The Time After Midnight

January 1

Kiara stared at the man who just committed suicide right in front of her. She walked over to the man and picked up his gun. Checking for bullets, she found she had at least five shots. It wasn’t like the dead guy could use it, so she decided to use it to her advantage.

“Titan, what do you think I should do? Should I use this gun for evidence or use it for my own selfish purposes?” Kiara smiled, nefariously, thinking of her next move. “I mean I won’t get caught. I’ll just blame this random guy here.” She looked at her parents lying there helpless. She thought of all of their deadly deeds. She thought of just earlier that day when they smashed her against the wall and hit her so many times. All of these thoughts did nothing but fuel her revenge.

She remembered everything that they did to her all her life. How she was nothing in their eyes. She remembered how her mother constantly reminded her that she wasn’t the evil little girl like she wanted. She remembered how this man she had to call her father took advantage of her, emotionally, physically and sexually.

Every memory flooded her mind as she looked down at the couple. She even tried to think of a happier thought that may counteract her brilliant plan but couldn’t even muster one.

In one fluid motion, as if this moment was the only thing that would give her the little bit of joy she craved so much, she turned to her parents and shot each one twice. Each bang was like a symphony in her ears. “Titan, there’s nothing sweeter than revenge.” She laughed as she put the gun in her jacket.

She walked over to her parent’s bed, grabbed both of their wrists and checked their pulses to make sure the job was surely done. It was completely silent. There was nothing. Kiara looked at her parents one more time and whispered, "Good riddance."

She looked over at the killer again and realized she had no idea whom he was. He was probably sent by someone she knew but she had no clue of as to whom that person could be. Her family was always secluded from the outside world. As far as she knew, her parents didn’t associate with anyone. The twins only had one friend each and she had Jasmine and Jason. They were loyal to her in her opinion so she didn’t suspect them.

What bothered her was the reaction the man had. He was waiting for her to come back home so she would find out about her parents. He seemed to have been able to see right into her revengeful soul through those beautiful brown eyes and she would have no hesitation to finish the job. That suggested that he also knew the relationship she had with her parents. This only left her with suspects that knew everything about her and knew her well enough to read her thoughts.

Released from her thoughts of possible suspects, she froze in fear when her mind wandered to her brothers. She ran to their room to find it empty. Titan, who had followed her, started to bark again. He jumped on her trying to get his message across. However, Kiara was desperately trying to think of what could have happened to them. She began to think that the man got to them before she had even gotten home. Titan’s barking was distracting her train of thought which was getting her angrier by the moment.

“Titan, shut up!” She screamed at the dog. “I can’t think with you barking like that.” Titan continued. He started to bite and pull on her black leather jacket. When that wasn’t working he started to pull on her jeans’ leg. “Titan, stop! You’re messing it up.”

Titan let go then growled, angrily, letting his sharp teeth show. He’s never done that to Kiara before, which scared her into behaving. Once Titan got Kiara’s attention, he ran to the window in the room and scratched on the glass.

Trying to decipher what this dog was trying to tell her, she walked over to the window and opened it for him. He jumped out the window, faced her, and then barked. Then not a second later, he was running through the woods by the side of the yard.

“Titan, wait up!” She screamed as she jumped out the window and ran after the dog. She didn’t get a chance to get out her high heels before the commotion started, so she was having a hard time catching up with the dog. The wind was blowing her shoulder-length dark brown hair over her mocha colored face. She was grateful that she had an extra hair tie on her wrist. She tied her hair back into a ponytail, trying desperately to fight the pain her feet were enduring.

They ran for several minutes, getting deeper and deeper in the woods. Kiara had no idea what she was going to find but she figured Titan was trying to lead her to the boys. She just hoped they were still alive somewhere. Finally, the dog slowed down then came to a complete stop. She got out the gun and put it in position, for she didn't know who or what Titan just led her to. It could very well be Jim and Tim but she didn't want to take any chances.

Titan started to sniff the ground then barked, signaling he found something. She eased herself around the trees. She was completely quiet and stealthy until Titan ran over to her and she let her guard down, which probably wasn’t a good idea. Before she knew it, she was flying through the air, hanging by a rope about three feet off the ground by her ankle.

Her brothers jumped out from behind the trees and saw their sister hanging from their booby trap, "What you doing Kiara? Just hanging around?" they chuckled.

"Get me down right now!" Kiara screamed back at them. Tim went behind a nearby tree and used a knife to cut the rope, sending Kiara towards the ground. Kiara, who was specially trained for agility, tucked and rolled on the landing, leaving her unharmed. "Pretty good trap, 'lil bros, but don't practice them on me." Kiara picked the gun off the ground and started to walk back towards the house before she stopped in her tracks, “Where did you get that knife from?”

The boys never had any weapons like Kiara did. Their parents never really encouraged them to be fighters like they did her. They were safe and innocent, which was good.

“We stole it from mom and dad when you guys were out one night.” Jim said as he started gathering up the rope from the trap.

“They have so many; they didn’t even realize they were gone.” Tim continued as he helped his brother disassemble.

“What do you mean by ‘they’?” Kiara questioned with her arms crossed in front of her.

“We took like four of them.” Jim said nonchalantly.

“Did you use them yet?” Kiara asked with a worried face.

“Not on any people, if that’s what you mean.” Jim stated while crossing his own arms.

“Good, keep it that way.” Kiara started walking towards the house again.

Tim ran up behind her and tugged on her sleeve, trying to get her attention, "Kiara, we heard gun shots. What happened?"

She stopped in her tracks and realized she still has to tell them what happened to their parents, leaving out the major detail that she killed them. She called Jim over to where she was and kneeled down to their level, taking a deep breathe, "Boys...I have some bad news."

"Did we miss the countdown to the New Year?" Jim asked acting like nothing else happened that night.

Tim looked at his brother as if he was the stupidest person he knew, then smacked the back of his head, "Of course we missed it. When we left, it was already like five minutes to midnight."

Jim stuck his tongue out at his brother and Tim did the same. Then, Jim pushed Tim. Tim pushed back but he managed to knock him on the ground. Kiara stood there watching them wrestle for a few more seconds before she broke them up, "Guys, stand still and listen to me. Mom and dad died. Those gun shots you heard were aimed at them."

"Kiara, stop lying to us. We know you're just playing around." Jim said with a smile.

"Yeah, Kiara, you don't even look sad. You're a really bad actor." Tim continued with his own smile. All three of them walked towards home.

Kiara didn't bother trying to convince them because they will find out soon enough. The boys walked to their room to put away their things then headed to their parents’ room, jumping onto their bed and screaming their names. When they didn’t answer back, the boys suddenly went still, “Kiara, why aren’t they waking up?”

Kiara walked into the room and leaned against the door seal, “I already told you. They are dead. Look,” she pointed at the dead body on the floor, “That’s their killer. He shot them.” The boys didn’t answer. Kiara hoped that their silence was because of the shock and not because they picked up on her lie. They didn’t move, either. They just sat there staring at the bodies. Kiara got tired of standing around so she broke the silence. “Do you all want to call 911 or should I?" Her ten-year-old little brothers still said nothing so Kiara walked out the door with her arms crossed while they sat on the bed, motionless, looking at the bodies that used to be their parents.

The lifeless bodies lying on the other side of the bed mesmerized them. They just sat there and stared at the blood staining the sheets. Titan, as if feeling their pain and wanted to comfort them, jumped on the bed and laid himself across the boys’ laps. The boys rubbed down his back; grateful they had a dog that actually cared enough to help.

"Tim, what do we do? What will happen now?" Jim asked not taking his eye off of his parents, as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Tim turned to his brother trembling in fear of the unknown, "I don't know but it can't be good."

"Whatever happens…” Jim looked at his identical twin, "…we have to stay together."

"I can't promise that."

"Yes, you can. You're smarter than most people I know. Whenever something goes wrong, you always think of something and I’m always there the whole time to back you up."

"That still doesn't mean we will stay together. It’s us against the world now. Who knows how this is going to turn out in the end?" Tim finally broke down. He gripped Titan and dropped his face into his fur, crying like he’s never cried before. Titan didn’t move an inch. All he wanted was to help his youngest owners get through this hard time.

Jim rubbed on his brother’s back, trying to resist the urge to do the same thing his brother is doing. "We can't be separated. We've never been separated." Jim looked back at his parents, "I know that this can only get worse from here but as long as we stick together, we can get through all of it. I'm sure of it.” He looked back at his brother, who finally lifted his head back up. “Are you with me?”

Tim wiped the stray tears with the back of his hand before he answered, “Yeah, all the way.”

Jim rubbed on his dog’s back, “What about you, boy? Are you with us?”

The dog jumped off the boys and faced them. He gave a hardy bark then licked their faces.

“Thanks, boy.” Jim said as he hugged him along with Tim. Titan wagged his tail in gratitude.

They got off the bed and walked to the kitchen, where Kiara was talking on the phone, “Kiara, what happens now?”

“Shh…” Kiara called at him before she finished her conversation, “yes…yes…ok…thank you…bye.” She hung up the phone then turned to her brothers, “That was the police. They said they would be here soon.”

“Kiara, what will happen to us?” Tim asked with watery eyes.

“We’ll see when the police get here.”

“We can’t be separated. Tim and I have to stay together.” Jim added.

“I will make sure you guys stay together. I will also protect you guys from anything and anyone that tries to hurt you.”

Jim ran up to her, with his glassy eyes, and hugged his sister for support, “Kiara, I want you to promise us.” He let her go, “Promise that you will do anything physically possible to keep us safe from anything and anyone.” She hesitated which made Jim angry and a tear fell from his eye, “Promise us, Kiara!”

Kiara kneeled down in front of my brothers and held each of their hands. “I promise you and Tim that I will do anything to keep you safe.” Both of the boys ran up and hugged her, both crying and both scared of what was going to happen.

A few minutes later, the police came. They were there for about three hours just getting the bodies out of the house, interrogating the kids, and making sure they had somewhere to go from now on. Kiara lied and said that she could stay at a family friend’s house until their aunt came to pick them up. Her parents taught Kiara how to lie to the police. She was definitely a professional at it now, so it was no surprise when the police believed it and let them go. Besides, it helped that the cop got a call on his radio that seemed to pull him out of the reality that he probably shouldn’t leave three minors alone in a house where their parents just died.

Kiara and the boys haven’t had any other family besides their parents in years. They either all died or they completely broke away from them. They were completely alone in this world. All they had were each other to help them get through whatever happens next.

The cop and his team left in a haste, chasing the next big threat. Once the police left, the boys ran to their room and locked the door, with Titan never leaving their side. They were devastated by the situation. When the police were interrogating them, they were actually crying and having a hard time with it all. They didn’t like seeing their parents get carried away from them either. They ran up to their dead bodies and pleaded to go with them. Kiara held them back and convinced them that it’s over. They are gone. For good. Forever.

Kiara went up to her room and laid in her bed. She couldn’t go to sleep. Her mind was full of memories, ideas, and even a few regrets. She tried with all her might to clear her mind but it was no use. She just laid there for the remainder of the night. The boys stayed in their room for the night. They also couldn’t sleep. They just laid on the floor, with Titan laying between them, and petted him for the only comfort they could get. It was the longest night for all of them.

This was the first day of the rest of their lives.