Unexpected End.
971 Words
✦✦✦ CHAPTER TWO✦✦✦
When the Sky Chose a Target.
Hana couldn’t understand what was happening.
Her mind struggled to catch up with the sudden shift in the air, the unbearable weight pressing down on her chest. The sky felt closer somehow—watching, waiting. Every instinct inside her screamed that something was terribly wrong, yet no explanation formed in her thoughts.
What is this…?
Almost without realising it, she lifted her hand and pointed upward, her finger trembling as it traced the shape in the sky.
“What… what is that?”
she whispered, though she wasn’t sure who she was asking.
And then—
It was as if the world had been waiting for that exact moment.
As if her simple gesture had crossed an invisible boundary.
The movement was immediate.
One of the drones shifted suddenly,
breaking formation.
It turned.
Not randomly.
Not slowly.
Directly toward her.
Hana’s breath caught painfully in her throat. Her heart slammed against her ribs as the machine adjusted its angle, its dark lens locking onto her position.
Why… me?
The realization hit her all at once—sharp, terrifying.
She had been seen.
The drone steadied itself in the air, unnaturally still. The hum grew louder, sharper, vibrating through her skull. Time seemed to stretch, each second pulling apart as fear flooded her veins.
Her legs refused to move.
Her voice wouldn’t come.
Run, her mind screamed.
But her body didn’t listen.
The drone aimed.
A sharp, deafening sound cracked through the air.
Pain exploded through Hana’s body—white, blinding, overwhelming. It tore through her thoughts, shattered her senses, and stole the breath from her lungs all at once.
Her vision blurred.
The sky tilted.
And in that fractured, fading moment, a single thought surfaced through the chaos—
This wasn’t supposed to happen…
Darkness rushed in before she could finish it.
For a heartbeat, the world froze.
Then everything broke at once.
“Hana—!”
Her mother’s scream tore through the air, raw and unrestrained. Rivanna rushed forward without thinking, her hands trembling as she reached for Hana, as if sheer will alone could pull her back from the ground.
Paxton stood stunned for a fraction of a second—too short to be noticed, too long to forgive himself for later. His phone slipped from his hand and hit the pavement with a hollow sound.
“Hana…?” His voice came out broken, disbelieving, as if saying her name might undo what his eyes were seeing.
Neat didn’t scream.
She couldn’t.
Her small body went rigid, her breath stuck in her throat as she stared at Hana with wide, terrified eyes. She took a step forward, then another, her hands shaking.
“Elder sister…?” she whispered, the word barely audible, fragile like glass.
Proud reacted last—and the loudest.
“No!” he shouted, his voice cracking as he tried to run toward her. He struggled against the chaos around them, fists clenched, tears spilling freely down his face.
“Don’t touch her! Don’t hurt her!” he screamed, as if his voice could shield her.
Rivanna fell to her knees beside Hana, pressing her hands against her daughter’s body, her mind refusing to process the warmth of blood beneath her palms.
Paxton finally moved.
He knelt beside them, his hands steady despite the storm raging inside him. He looked around sharply, scanning the surroundings, his instincts screaming danger even as his heart shattered.
“Call for help,” he said, his voice firm but strained. “Now. Someone call for help!”
But the world felt too loud.
Too fast.
Too cruel.
Neat clung to Proud, both of them crying now, their fear spilling over in broken sobs. The laughter from moments ago felt like a distant memory—something that belonged to another life.
The air shifted.
A sharp mechanical sound echoed.
Click.
Paxton’s head snapped upward.
“No—MOVE!” he shouted.
Too late.
The drone adjusted its angle with terrifying precision.
Cold.
Calculated.
Merciless.
A flash of light tore through the air.
Paxton was hit first.
He staggered backward, shock frozen on his face, as if his mind refused to accept what had just happened. His knees buckled, and he fell hard to the ground beside Hana, his outstretched hand stopping inches away from her fingers.
“Paxton!” Rivanna screamed.
She turned—only to see another drone descend lower.
The world seemed to narrow to a single point.
Rivanna didn’t run.
She didn’t scream again.
She pulled Neat and Proud toward her instinctively, wrapping her arms around them like a shield, her body curving protectively around her children.
“Close your eyes,” she whispered, voice shaking but firm. “Don’t look.”
Neat sobbed into her chest, clinging desperately.
Proud fought against her grip, tears streaking his face.
“Mom! MOM—!”
The shot rang out.
Rivanna collapsed, her grip loosening as she fell, her body shielding the children even as she hit the ground.
Neat screamed then—high, broken, endless.
Proud crawled toward her, shaking her shoulders violently.
“Get up! Please get up!” he cried. “You said you’d protect us!”
The drones hovered for a second longer.
Silent.
Watching.
Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the formation shifted.
The helicopter rose higher into the clouds.
The drones retreated one by one, disappearing into the sky as if nothing had happened.
As if they hadn’t just erased an entire world.
The street was silent now.
No laughter.
No arguments.
No warmth.
Only four unmoving bodies…
and two shattered children clinging to the last pieces of their family.
The trip that was meant to bring them closer—
Ended everything.
✦✦✦
To be continued…
- Writer
