"Don't forget your change." Leonidas glanced at the store clerk. Nodding whilst grabbing his change and groceries, walking out of the market onto the main road leading towards his home.
Enjoying the presence of the townspeople he had come to know growing up, he slowly started his trek up the steep mountain side path, when he noticed unfamiliar clothing. It was too thick and there were far too many layers.
"This must be the first traveler to come anywhere near here in the past couple years?"
Leonidas was very curious about such an odd dressed stranger, especially since visitors were harder to find than diamonds. But the moment Leonidas let curiosity take over his thinking, cold sweat covered his back. He was frozen in place, fear palpating throughout his face, no that was an underestimation, his entire body was shaking in fear.
Leonidas didn't understand what was happening; all he wanted to do at this very moment was to curl up in a ball and hide, hide from light itself.
After what seemed like an eternity, Leonidas was finally able to move again. He continued to stand there in confusion, shaking. When he completely came to his senses he started looking around but all he didn't see anything aside from the townsfolk walking with purpose. That weirdly dressed stranger was gone.
"Weird…", he softly muttered under his breath whilst walking up to his home, slowly calming himself down.
Leonidas shivered, warming his hands as he walked down the road. He slowly opened the front door and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Mother, I'm home!"
Unlike the usual response he received when coming home he didn't even get one in return.
Confusion etched on his face he placed the groceries he had bought from the market in the kitchen and slowly walked over to his mother's bedroom, which was opposite his.
"Mom, you aren't asleep are you?"
Opening his mothers door quickly, he saw her curled up sleeping in her bed, sound asleep. Slowly walking over to her, he noticed an unopened vial of medicine that was supposed to have been taken early that day.
He grabbed the vial walking up to the bed where his mother slept, sitting besides her. As he was about to wake her up he noticed how pale her skin was.
"Mom, wake up." He softly nudged her shoulder, at first getting no response but after the second nudge he heard his mother whispering,
"I'm not asleep, Leo, I'm just resting."
"Oh then why weren't you answering me, when I called for you?"
"Simply because I didn't hear you silly." Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. She smiled at Leo, noticing how concerned he was about her. She nustled his hair as she was walking out of the room towards the kitchen.
"You got the things I needed from the market right?"She turned around in the doorway expecting an answer but she saw Leo standing beside the bed, seemingly having not moved at all, holding an unopened vial of medicine.
"Why haven't you taken your medicine mom?", anger evident in his voice, but it was drowned by the sadness she could see on his face.
Trying to change the subject, she acted stern, looking at her son "You should have been home ages ago, what were you doing hmm?" The moment she finished speaking she turned around practically running towards the kitchen.
In complete disbelief Leo walked into the dining room just to hear his mother ask him to set the table.
He looked at her with determination on his face, unwilling to let her get by. "Take your medicine first."
She looked up, realizing she couldn't get out of this, sighed in defeat. "Fine, give me the bottle but set the table while I take it." With bile building up in her throat she grabbed the vial.Uncorking it, she pinched her nose, sighed then drank it in a single gulp. Immediately after she gagged leaning over, grabbing the table to catch herself and clenching the now empty bottle in her hands. After a couple seconds she slowly stood up straight, glancing at the bottle in her with disgust she walked over to the garbage throwing it away. Leo watches his mother with a smile, happy that she took her medicine.
"Are you happy?" She glanced at Leo, suddenly remembering that he came home late and wanting to get back at her son for the medicine she feigned anger. Now glaring, while she was finishing dinner, she sternly said, "Now set the table and while you do that explain what you were doing that caused you to stay out past the evening bells."
With a small smirk on his face, he played along with his mother ,"I'm sorry mom, the shop keeper kept me longer than I thought."
A sudden shrieking sound interrupted their quiet home. Startled Leonidas walked over to the window by the front door to try to investigate where that scream came from.
"You heard that right mom?" He asked his mom, glancing behind him to ask his mom, only to find her right beside him looking out the window, but the worry on her face was much deeper than his.
She bit her lip in worry trying to decide what to do.
"Mother?" Confused by her expression, Leo also started to worry which only increased as more and more screams could be heard. But all the sounds and screams from before were like child's play at the moment, the only thing he could hear was a blood curdling scream that reverberated throughout the entire street.
Leo looked at his mother, only to see her already pale face pale even more.
"Leo, get under the table, now." She yelled, desperately slamming the window shut, locking it and closing the curtain immediately after.
"What's going on?" He asked confused and scared.
"Now, boy!" She pushed the settle, a long bench, in front of the door.
Leo dropped to the floor and quickly crawled under the table. He started shaking with tears forming in his eyes, threatening to fall. He watched his mother push the settle against the door and not even a moment after she was finished, something or someone slammed into the door, moving the settle out of the way but not fully opening the door.
"Mother?!" Leo cried out frantically, fear taking over his mind and the last thing he saw was his mother smiling at him with tears falling down her face.
The door busted open, the settle flying across the floor hitting the table, and hitting Leo. It seemed as if time had paused, no one moved and no noise was made. Leo crawled out from under the table in the midst of the calm only to see a group of men with blood shot eyes and rabid drool seeping from their mouths. Then the chaos resumed, unwilling to be stopped. The group of rabid men charged Leo's mother, she frantically ran around the table to where Leo was standing. They continued chasing after her with animalistic movement, she grabbed Leo, sprinting to the back of the kitchen but Leo tussled out of her grip, putting himself between his mother and the group of men.
"Stop, please!" With tears falling from his eyes and snot dripping into his mouth, Leonidas begged and pleaded with the men.
The men didn't stop for a second to even recognize that Leo was speaking to them. Leo saw them barreling towards him and braced for the impact trying to stall for his mother to escape but the moment the first man was about to hit him. Leo didn't feel anything at all, confused he looked around only to see the group tackle his mother and without stopping they continued towards the window.
All that could be heard was glass shattering and his mother's screams as she fell, then nothing.
Leo ran towards the broken window, leaning over the window hoping that she was alive. But his wish was left ungranted because all he saw was his mothers lifeless corpse unmoving surrounded by the men that had killed her. The house that was now quiet was once again filled with screams, screams from a boy who had lost his mother.