Broken Souls

Chapter One

Mira sat on a wooden stool facing the window. Her chin rested in the palm of her hand and she slowly hummed the song her mother used to sing to her. Every night she would look out the window and watch all the stars in the sky glisten. 

"Close the window Mira! You are going to be the cause of everyone catching a cold." 

Mira looked over at her older sister Emma as she was tucking the covers under their little brother. "Oh alright, but shutting the window doesn't really help that much. Its still freezing cold in here." Mira stated as she hopped into bed.

Emma was eighteen, Mira was sixteen, and Max was only 10. Mira's mother and father had found Max when he was three and decided to raise him as their own. A year later their mother and father were both killed when their house caught on fire. The three children were sent to an orphanage that stood in the middle of the village. 

"Lets leave this place Em. We are both old enough to find jobs and take care of Max." 

"Like I tell you every time, it is safer here then out there. Mother and Father's deaths weren't an accident and you know it. Whoever set our house on fire wanted as all to be dead. Lets not give them a chance to finish the job Mira." 

" To be honest dying would be a lot better then this hell hole." Mira whispered as she crossed her arms. 

"Don't say stuff like that in front of Max!" Emma hissed. 

Mira looked over at Max and sighed when his big round eyes were wet with tears. "Such a baby you are Max. I was only kidding, don't take everything so seriously. How are you going to survive if every time someone mentions death you ball your eyes out?" 

"Shut up Mira!" Max yelled, "I'm not heartless like you!" 

"Alright enough!" Emma ordered, " Just go to sleep or Mr. Ralph is going to have you both sleep outside." 

Mira huffed and turned to lay on her side away from her siblings. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath hoping that she will fall asleep easy that night. Mira felt like she had only been sleeping for a few minutes when she felt herself being shook. 

"Mira get up! Max is gone!" 

Emma's frantic whispers caused Mira to quickly sit up. Mira rubbed her eyes and looked towards Max's bed, but only found his stuffed bear. Mira bit her lip and slipped out of bed to look out the window. There was snow on the ground and luckily small footprints were still visible leading away from the orphanage.

"Idiot..." Mira muttered, "grabbed his jacket and lets go find him before the sun comes up. Hopefully no one else has found him yet."

The two girls raced out of the building and into the dark allies of their small village. The only sound were the rats and the stray cats fighting for their territories. 

Mira began to worry when she heard the voices of men and small cries coming from a dark alley way. She grabbed Emma's arm and hid behind some wooden crates. Her blue eyes widened when she saw Max on the ground with cuts and growing bruises on his face. Anger rose in Mira as she glared at the two men standing over her brother.

"We have to get out of here Mira..." Emma whispered as she tugged at Mira's night gown.

Mira looked at Emma in shock. "Are you kidding me? We can't just leave him Em, they are going to kill him."

Emma's eyes went from Max, Mira, and to the knife in one of the mans hands. She bit at her bottom lip in thought and eventually she nodded. "You get their attention and i'll try to sneak around and grab Max."

Mira nodded and watched as Emma vanished around the building next to them and turned back towards Max and the men. She took a deep breath and slowly came out of hiding. 

"Hey assholes!" Mira yelled, "leave my brother alone!" She bent down and grabbed a small stone and threw it at one of the men. 

"What the?" The man with the knife turned, "Well what do we have here?" He smirked. 

The man stepped closer towards Mira and the other man followed. Mira took a step back in fear as they slowly got closer. 

Hurry up Emma

Mira let out a sigh of relief when she saw Emma tip toe her way towards Max and help him up. Though Mira's relief was short when Max accidently kicked an empty glass bottle. Both men turned quickly and rushed forward to grab Emma and Max. Mira leapt forward and grabbed ahold of one of the man's arm.

"Get off me brat!"

He threw Mira to the ground and hovered over her with the knife. Mira closed her eyes waited for her life to end, but pain never came. Mira's eyes shot open when she felt a weight over her and heard a gasp from Emma. Max had jumped on top of Mira and the knife was embedded in his back. Max's eyes were glued to Mira's and with a large breath, Max's eyes glazed over. 

"No..." Mira choked, "No!"

Mira slowly pushed Max's body off of her and grabbed the knife from his back. Without a second thought Mira had shot forward and sliced one of the mans fingers off when he tried to block her attack. He hollered in pain, while the other man grabbed Mira from behind and stole the knife. She struggled against his grip trying her best to get free, but she wasn't strong enough. She looked over towards Emma who was frozen behind the cursing man. 

"Emma help!" Mira begged as she tried to get free. 

Emma didn't move or say anything for a few seconds. Emma slowly crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. A small smirk growing on her face as she watched. "Hurry up boys! we don't have all night." 

Mira's jaw dropped in shock and hot tears escaped her eyes. As much as the fought and disagreed about the most littlest things, Mira looked up to Emma. She was being betrayed by her older sister who was supposed to protect her. Mira gasped when she felt the metal enter in stomach. Black spots started to appear in Mira's vision and the last thing she saw and heard was the men turning away from Mira and the sound of Emma's scream. 

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Authors Note: 

I'm not a writer and I have never been good at writing in general, so there will probably be a lot of mistakes and some things that you would want to change. 

I am accepting any criticism or any tips that someone might have! Though I'm not writing books for a career or anything, but I have so many stories that I have created in my mind, that I just want to share them all. 

That's all! <3