Chapter One

"I love you, my sweet Roslyn. Always remember that."

Those were my mother's last words as she slipped away into oblivion. I felt her hand go limp in my hand, and I was powerless to do nothing except watch in horror as her once fierce green eyes glazed over. I stared at her through tear-filled eyes. The blood pounded inside my head. It couldn't end like this!

"Mom?" I felt my voice cracking. I shook her body gently. "Mom?!" She didn't move. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest.

I cradled my mother's body in my arms, tears already streaming down my face. I looked over at my father. He was lying face down on the other side of the room. His chest was moving, but just barely. My entire body jerked as a strange noise came from my throat. It had been a sob.

I slowly lowered my mother's corpse down to the floor, then crawled over to my miraculously still breathing father, avoiding the overturned furniture and broken glass that was strewn about our once beautiful home. "Dad?" I said softly, my voice almost inaudibly low. I was too scared to speak above a whisper. If I made any sound that was too loud, the murderers might come back.

"Dad?" I whispered again. "Dad, please… Try and hold on." I could only watch as my dad took a shaky breath. The dark liquid poured from his chest, creating an oozing puddle around him that glistened in the dim light. It was blood.

"Roslyn," he breathed. Dad never used my full name. Only once, maybe twice, when he was absolutely furious with me. But now he wasn't furious. Now he was dying. He was at death's door, and he was trying to breathe out his last words before he slipped away forever. The tears began to stream down my cheeks.

"It's okay, Dad," I whispered. I took his hand into mine. It was already cold, and agonizingly limp. "You're gonna be okay."

He shook his head slowly with the little effort he had left. "No…" he whispered weakly. "Roslyn…" He was cut off by a violent gasp. I gripped his hand tightly. My dad's brown eyes locked with mine. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul—his eyes told me that his soul was nearly gone.

"Roslyn," he tried again. He knew he didn't have much time left. He swallowed hard. "I love you, sweetheart. You're the world to me…"

"Dad, no…" I whispered. His breath hitched in his throat. "I love…" he started, but he would never get the chance to finish. His eyes glazed over as his soul retreated from his body. His hand fell limp in my hand.

"Dad!" I cried. But I knew that it was no use. Both he and Mom were gone.

Gone. Both of them. Dead, done for. They'd kicked the bucket, cashed in their chips, breathed their last. The only people who ever took care of me were finished, dead. Murdered. I was barely able to wrap my mind around it. The thought alone had the power to crush me completely.

Behind me, the floorboards creaked. "Rosie…" I heard a voice from behind me, calm and soothing, a voice I knew but couldn't place. Not right now at least.

"They're dead," I cried, staring at my father's lifeless body, clutching his hand as if somehow I could pull his soul back to his body and bring him back to life. "They're gone," I repeated, more to myself than to the man. "Both of them."

"I know," said the voice. "I ordered the murders."

A chill ran up my spine. My entire body went numb, an indescribable rage pouring through every fiber of my being. My father's hand fell from my hand as I looked up, horrified at the murderer. I didn't get to see his face before everything went black.

I screamed.

Okay, so I'm sorry if that sucked a little bit, I'm always really bad at starting stories. Please don't kill me, I promise it'll get better! Anyway, chapter 2 should be updated soon, and no, the character is not me, I just like her name. Her name's Carly by the way… She only gets called Charlotte a couple of times. Okay, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon! Love y'all!

-Charlotte (not the one in the story)

UPDATE: Okay, so it didn't sit right with me that my character and I had the same name. It just kind of felt weird… so I hope y'all don't mind my indecisiveness, but I've changed Carly's name to Roslyn, Rosie or Rose for short. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!