It was a windy day.
Arlyne skipped home happily with her soft hair flying in the wind, her grades in one hand and ice cream in another. She couldn't wait to get home and show her parents the straight As she had achieved for her finals. She worked hard this term and she was planning on asking for a trip to Disneyland to celebrate.
When she reached a fork in the road, she decided to take the longer way home since she was in a particularly good mood and walking a little further with her ice cream on a cool day didn't sound so bad.
As she skipped her way down the road happily humming away with her ice cream, a black car with darkly tinted window tore through the original street she had meant to take but she took no notice of it.
As she got nearer to her house something was so indistinctly off in the area that even nine year old Arlyne could feel it. Neighbours were crowding her house and from a distant, sirens could be heard. Quickly, she hid behind a huge trunk and peeked out at the commotion from a distance. Aunt Millie who lived across Arlyne's family was clutching onto hair and wailing at her front gate. Arlyne saw her neighbour and childhood friend crying and shaking in the arms of her dad, Uncle Pete.
Although she understood that something terrible must have happened in the neighbourhood, she couldn't comprehend the scene before her, but she was determined to find out. She took a deep breath and straightened her back before walking out front boldly.
Outside, besides the little scatter of neighbours who were clearly spooked by an atrocious incident, the cul-de-sac seemed picture perfect but, when she neared her own gate she realised that her front door had been broken down. Nobody entered her home and frankly she didn't want to either, but the house which stood before her was undoubtedly her home and she had to make sure that her family was safe from the break in. With that mind-set, Arlyne tightened her grip on her ice cream and strutted into the house.
The neighbours should have stopped her but they did not. Everyone was too preoccupied by their own thoughts and fear to notice the little girl who was marching straight into the scene of incident.
They didn't think about the consequence of a little girl watching two bodies of the ones she loved lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of their own blood. A metallic odour hung in the air and she held her breath.
Arlyne couldn't make sense of the scene before her and she stood in place even as her mother beckoned her over with the last of her might.
There were no bad omens today and she hadn't felt any uneasiness throughout the day, so it was supposed to be a great day.
Conrad was kneeling on the floor, his knees submerged with his parents' blood. He was only three years older than his little sister and at the age of twelve, he had been handed the responsibility of both his parents.
He will forever be haunted by the images of his parents death and of his sister walking through the front door, her hand covered in melted ice cream and the other clutching onto a piece of crumpled paper shakily.
He walked over to Arlyne and pulled her over to their mother who was in her last moments. Mrs. Winters brushed her daughter's hair away gently as she looked at Conrad.
Even in death, Conrad couldn't help but notice that her eyes were bright and warm. Their father had long gone before Arlyne arrived, but they could still see their mother's chest rising up and down as she took in shallow breaths.
"Conrad, did you hear what your dad had said before?" she asked her son. It was a lot to put upon him at his age but Mrs. Winters wanted the best for her children and in this case, the best was the survival of both her flesh and blood.
"Take care of one another, I love you both so much" she managed to choked out.
"I'm so sorry for leaving you like this" she gasped in pain and softly, even gentler than a wisp, the mother bid farewell to the two new orphans.
"I love you so much my babies"
Conrad had been sobbing uncontrollably the whole time, but he sobered up quickly as he had been tasked with an important duty and he needed to act fast. It was his parents' dying wish and he couldn't let them down.
He wiped away his tears and snots before he looked over at Arlyne who had been emotionless ever since she stepped through the house door.
Slowly, he plucked the ice cream cone out of her hands and chucked it away. When he turned to reach for the paper in her other hand she pulled away and stood up.
"No, I will keep this" she whispered.
He nodded and then took hold of her hands and pulled her into him for hug.
"You're all I have left. Look at me Arlyne. Mom and dad-" he choked as he looked at their parents' corpse.
"You see those bullet holes? Mom and dad, th-they were killed b-by Uncle Clint."
Arlyne gasped. Uncle Clint? It couldn't be. Why?
"-into hiding" Conrad ended.
"Uncle Clint?" she echoed. She was too busy wrapping her mind around the fact that her uncle, her favourite uncle, her father's brother was the one who took her parents' lives.
"Arlyne, listen to me, look at me lil sis. We're definitely not going to foster homes because they won't be able to protect us from gangsters. We need to hide." he shook her by the shoulders and looked at her to make sure that they were on the right page.
She nodded. It was a lot to take in for a nine year old but Arlyne knew, that with her parents dead and bad guys hot on their tails, she had to be more grown up.
"Okay, but what do we do Connie? I think the police might be arriving soon, I heard sirens outside before coming in"
She looked at her brother expectantly and realised and saw that he too decided to leave his younger self behind. His eyes harden and she knew the words before it even left his lip.
"We run"
