From ruin to reign

In ruins

Screams tore through the estate, my head shot up from my phone.

Gunshots sounded from their bedroom with glass shattering. I didn't even think when I ran underneath the dining table, holding onto the hem of my nightgown in fear.

Boots pounding down the stairs, the smell of gasoline hit my nose but I couldn't move.

My legs were frozen to the ground, I peeked down and saw masked men in the living room.

Kegs of gasoline were poured on the curtains and table.

My dad and mom were banging their bedroom door, it seemed they were locked in.

Then I heard huffing on the stairs, pushing myself.

I raised a part of the dining tablecloth, and there it was black boots with a golden crest on it pulling my sister by the hair down the stairs.

My mom and dad were still banging on the door screaming out my sister's name.

My sister's waist kept hitting the stairs' floor as she was pulled down, one step at a time.

I hated myself because I couldn't move.

“Take her, five rounds for seven of you, the rest follow,” the man with the golden crest boot said.

The Henchmen around the living room shouted in reply “Yes boss.”

He threw my sister to the ground, and our eyes met.

That's when I noticed a sense of urgency in my sister's eyes, like she was telling me to escape.

But I just couldn't move my knees. It felt like lead on the ground. One of the Henchmen took her by the leg and dragged her to the next room, before I knew it her screams filled the air.

I covered my mouth with my hands, afraid to let out a sound. After some time, I couldn't hear her voice anymore, what was left was the grunting of a man.

The men pulled her out, my sister lay limp on the ground, a trail of blood flowed out from her private area.

The man with the crested shoes walked up to her with a sharp blade.

He bent down and that's when I saw the Gold pattern on his left sleeve.

I had seen that somewhere before, he moved the knife across my sister's abdomen.

Then moved her face towards me, our eyes met again but this time there was a hint of happiness in them, like she was glad I was still safe. She said that everything will be okay.

I felt a chill in the air, and that deep voice resounded in the living room, “Forgive me, Rose… but only one Carter sister is worth keeping.”

I shuddered as he stabbed into my sister's abdomen, not once but he kept going as if trying to release some kind of anger or he just derived joy in it.

The metallic stench of blood thickening in the air. I shut my eyes but my brain kept counting the number of times the knife met her flesh, the sounds resonating in my brain.

It got to twenty and it stopped, what an odd number.

The gold crest took a long breath, clicked on a lighter, then threw it at the curtains and walked out.

I still couldn't move out from underneath the table, my sister was still staring at me but her eyes had lost all their vitality, she was just an empty shell of herself.

I couldn't hear the screams of my parents anymore, nor could I see any servants around.

Engines roar. Black SUVs screeched to a halt in the big compound.

Damian Kane stormed out, flanked by his bodyguards. His face was grim and cold, his voice sharp with urgency.

Damian walked back into the house, he had already removed his jacket maybe to get the smell of blood off him.

He whispered to one of the Henchmen beside him.

His posture was calm and commanding. One of the men hesitated, Damian's hand tightened on his shoulder, his lips curling into a cold smirk.

The fire was attaching itself to everything in its wake.

My chest caved as a realization struck, they were searching to kill me too.

Damian’s eyes flickered across the room, pausing on her hiding place. “Spread out, Clear out anyone in the way. She’s the only one that matters” He ordered quietly.

The Henchmen nodded and rushed forward into various rooms in the house, crossing over my sister's body.

Damian bent down and closed my sister's eyes before walking off.

The living room was getting hot for me, it felt like my skin was boiling.

My mind stitched together Golden crest boot’s whisper to Rose and Damian’s command to his henchmen, the two voices overlapping in my head to become one monstrous truth.

“It was him… Damian… he killed Rose, he killed my family.”

I collapsed to the ground sobbing, the heat making my eyes water more.

Black boots walked into the room and pulled up the dining table.