TO CAPTURE THE FADING

1

Alora

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" my little brother cried running towards the door.

"SHUSH!" I ran towards my brother, my heartbeat increasing with every second that passed.

"What are you doing, Alex? Do you want them to see us? We don't know what they will do to us!" I whispered with fear while I pulled him towards me.

"Why isn't mom here yet and who are those people outside?" my brother asked, jis eyes filled with tears as he stood holding his favorite teddy bear.

"Oh, don't worry, Alex! Mom will reach home soon, she must be nearby now. Come, let's sit and play your counting game till mom comes, okay?" I said while comforting him with a tight hug.

Alex always wanted me to play with him, but once or twice a day or every two days is okay, but the thing about brothers is that they want to play with someone 24/7. And the so-called counting game that he additively enjoys is counting all the birthmarks we both have in our hands, arms and legs, and then when he finds a new birthmark he becomes so happy. But I actually have three on my hands, and he has five, but he believes he has more than that because he ends up counting what he had already counted before, and now my brother had stopped crying and was pulling my hand to sit.

"Why is she doing this to us? Did she get into trouble again?" I asked myself.

My mom was expected to come home hours ago and before my father disappeared two years ago, she was the most responsible, loving mother anyone could ever imagine. But now she seems to be heartbroken and no longer care about my brother and me. All she would do is sitting on a chair next to a window and look outside, hoping that father would come to us again, or she would just leave the house in the morning and return home drunk late at night. And She even started to blame us for all the little mistakes we did afterwards and due to that, my brother gradually started to stay away from our mother.

He thinks that my father went to do a job in another country, our mother told us that, due to my brother's endless questions about my father.

But I knew she was lying.

Because the day before he disappeared, which I clearly remember, my mom and dad had a huge argument. It was the first time I have ever seen them fight with each other, they threw plates and glass at the wall and my mother even burned their wedding photos. My brother was fortunate enough to not witness that unfortunate heartbreaking situation as he was asleep at that moment and the very next day father was nowhere to be seen.

I saw that he had left me a bracelet that spelt the word " Nedia" before he left. I assumed that the word could have been a name of a sister or friend my dad knew and that it was a clue he had left me to find him. So I asked mom and many other family members but none of them has ever heard a name like that. So with the passing of days, I gave up.

I hoped that father might come back in the weekend or next week after calming his temper, but he didn't come back home and so......he just broke my heart. I didn't dare to tell Alex the truth and what happened that day,

Because the truth always hurts, and it would break his heart because our father was his closest best friend. They used to play ball together, eat together, play video games, and do everything together.

We sat below our dining table and gave Alex my hand, and he started to counting. It was almost 10 pm and my legs were in pain as I stood up constantly and looked through the window, my eyes dosing off every minute or two, to check whether those men in the long truck had gone. Alex was a bit annoyed by the fact that I had to take my hand away from him since I had to stand up. But he should understand that I'm trying to protect him and my main concern was that those people were still there.

All of them carried guns and there were more than ten people, all wearing the same black clothes, it looked like they all belonged to some kind of organization or a group. All their eyes in the direction of our house. I could see them distinctly because the lights of our living room were ON, and the light went out through the large windows in our house.

When I first noticed those people, it was about six pm and after catching sight of the guns I immediately told Alex to turn off all the lights, so that we could make it seem that there was no one at home and I rushed to lock all the doors. But I guess my brother forgot to turn off the lights in our living room. And turning it off now would make it appear that there is someone in the house.

"Why are they here, are they trying to kill us? Kidnap us? Or are they waiting for someone to appear" I thought nervously, sighting that my fingers were moving involuntarily?

I saw that Alex was now fast asleep on the tiled floor, his body curled up making his favourite "Thor the avenger" shirt wrinkled, and he was shivering due to the coldness on the floor. Only a small light beam of the light in the living room was coming through the keyhole of the kitchen door. There were no blankets to cover ourselves from the chilliness, no food to eat, no source of illumination to see. Only darkness and loneliness and both of us were stuck in this room.

I could have carried my brother to his bedroom but preferred staying here so that I could watch what those people were doing. So I sat again to rest, hoping mom would return home any second now, but then I heard a hissing noise, like a firecracker burning, and then seconds later there was unbreathable smoke surrounding us.

I hugged my brother to protect him from whatever was going to happen but he seemed to have lost consciousness, and then I started to lose control of my body and suddenly I began to feel heavier and heavier and dizziness followed with it.

I could no longer keep my eyes open and in a matter of seconds,

I felt that my body was touching the floor, but my hand still tightly fastened with his.