Hope you all enjoy this. Special thanks to Kanae Valentine for beta-ing this :D

L.L.A.P

~Laces

Chpt.1

You know, I was twelve when it happened. People usually say that you don't remember much when you were younger, but I remember almost every detail. I got home from middle school along with some of my brothers, Kirk, and Justin, who were thirteen year old twins; Collin, who was fourteen; and Chris, who was fifteen. We were talking about… Superman and Batman. They just started to get more well known, and we were talking about which one was better.

"Superman is the best," boasted Chris, and all my other brothers agreed.

"Nu uh! Batman is!" I argued.

"Come on! Can Batman shoot lasers out of his eyes?" inquired Kirk.

"Well…"

"Or pick up buildings a billion times his size?" questioned Collin.

"Well…"

"Or fly?" Justin added. I looked down at my feet.

"Well… the papers said he's a good detective," I tried to counter.

"So what?" laughed Chris. "It's not like he can punch a goon through three buildings."

"Well the papers said…"

"The papers said. The papers said," Kirk mocked in a baby voice imitating me. "Batman's such a coward he hides in the shadows. Hardly anyone knows much about him. Everyone knows about Superman. Batman could be a myth for all we know Sea Shelly," Kirk teased. I hated it when my brothers called me Sea Shelly. It was a name specifically made to belittle me.

"My name is Dodge, and if Batman is a myth then why is there a bat-signal on top of the building of Gotham P.D?"

"Pff. Because…" Collin trialed off when he saw our house. There were Police cars all over, and I could see my two sixteen year old brothers, John and Luke, in the window, and they looked to be crying. in front of them was my eighteen year old brother Mike, who was talking to the cops. As we entered the house an officer looked over at us, then at Mike.

"You should tell your friends that they should come back another time," he stated.

"They're my siblings officer," Mike said very serious, but he seemed to be holding something back. I was confused.

What's going on? Why are there Police cars everywhere? And why are John and Luke crying? I guess you could say that I had a good idea what most likely happened that would cause this, but I didn't want to believe it. Of course it was true though.

"Maybe you would like to tell them," the officer prompted, looking at Mike. He sighed, and his sky blue eyes stared at ours.

"There was a shooting and mom and dad…" Mike had to swallow and hold back tears. "Mom and Dad got shot." I shook my head, not believing a word a heard.

"But… but they only got shot in the arm or something right? They're in the hospital now, right? They're getting better in a hospital," I urged, my eyes starting to water. Mike looked down, he couldn't look me in the eyes.

"No Shelly. No. They're gone."

The tears started to course down my cheeks and Mike wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. "Shhh. It's okay. Everything will be alright." he soothed.

"Excuse me, Sir," the officer interrupted, "we still need to ask you and your family some questions."

"Not all of us are here yet," Justin supplied.

"What do you mean?" the officer questioned.

"We have three more brothers in the elementary school."

The officer sighed, and I couldn't blame him. Eleven kids who have to find out their parents died in one day.

"We'll talk to them when they get here," replied the officer. We followed the officer into the kitchen to answer his questions.

"We believe that your parents were targeted. Any ideas who they were targeted by. Any enemies they had?" a detective questioned. All of us shook our heads. Mom and Dad were nice, kind, patient people. No one ever seemed to hate them. But then I remembered something.

"Well…" I started and I felt the eyes of everyone on me, "there was this one guy…"

My brothers looked at me in confusion.

Our parents owned a produce shop. We sold all types of goods and sometimes the older kids took shifts working at the store. It was during my shift when I noticed something off.

"What about the guy?"

"Well… when I was working in the store once, this guy came up to the desk."

"What did the man look like?" inquired the detective.

"In his thirties. He didn't look like he had shaved in a while. He was white with black hair and brown eyes. He was about as tall as Mike, but sorta lanky. He asked me where my parents were and I told them that they were in the back, and he said that he wanted to see them. Before I went back to get them, I noticed a his hand in his pocket. I made out a gun in there. I went into the back, but didn't get my parents. When I came back out, I told the guy that they must have left. He looked angry and stormed out of the place. I didn't tell my parents what happened. I didn't want them getting freaked out. And I never saw the guy again," I explained. The room was silent.

"Well, at least we have a suspect." sighed the detective, then he turned to my brother, "we'll keep you informed if we find anything."

"Thank you." Mike stated, and the cops left our house.

"Why didn't you tell mom and dad about that man in the first place?" hissed Chris.

"I didn't want to scare them," I murmured.

"Oh! Well they're not scared now. They're dead!" Kirk yelled at me. Mike whacked them both upside the head.

"Knock it off!" he barked, and my two brothers hung their heads low. "It's nobody's fault," he said, trying to take a softer tone. I looked down at my feet.

"No," I sighed.

"What?"

"No. It is my fault."

I was on the verge of crying again when I saw my three little brothers get home from school. Aaron who was nine, Jackson who was seven, and Mark who was five.

"Why does everyone look so sad?" Aaron inquired.

Mike sighed and said, "Mom and dad had an accident today, and they passed away."

This triggered the kids to cry and I went to them to hug and comfort them.

"It's okay. Shhh. Shhh. It's okay."

Grandpa called when he heard the news. He promised that he'd look after us, and that he'd move into our house to our guest room. It was very big to fit eleven kids plus two parents.

Going to bed that night was hard. As I was walking to my room, Chris looked at me with disgust in his eyes and growled, "It is your fault. You killed mom and dad."

Those were the words that echoed through my head as I tried to go to sleep and the same words that would haunt me.

It's your fault. You killed Mom and Dad.

Please tell me what you think so far. i know that it's not completely action packed , but it's the first chapter. :D hope you enjoyed it :D

L.L.A.P

~Laces