World Ablaze

World Ablaze : [02]

"Honey, tell me, what happened?" Isabelle encourage, wrapping an arm around her daughter's shoulders and leading her to the couch. Kristin plopped down on it, doing her best to slow her breathing down even as she thought about it. Her heart was beginning to pick up speed again as she recalled that scream before the call had ended.

"I-I got worried - I called dad - maybe he would tell me what's wrong, you know? But he was scared! He was whispering and he didn't make sense! The last thing I heard was him screaming!" Her words came out in a rush, tumbling over each other and forcing Isabelle to concentrate to pick out what her daughter was saying. At the end Kristin buried her face in her hands, cell phone still clutched tightly in in one.

"Screaming?" Isabelle prodded, crouching down before the couch so as to try to catch sight of Kristin's face. From the staircase Damien stood, feeling awkward. He wanted to help but he was just a kid and he wasn't sure what he could do. So he stood by and he waited hoping that he would be able to do something eventually.

"It was dad. I-I heard... I heard him screaming after something grabbed him!"

Isabelle's expression grew sterner still, her jaw clamping at this news. Without a word she stood up and disappeared from the living room and into her bedroom. Damien watched her go, his brow furrowing in confusion. After several seconds of standing unsurely at the bottom step he made his way to his sister's side, taking a seat next to her silently. He could feel the lump in his throat grow larger and he did his best to swallow it and act maturely.

"Dad'll be alright, I'm sure of it," he said lamely, his voice cracking and betraying how he really felt. He cringed. Kristin didn't respond instead she kept her face hidden away and focused on her breathing - in and out, in and out. Damien could only sit there, hands in his lap and staring at them, feeling helpless. What could he do? Before he could find an answer Isabelle had come striding out of the room, dressed out of her pajamas and tugging on a jacket to combat the chilly summer air. "Mom, where are you going?"

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," she answered, pausing at the door way. In her hands she held a set of keys and her eyes were stern. "Stay in the house, don't leave for the night. Do you understand?"

Hesitantly, nervously Damien nodded, feeling the blood rush from his face. He had never seen his mother act like this. At the sight of the worried boy Isabelle's feature softened and she moved towards him. Once she as close enough she ran a hand through his tangled locks. "I need you to stay here and watch your sister, understand? You're not a little boy anymore, even if we sometimes treat you like one - do you think you can handle it?"

At this kindly words from his mother Damien straightened his posture, puffing his chest out and placing his best determined expression onto his face. A quick nod of his head and he said "You can count on me, mom!"

A smile lined Isabelle's lips for a moment before she placed a quick kiss on Damien's forehead; she also kissed the top of Kristin's head, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly before she turned and left. A moment later the vehicle in the driveway was heard starting up and soon faded in the distance leaving the siblings alone in the house. The silence was broken the ticking of the clock on the wall and Damien began to tap his hands against his legs in a rhythm only he knew of.

After several minutes of this he finally scooped up the remote, flipping the television on to fill the house with some amount of noise other than that incessant clock ticking. Even as he found something he usually enjoyed watching he couldn't keep focused on it. He was too worried and kept stealing glances at his older sister from time to time to gauge her emotional wellness. She remained hunched over, elbows resting on her knees and face hidden from him. Damien bit his lip.