Bloodline [h.s.]

prologue.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

A gut feeling in me wakes me up and tells me something is wrong. I sit up in bed disoriented. My bedroom is dark, but I guess that's normal for the middle of the night. It isn't just dark though. It's foggy, smoky even. Almost immediately, the smoke is invading my airways. There is a loud pounding on my door.

"Aiden!" My sister screams and continues knocking.

I get up from my bed and race to the door. She is crying as she grabs my hand and sprints down the hallway. Visibility of the whole upper level is scarce. Heat is coming off of somewhere, but there is no fire to be seen yet. She stops running at the top of the stairs.

Mum's favourite art pieces are in flames behind her. The butterfly painting that hangs above the fireplace is destroyed. The swallows with hidden words in the wings are no longer recognisable. No longer decipherable.

"I have to find Nathan and Mum. Go downstairs and find Dad as fast as you can. Okay?" Abigail says.

This wasn't a good idea. We needed to stay together.

"I don't want to go alone."

"Aiden, I've got to find them, but you need to be safe. You will be okay. I promise."

She bends down to hug me before leaving me on the stairs. That was the first promise Abby had ever broken. I run downstairs and see the flames ravishing through the haven we called home every summer since birth. I begin to scream for my father.

"Dad! Where are you?! Dad!" My lungs burned from both the smoke and the screaming.

"Aiden?"

I see him emerge from the kitchen with burns that tore his shirt and blood dripping down his temple. He is limping as he makes his way to me.

"Dad!"

"Where is everyone?" He asks.

"Abigail went back up stairs for Mum and Nathan," I tell him.

A loud cracking noise startles both of us. The ceiling caves in making the fire bigger and stronger. My dad pulls me back, and we watch the fire devour the stairs.

"No! Abigail!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

"Aiden, we need to get out!" Dad says with the haunting reflection of flames in his eyes.

"But what about them? Mum and Nathan and Abby are all up there." I cry.

He lifts me off the ground, holding me as if he knew it was the last time. I bury my head to avoid the smoke. The outdoor air alleviates the scorching heat radiating on my skin. We are safe. For a moment, there is hope until someone grabs me from my father's arms.

"Dad? Dad! Let me go! Dad!" My voice is blood curdling.

They already grabbed him too. There are six men wearing black head to toe. Shielded helmets covered their faces.

"Let go of my son! Aiden!" He yells, "What could you possibly want from a child?!"

Dad reaches for me but three of the six men are holding him.

"Aiden!" He screams over and over.

He didn't stand a chance. They push my dad into a van.

"Dad! No! Dad!" I cry.

One of the men puts his hand over my mouth and I struggle in their grasps. As the van drives away with my father, the two men begin to drag me away. I stare at the burning house that still Mum, Abby, and Nathan are in. In the corner of my eye, I see a figure running toward us. It's Abby.

"Aiden!" she screams.

A glimmer of optimism ignites in me like a candle in a city wide power outage. I fight even harder to get away from the men to get to my sister but to no avail. The grip on me tightens as I try to escape. Their arms were rough and impossible to escape.

"Please, let him go! He is a child! I'll do anything. If it's money you're after, I'll give you all the money we have. Please, do not hurt him." She begs.

The hand on my mouth is pulled away and replaced with a gun pressed to my skull.

"Abby, run," I cry.

"Go back inside the house and burn, or your brother dies too." It was the first time any of the men spoke.

"Just let me say goodbye, please."

"Make it fast or you both die."

Abigail walks cautiously over to me. The man puts me down but leaves the weapon aimed straight at me. She crouches down to my level so that we are eye to eye.

"It's going to be okay, Aiden. I'm going to find you, and everything will be fine. No one is going to die. "

"They took Dad." I tell her.

She cries harder and wraps me in her trembling arms. I take in these final moments with my sister, engraving her image into my memory with everything I have.

"Thirty seconds." The man says.

"I love you. It's all going to be okay. Wherever they take you, I promise I will find you." She sniffles and forces a smile.

"Time is up," he says obviously sooner than the thirty seconds.

One grabs me again, and the other holds back Abby.

"Go back into the house or I shoot him." He reminds her.

She obeys quickly, mouthing one more "I love you," before running back into the house. The sound of sirens grows louder and I feel the masked men grow nervous. Red flashing lights hit us.

"Don't kill him. He's useless. We already have Martin." One says.

They nod in agreement.

"If you scream, your father dies." The other says to me.

Paramedics and firefighters are getting closer. The two men bolt as fast as possible, dragging me away to separate van. The loss of every person I've loved is a harsh sting on young eyes, virgin to this unfamiliar anguish. As the roof falls in on my mum and siblings, my chest imitates the action by caving in on my currently arrhythmic heart. I'm shoved into the sinister vehicle. The embers turn to black as they slam the door on the sight that robbed me of my soul.

A stabbing pain pierces the palm of my clenched fist. As I gain the wherewithal to investigate, I look down to see I am gripping my father's cross necklace hard enough to draw blood. He has laced his S ring onto it. I grip the gold jewellery for dear life as realisation sinks in this is most likely the only tangible evidence I will have of my family's existence. My family is gone, and I am alone.