The Time After Midnight

5 January 9

January 9

Kiara was lying on her bed, texting Jasmine about all the schoolwork she was missing and the latest drama going on in the school. Jasmine also mentioned how Jason was missing so many days of school. Kiara still didn’t inform her friend of her misdeed but it was only a matter of time before she found out her little secret.

She left her phone on the bed and snuck out her window. She had no clear reason for leaving the house but she found herself running through the woods. Kiara only slowed when she approached the place where she left the body of her ex-boyfriend, Jason. The lifeless eyes no longer stared up at her; the cold body that was left lying on the frozen forest ground was no longer there. This was enough to make anyone crazy with panic and worry, but there was a more pressing matter to address. Hearing footsteps in the distance, Kiara hid behind a large maple tree. By the number and sound of the footsteps, Kiara figured it was two large men. She peeked from behind the tree and she saw them walking all around the area.

"Did you find the Scathe yet?" The man that looked like the leader between the two asked the other as they came together.

“Yeah,” The muscular looking man said sarcastically, “I put her in my back pocket. Hold on a second.” The leader gave the other an evil look, “How do you even know it was her?" the other questioned.

"Who else could it have been? She is the daughter of them, you know. Her parents killed people the exact same way."

“That still doesn’t mean it was her.” He said, trying to give his young target the benefit of the doubt.

The leader gave him another evil look, “It was her, ok?”

"Sure, fine. Where does she live?"

"About a mile from here."

"What are we waiting for then? Obviously, she’s not in the woods. Frankly, I have no idea why we are here anyway. No sane person would be in here for no reason. It’s creepy.”

Kiara gave a quiet scoff of disgust. He just indirectly called her insane. If she got the chance, she was definitely going to make him pay for that. A nice slow death ought to do it.

“I can’t believe I got stuck with the newbie.” The leader said, shaking his head in disgust at the newest trainee. He whistled into the air and about six Rottweilers, who had been searching the area around them, gathered around him. He gave them a signal and they all sat together, except for one. That particular dog started to sniff the ground and walked over to the tree Kiara was hiding behind.

Kiara quickly moved to the next tree, out of sight of the men, and got her knife out of her coat. The dog followed her and began to growl really loudly. His owner walked over to him and pulled him by his collar, completely missing Kiara.

“Shut up and stop growling at the stupid squirrels!” He snarled at the dog.

Kiara rolled her eyes. She knew it wasn’t the right time of year for squirrels to be out. Frankly, a five-year-old would know that. She knew it was going to be relatively easy getting rid of this pair of men. Kiara was already on her way home to get her brothers. She wanted to get them out of the house before the men came. She ran around to the boys’ window and knocked on it, resisting the urge to smash it in.

“Kiara, what are you doing here?” Jim asked as he unlocked his window and Kiara climbed in, “I thought you were upstairs.”

“Don’t worry about why I’m here!” Kiara screamed at them. She was worried that the men would be right behind her and she wouldn’t have time to get them out of the house, “Let's go, now!”

“Why?” Tim asked confused.

“There are these men and like six rotties coming after us. Can we go now?” She asked frantically.

The boys ran out of their room, with Titan close behind. Kiara and Jim ran out the back door but Tim ran to the kitchen. Jim kept running since he didn’t notice Kiara turn back around to get Tim.

“What are you doing?” Kiara screamed at her brother when she found him digging through Titan’s treat box.

“Hold on. I’m trying to get some of these to deter the dogs if we were to come in contact with them.” He grabbed a hand full and stuffed them into his pocket. Titan, who followed Kiara, ran up to Tim and sat on the floor in front of him, begging for a treat. Tim chuckled as he gave his dog one of the treats when they heard someone walking around down the hall from where they were, erasing his and Kiara’s smiles immediately. They ran out the door as fast as they could but then Tim stopped in his tracks and asked in great fear, “Where’s Jim?”

“That’s an excellent question.” Kiara said, looking around, as if expecting him spontaneously show up. “Titan,” Her dog looked up at her, “Find Jim.”

“Kiara, he doesn’t know that command yet.”

“Useless mutt.” She scowled in frustration.

They walked into the woods and steadily looked for their brother.

“Kiara, look.” Tim pointed to a tree branch after a few minutes of searching. It had a rope wrapped around it. “Jim’s been here. That’s ours.”

“Alrighty then,” Kiara said trying to figure out how they thought of that idea. They were definitely smarter then she expected, “Where do you think he went?”

“He went to the right.” Tim said with great confidence. “He wrapped the rope around to the right. That means he went that way.”

Kiara was definitely impressed at how they managed to get a message out of piece of rope. She watched her brother climb the tree and get the rope and they started searching for their brother. About half a mile in, Kiara was starting to figure their secret rope language was a bunch of crap, until Tim stopped again and looked at a tree.

“He’s behind the sixth tree from here.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Do you see these marks, here?” He pointed to three knife cuts in a tree, “That’s another one of our signals.”

“But there are only three cuts. You said the sixth tree.”

“Each slit means two, duh.” Tim ran ahead and turned at the sixth tree like he suspected. He came back into view, a few seconds later, with his brother standing next to him.

“Way to go, little brother!” Jim said as he gave his brother a high five, “I was hoping you were with Kiara.” The twins ran back to Kiara and Titan jumped up on Jim and licked his face, making him laugh. “Down, boy. I was only gone for a few minutes.” He turned to his sister, “You left me!”

“I thought you were with me. My bad. Can we get going now?”

They all ran through the woods and down the street to Jasmine's house. Kiara knocked on the door of her house and waited anxiously for her to answer the door. As the three waited, Jim randomly asked, “So, why are we being chased this time?”

"They found out about Jason. You guys are going to stay here while I run them off." Kiara said as she knocked on the door again.

"No way!" Jim said.

“Yeah, we’re going with you." Tim continued.

Kiara ignored her brothers and looked at her watch, "It's only two o' clock. She won’t be home for another hour."

“Kiara, please can we go.” Jim pleaded.

“Please.” Tim followed.

“Please.”

“Please.”

“Shut up!” Kiara screamed. "You guys are not coming with me."

As she tried to think of a plan for her brothers, the boys looked up at her and made their eyes grow really big, much like Puss in Boots in the Shrek movies. She thought it was adorable on the cat but just plan annoying on the twins.

"You guys know that puppy-dog look doesn't work on me."

They weren't ready to take ‘no’ for an answer. They made their eyes even bigger and tried even harder to convince their sister.

"No! You're not coming!”

"Please, Kiara. We have to go. We are the reason you killed him in the first place. Let us help you get rid of the bad guys, please, please, please!" Tim pleaded with all his might.

"Fine, but once this gets dangerous, you two are out of here. Agreed?"

"Yes, ma'am!" they said in unison with a soldier solute.

Kiara couldn't help but smile, but it quickly faded once she remembered the situation. She ran back home with her brothers close behind and snuck through the back door. Trying to see if she could hear the men in the house, she saw it was already trashed and it reeked of dog. Figuring they had been through but had already left, Kiara turned around and spotted her brothers in the distance, getting into another fight about something stupid. "Guys, shut up!" She yelled behind clinched teeth. Figuring she would need supplies, she went into the her parents room and got an extra set of bullets and a better gun then the one she had already with her.

She walked past the boys and out the door, then listened to the air and heard the dogs just around the corner.

"Come, now!" She dashed off, hoping the boys were behind. Once she was deep in the woods, she heard Jim cry for help. Kiara and Tim both dashed back and found a dog attacking their brother. Kiara got out her gun and shot the dog multiple times. Tim stood in complete shock as Kiara and Titan rushed over to help Jim.

"Are you ok?" Kiara asked, examining him.

"Yeah. It's just a few scratches but my leg hurts like hell." Jim stated as he rubbed his scratched up leg. Kiara scooped up her brother and ran over to Tim.

“It is not your day,” Tim commented when he broke out of his trance, “You keep getting left behind.”

“I realized, thanks.” Jim glared at his brother before looking up at Kiara, “Why do you think only one of the dogs came? I thought you said there were six of them.”

Just then, three more dogs in the distance came running at the kids. Kiara put Jim on the ground by his brother and grabbed her gun. The dogs were coming fast. Kiara took a few steps backwards but tripped over a tree root. The gun flew out of her hand and she had fallen to the ground.

She looked behind her and saw her brothers, climbing up a tree. She had to admit they were smarter than she was at their age. Once Tim got up and helped his brother up then they both looked behind at their sister and their eyes got wide.

Kiara just wanted to know they were safe. She turned back to the dogs, which were only a few feet away from her now. She tried to think of a plan but she couldn’t think of one that could allow her to escape in the little time she had left. She just got out her knife and waited for the dogs to attack.

Before they actually made it to her, a bunch of Titan’s treats flew by their faces, halting them for a few seconds. She used that time to get off her the ground, grab her gun and run to a tree. However, one of the dogs ran up to her and bit her on her sneaker as she was going up the tree. She was grateful it didn’t bite her but she couldn’t get out of the shoe so she could escape. She couldn’t use her gun since both of her hands were being used to hang on the branch. The other dogs were now coming towards her and she was starting to slip.

More treats flew but only two of the dogs fell back. The dog on her shoe was still pulling at her. She couldn’t kick it because it was at a bad angle. There was no hope the way she saw it, until Titan jumped on the dog, releasing it from her.

Kiara sprinted up the tree then looked over at her brothers. They were looking in shock at their loyal dog. Kiara looked down at their dog. He looked as if he was winning but then the other two Rottweilers joined the fight. Titan was buried in the dog pile. By the looked of it, there was no possible way Titan could make it out alive.

Kiara aimed her gun, trying her best to miss Titan but they were moving around too much. She shot one of the dogs, successfully missing Titan. She fired again, missing Titan with great ease. The final shot was just as easy but for some reason, everything went completely still.

The twins didn’t waste any time. Tim jumped down the tree and Jim was trying his best not to fall. When they got to their loving canine, they burst into tears, which told Kiara what they found.

Kiara climbed down the tree and walked over to the three killers and the one protector, all lying on the ground, motionless. Titan looked the part of a dead dog. Even if he was alive, he looked like he wouldn’t last long with all the bite marks and scratches on his body.

The twins knew the fate Titan had. They didn’t even try and fool themselves. They each gave their best friend a final hug and looked up at Kiara with pain in their eyes.

Kiara tried to stay strong for the boys’ sake. She picked up Jim and put him on her back, piggyback style then said, “We have to keep moving. Those gun shots are going to tell them where we are.” She ran off with Tim following close behind.

About an hour later, Kiara and the boys were at Jasmine’s house. They had been dodging the bad guys since then but they figured they couldn’t hide from them forever. Kiara decided that she had to take care of them or they would kill her and her brothers.

Jasmine was trying her hardest to get information out of her best friend. Kiara refused to tell her anything just yet. Not only because she had to get going, but also because she didn’t feel like having her friend fuss at her about lack of information right now.

"I'll tell you later, Jaz. I have to go. I'll be back for them in no time but I really need your help." Kiara was steadily trying to get out the door but it was no use with Jasmine. She was very persistent.

“Wait. What are you going to do with them when you catch them?" Jasmine asked, already knowing the answer but trying to give her friend the benefit of the doubt.

Kiara, still in a rush, ignored her question completely. “Like I said, I'll explain everything when I get back. I need to go before they find me here." she turned to Tim, “Give me the rest of those treats in your pocket. I might need them for the other dogs.” Tim handed her the treats and she put them in her coat pocket.

“Kiara, what if you don’t come back?” Tim asked with tears in his eyes, “What if you end up like Titan? What if you die too?”

"If I somehow don't make it back here, never, ever go back to the house. I want you guys to get as far away from here as possible. Once they get rid of me, they will come after you.”

“Kiara, we can’t leave you.” Jim pleaded, “Take us with you.”

“Jim, you can’t even walk…”

“Yes I can.” He interrupted, trying to stand up to prove his point but couldn’t. His leg was too much to bear. “Kiara, please don’t go.” He now had tears running down his innocent face. “We already lost mom and dad. We can’t lose you too.”

Kiara couldn’t fight with them any longer. The longer she stood here; the closer the men got. She walked to her brothers and looked them in the eyes. “I love you guys more than anything." She gave them each a big hug. “Stay safe and I’ll be back before you know it. I promise.”

“Pinky swear?” Jim asked, sticking his pinky up.

“Pinky swear.” She assured as she wrapped her pinkies around his and Tim’s little fingers. She gave them each a kiss on the forehead and with that, she ran out the front door.

She listened out for the men and she realized that they were already too close for her to escape. She got as far away from Jasmine's house as she could before the remaining dogs finally caught up to her. The two dogs jumped on top of her as she struggled to get to her knife but she did eventually get it. She cut each of the dogs multiple times in an effort to stay alive but also to avenge Titan. Both of the dogs were killed but that was only half the battle. She still had the owners to deal with.

She put her knife back in her pocket because that wasn't going to help her against the men. Before she could get out her desired weapon, she heard a gunshot and saw the tree splinter next to her due to the strike of the bullet. Not sure if the man was just trying to scare her or he missed, she decided to play it safe and assume he missed on purpose. She got her gun out of her pocket and tried to load it up. The hunters had finally appeared at the scene to find their dogs completely demolished. When she noticed their arrival, she put the gun behind her back, not to reveal her plan, and started to load it from there. She was grateful that her parents took the time to teach her how to feel her way around a gun without using her eyes, even though at the time she thought it was really stupid.

In front of her, she saw the two men from before in front of her, loading up their shotguns. Kiara formulated a plan to the detail. She even thought of back up plans just in case those didn't work. If her mother taught her anything, it was to always have a backup plan.

The leader of the two walked over to her. Kiara put her gun in her back pocket and pulled her coat over it to hide it, making sure not to make it too obvious. The leader circled around Kiara about three or four times, looking her up and down. Kiara never put her guard down. She followed him with her eyes but still didn't lose focus on the other guy.

He finally stopped circling her and stood in front of her. "Look little girl, we're not here to kill you. We just want to ask you a few questions. Is that ok?"

Kiara said nothing. She knew that if she said anything, she would be in even more trouble.

"Ok then. How are doing today?" he starting circling her again. Again Kiara said nothing and didn't show any emotion. He stopped in front of her once again but this time he didn't look as pleasant. "Look! You will say something or we will shoot you. We know who your parents are and we know you probably know just as much as they do. We are not taking any chances with you or your brothers."

Kiara put her hand behind her and made a cute face that tried to convince that she was innocent of any crime.

"Do you know anything about the body found in the woods, Kiara?"

Kiara reached for her gun as the question was asked. She made sure she could get the man that was questioning and his partner without anything happening to her.

"Say something, Dammit!" With that Kiara pulled out her gun as quick as possible and shot the first and second man before any of them had a chance to react. They weren't dead but they were too much in pain to move anything.

“Ok, I’ll say something.” She aimed her gun at the leader’s head and said, “It’s cute how I’m about to do, in three minutes, what two professionals and six dogs couldn’t do for the past hour and a half. I love the irony.” She chuckled as she shot the leader dead and walked over to the trainee who was crying at his inevitable end. It broke her heart to see him wail like a little baby.

“Can’t we just work this out another way?” He said between whimpers.

Kiara wasn’t sure why she was waiting so long to kill him. She usually didn’t like seeing and hearing her victims suffer. It made her feel even more like a monster after everything was done. After pondering her next move for a while, she remembered her promise she made to herself earlier that day.

“Wait, you called me a freak earlier.” Kiara growled, “I’m not killing you yet.” With an evil grin and a devious chuckle, she shot the man and used her knife to slice him in a few spots.

It was hard hearing him cry in pain. Almost unbearable to the point where she didn’t even want to make him suffer any longer. After hearing him scream in pain numerous times, she decided to put him out of his misery for her own sake. She ran her knife across his neck and the man was finally quiet.

She figured that leaving all of the dead dogs and people there on the ground wasn't the best idea after learning that lesson the hard way with Jason. She buried the men in a hole she dug up. She figured the small shovel she stole from Jasmine’s flowerpot would come in handy.

She did a quick check to make sure there was no one else she had to deal with. There was nothing else there so she rushed to Jasmine's house. On her way there, it started to rain, slowly at first but got harder in no time at all. She was grateful since the rain would wash away any of the blood and evidence she may have left.

When Jasmine let her in, she fell out on the floor dramatically.

"You always have been a drama queen." Jasmine stated. Kiara got up with a smile and crossed her legs on the floor. "Why are you so dirty?"

"I'll take a shower when I get home. Where are the boys?"

"They fell asleep."

"I wasn't even gone that long.” She said, figuring they probably weren’t sleep but faking it so they wouldn’t have to be asked a whole bunch of questions. “How's Jim's leg?"

"Better. He's walking on it. Now tell me what this was all about.”

“Nothing special. Just people chasing after us. This is actually starting to be so current that I’m not even surprised anymore.” Kiara gestured for her friend to sit on the floor with her. After she situated herself on the floor, Kiara said, "And I killed Jason."

Jasmine's eyes got so big they actually looked like they would pop of her head.

"I killed him the other day after I went home from the mall.” Kiara took a breath before saying, “He tried to kill Tim. I had to do something!”

“But killing Kiara?” Jasmine asked astonished. “There are so many other options out there that you can do besides killing all the time.”

Kiara got up from her spot and looked away for a moment, trying to find a way to plead her case. “These are my brothers, Jaz. Right now they’re the only family I have left.” She turned back to Jasmine. “Jason was about to harm my family. I couldn’t let him get away with that. It was either he or my brothers and I’m definitely now risking my brothers’ lives. I’m sorry if you don’t understand but it’s just how it is.”

Jasmine sighed as she put her head in her hands. “I understand but this is just too much. Then you expect me to keep all of this a secret?”

“Of course I do. You can’t rat me out. I’ll do anything but you can’t tell on me because then I would get separated from my brothers. They need me with them.”

As if on cue, the twins ran in, screaming Kiara’s name and hugged her tight. Kiara hugged them back and stayed in that position for a long time, embracing them in her strong arms.

When they finally let go, Jim said, “We were worried about you.”

“I’m fine.” She smiled, “I pinky promised, remember? I’m not leaving you guys anytime soon.”

“Can we go home now, Kiara?” Tim asked.

“Yep, let’s go.” She turned to Jasmine and said, “Thanks for watching them for me. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She got up from her spot. “And don’t worry about your secret. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“Thanks, Jaz.” Kiara smiled and hugged her friend. “I’ll see you later.” And with that, Kiara and the boys were gone and walking towards home.