The Life of The Flame:Book 1: The Beginning Flame

Chapter 3:Dear Dad

"... Well...that seemed to have gone well..." Elle says as she grabs Hunter's hand.

" Could have been worse..." April states, putting paper cups in a trash bag. " God did we get drunk last night? There's SO MANY cups!"

" I'm pretty sure we didn't, April. Otherwise we all would have been sleeping ne-"

" I woke up in your arms, Jay."

" Oh. Um. But none of us have hangovers."

" Well I guess that's a good point."

The group finishes cleaning up and April plops down on a beanbag, exhausted.

" FINALLY.... That took forever." April falls asleep soon after finishing her soda.

" She can fall asleep in the weirdest places...." Jay sighs, sitting down next to her. " I never figured out how though."

" Sometimes I swear she's half cat." Elle says, sitting on a stool. " Anyway, what are we going to do?"

" Well, we could play spin the bottle."

" Tempting but no. Since we're all taken it would be weird."

The group mumbles in agreement when they hear a car drive up to the tower.

" That'll be our mom, Donte. April, wake up. It's time to go home."

" Fine......"

April and Elle walk out to see that their mom is waiting in the car.

" Mom, why couldn't i drive us home?"

" Because it's the crack of dawn and I don't trust you not to fall asleep."

" Mom it's 9:00 am...what's actually wrong?"

" We need to stop by the hospital...."

"Oh... Wait why?!?" Elle and Donte ask.

" Your father got shot by someone...."

" Oh crap....." April says, dropping her things on the ground in shock. Elle runs up the stairs to the tower. When she gets inside she collapses on the secret room's floor.

" Elle!? What's wrong?!" Hunter says as Elle starts to cry.

"M-m-m-.... Nevermind.."

"ELLE!" Donte bursts in the room crying.

" Now i know something's up. Please tell me, Elle."

April and Jay are also crying when they walk through the door.

Donte doesn't cry easily, so when he does cry it means something big happened.

" He was like a dad to me..... Since my real parents never cared...."

" We don't know if he's dead yet April..." Elle says with little hope.

" We both know the M.I.B never misses..... And it's likely it was him...."

" Can someone PLEASE tell me what's going on!?!" Hunter exclaims, while he pulls Elle close to him.

" M-m-my..."

" Our dad was shot....." Donte cuts in.

The room is silent, shock lingering in the air. Hunter starts to tear up, but he has to stay strong for Elle. He pulls out his phone and starts dialing a number.