Elena hurried down the stairs, skipping a few steps on her way, she was excited to tell her father the news about her grades at school, she had received an award for one of her short stories in a writing competition. Elena had always wanted to be a writer, she wanted to study at the best university in the country. Elena flung herself around the corner into the living room with a huge smile on her face but it shortly faded. She looked around the room but all she could see was popcorn spilt on the couch and the football on the television.
"Dad?" Elena shouted. There was no reply.
"Dad...?" Elena repeated but she lowered her voice this time. Jeremy, Elena's 12 year old brother hopped down the stairs and copied Elena's previous actions.
"Where's dad?" He asked her.
"I don't know.." She replied as she grabbed her brothers hand and dragged him into the kitchen. As soon as she reached the kitchen entrance she squealed and pushed Jeremy behind her.
"Elena, Jeremy, run!" Her father demanded as he was pushed against the wall by two large men wearing all black, including black ski masks. There was 4 of them, two of them were holding her father down, the other held a gun in his hand and faced him. The last one turned toward the two children, his eyes could have been blue or green, it was hard to tell. The only colour to be found on these men were the colour of their eyes and a large red symbol on their jumpers, it appeared to be a circle with an A in the middle.
"Dad!" Elena yelled. The man facing them started walking towards the two.
"I said run Elena, run!" Following her fathers orders she backed away quickly back into the living room, bringing her brother with her. The man followed them and cornered them. He said nothing, he only gestured toward the door on their right, it was the only door that the other men hadn't barricaded. He was a young man, not even a man, he could pass as a child, roughly 16 or 17. His eyes were enticing, Elena couldn't look away, she sheltered her brother from him and waited for him to make his move but all he did was gesture toward the door, he was trying to save them. Elena thought over their options for a moment before deciding to follow his advice and exit through the door, she turned around again, facing the kitchen, remembering her father in there, as she put one foot in front of her to start running for him, she heard a gun shot, she stopped and stood still, she covered Jeremy's ears and turned him away. The man gestured one more time toward the door and yelled out "Go!" but it appeared to be in slow motion to Elena, everything around her was. She felt so weak, so defenseless, there was nothing she could do except run. The man ran back into the kitchen and Elena was brought back to this world, tears running down her face, she dragged her brother out the door and they ran, and they ran, and they ran, until they couldn't run anymore.