchen frantically searching for my stuffed animal.

Yes, I'm fourteen and still have a stuffed animal. So what?

"This one?" Mom asks pointing to the counter at the blue dino with a small smile.

"Oh," I chuckle, "Yeah..." I had forgotten I'd put it there while I was eating breakfast this morning. It's Sunday so Dad made pancakes for us. A weekly tradition in the Caddel household.

"How do you expect to be an agent like us if you can't even remember where you've put Dino?" Dad jokes.

"Hey! I'm only fourteen, I'm allowed to forget sometimes," I get Dino from the counter and cross my arms over my chest. Then suddenly I hear the back door break down. Then I hear glass crashing to the floor. "Mom, Dad...what was-"

"Celia! Chris! Come out, come out wherever you are!" A voice calls from the hallway.

"Honey, go up to your room and lock your door and don't come out till we come get you, okay?" Mom speaks frantically pulling a gun from the kitchen cabinet. Dad grabs another one from a shelf on the wall.

"Take my phone and call Uncle Cole, you remember his number?" Dad asks. I nod my head in response. I run upstairs to my room my heart pounding in my chest. I lock the door behind me. I dial Uncle Cole's number and wait for him to answer. While the phone rings my breath is heavy.

What the hell is going on?

"Hey Chris-" He starts.

"U-um Uncle Cole?" I ask.

"Phoenix...what's going on?" Cole speaks through the phone.

"I-I think Mom and Dad are in trouble. Th-they told me to call you and go up to my room and lock the door...I'm scared-" My shaky voice is interrupted by gunshots echoing from down stairs.

"Shit-" I hear typing on the other end of the phone, "Okay kid stay calm I'm sending a team to your house," I hear screaming and yelling down stairs.

"I heard Mom screaming Uncle Cole..." I whisper. I look over to my closet where my parents have hidden another gun. I crawl over to my closet and open the door silently. I open a wood panel from the floor and pull the gun out.

Cole and my parents recently taught me how to shoot a gun a little over a year ago. All the kids who turned fourteen at the agency are supposed to know how to use a gun. But because of who my parents are I was taught a little earlier. There's definitely still more I need to learn, but Cole said I would be a sharpshooter in no time.

I take out the ammo from the wooden panel and load the gun. It makes a click sound.

"Phoenix, don't use a gun, a team is on the way..." Cole says cautiously, having heard the sound.

"Well there not here yet and what if my parents could be hurt," I hiss at him. An image comes to my mind of both my parents in a bloody mess downstairs. That picture puts me into action.

I crawl out of my room and to the railing at the top of the stairs so I'm still hidden. I almost gasp out loud as I see that my parents are tied in chairs next to each other. Both of them are bloody. Some guy is slicing a knife down my mom's arm. "They're hurting Mom," I whisper.