Burning Ruins

chapter 3

November 27th 1996, Ampleforth California

It was a beautiful day, even if it was November. The family woke up early in the morning and prepared for a field trip. They were gone for about thirteen hours. With their return to the family mansion, Irene and Raphael sent their son to sleep.

The little boy was woken up by screams filled with pain and horror. As he descended the stairs terrified, he noticed a trail of blood which he then followed. He was led to a scene forever stuck in his head.

The throat of his father cut off. Blood spilled all around.

The boy ran outside and what he saw next, broke him completely. His mother hanging from the old big willow tree, a silver bloody dagger in her tight grip.

He screamed.

The next thing he knew, policemen filled the scene of the atrocious crime. He could possibly understand what had happened that night. A few days later, he found out that the '' most reasonable way'' that night had come to be was that Irene murdered her husband, and then as the guilt suffocated, she hanged herself.

The boy lost everything. He could never accept the way that night was ruled. He always knew there had been more to the story, that something could never add up. Why would his mother do that, after such an amazing day? He could see clear as day the love his mother had for his father. Why, the one question that lingered over his head for the rest of his life.

He was left an orphan. But then was placed into a respected family, where he was raised with love.

The boy, always wanting to solve the case of his parents' death, became a detective, alongside with the girl he grew up in, the only daughter of the family that took him in, the one he considered his sister.

Ever since then, they were inseparable. The best duo in life and in fighting crime as detectives. Carlos and Athina.