II
10 years ago
16 September
09:32
.𖥔 ݁ ˖
It's morning.
It would be a good morning if a shootout didn't happen around and inside my home, and if my brother didn't die.
Not just him.
That damn killer killed Atsu.
Yume-Mi.
Mother.
And Father.
I looked for Kura, but he wasn't there. He must have went home, it's not like he lives far.
I stir myself awake, and am quick to get out of bed to get to mother and father's room.
Mother and Father were sleeping when they got shot. It was gruesome. Blood literally spattered everywhere. The killer didn't even bother to clean up his mess, he must have known somebody would report the crime and somebody else did in fact live in the house. Our house isn't exactly the least dangerous, foreign entities quite literally reside everywhere.
I felt their respective bodies, cold to the touch. It felt so odd.
Why did they have to die.
Why couldn't I die?
They were innocent.
They didn't do anything wrong.
They were still young with a long life ahead of them.
I can't believe we have to plan their funeral services as children.
We also have to return to school tomorrow.
It's exam week.
I'm not sure I can succeed.
I'm not sure I can even focus.
Why did this have to happen.
Of course, on top of all of that, now I have to be a suspect in a cold-blooded serial murder case.
I looked around the room, just for me to see Azazel standing at the doorway. It scared me, the figure from this morning rushed back into my brain. I visibly jumped.
"You scared me."
"I'm sorry."
He replied.
His tone was cool, but the look in his eyes told a different story. He looked unsure about something, it was quite easy to read from his expression that something had happened, and he's sharing the information with me.
"Atsu and Yume-Mi are dead. The police reported this to me this morning."
This broke me inside, despite my expectations of this happening. I stayed calm on the outside, but I think Azazel could tell I was about to lose it.
"Did you tell the officers our parents are dead too?"
"Yes."
I stayed silent, before speaking again.
"Does Aika know?"
He was quiet, he seemed unsure whether or not he should tell me.
"She was the one who discovered our parent's bodies this morning."
I was quiet.
He was quiet.
The world felt still.
She was the first person to discover her parents. She's like — 8 or 9 years old?! How did she even recognize they were dead.
This didn't feel real.
There's no way my brother is gone.
There's no way my mother is gone.
There's no way my father is gone.
I turned my attention back to my mother and father's corpses, taking their pulses. I knew they were dead, but this may be one of the last times I see them and their bodies, or feel their skin.
"She doesn't know about Atsu yet. I have a feeling she'd break on the spot."
No shit, sherlock. Those two were the closest to each other.
I couldn't shake the thought that maybe this wasn't real.
I couldn't shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, this was a dream.
Enveloped in the thought, I give myself a pinch— ow.
Yeah, no, it's real.
Its actually real.
Our parents and brother is dead.
"When should we tell Aika?"
Atsu asks me.
I wanted to reply "never", but that's not okay.
I wanted to reply "they're still alive", but I knew that was a lie.
I wanted to reply— but I couldn't.
It took me a couple of minutes, but I finally worked up the courage to wake up to reality.
"We can tell her now."
Az nodded, just a simple nod that spoke louder than its gestures.
The two of us went to Aika's bedroom, where she was found reading, evidently having been crying.
It was … distressing. To see a child like this. That killer is awful.
"Aika."
Azazel's voice soft but firm, causing a reaction out of our younger sister. She looked up at us, teary eyed. Her eyes almost glazed because of how emotional she's been. Azazel gives her that familiar look, the look that something happened that she was not going to react well to.
The look that those doctors give the guests in movies where their loved one dies in the hospital.
The look of utter distress, as if he tried everything he could to prevent the event.
"Atsu's gone too. The authorities told us that this morning."
A long … pause.
Her reaction was delayed, and among realization, this caused her eyes to open.
The familiar tear-swelled doe eyes filled themselves with clear, liquid salt. Her eyes were quick to become red, her face flushed. It didn't take long before she started shaking and tears streamed down her cheeks onto her chest.
"What..?"
She managed to say through those red cheeks, shaky breaths, and teary eyes.
Azazel nodded, simple, but clearly also distressed. Who wouldn't be when somebody who somebody loved with all their little heart was murdered at around one in the morning the night before?
Oh wait, a cold-blooded serial killer.