I woke up with my throat constricted and smell of smoke permeating the air, I coughed attempting to have some semblance of clean air to breathe, it only resulted in a fit of even more coughing. Sliding off the bed I proceeded to look around the living room. That's where I saw the near dead bodies of my parents lying near the entrance of the kitchen, blood pooling out of their bodies, I rushed over to them. My dad seeming to be near the gates of death said one word while shifting his body to see me.
"Run"
Knowing they weren't going to survive I said, "I love you Dad, I-" My breath hitched and feeling like lead entered my stomach I saw my father last throes of life leave his body with a grimace on his face. My whole world fell apart. With tears leaking out of my eyes, I started running as fast as one could go while inhaling smoke, I broke down the already weakened and charred front door and saw the sun alight outside of my burning house. I ran into the forest. Occasionally looking back towards my house, it's incinerating state only hammering in that I have nowhere else to go…
[Two days later]
I bathed in the small river washing my clothes and hanging them out to dry on a nearby tree branch, my scroll was almost out of battery, Weary and my mental state slowly drifting away I hanged on Knowing that things could, No CAN get better with my perseverance and my knowledge of the forest I grew up with, I trudged on. I encountered a few packs of Grimm, any time I saw one I marked the trees nearby with a sharp stone I had found in the shape of a line sideways. Having a father who hunted game to feed the family and occasionally taking you with him helped a lot, in terms of food. While chewing on a cooked rabbit leg that was caught in a snare I laid around I found a house, I peeked inside the back-glass door. I saw a man with blonde hair holding a girl with black hair and... red tips? Feeding her a cookie while watching a television show. I proceeded to knock on the glass door. The man heard me and opened, he took one look at me and asked where my parents were. Remembering what happened coupled with the last few days I broke down with tears streaking down my dirt covered-face, the man went on then hugging me whispering that it's going to be okay and I continued crying in the man's warm embrace.
Five minutes passed, and tears stopped coming out, the girl with black hair offered me a towel. Saying thanks, I wiped my face. Red-rimmed and puffy grey eyes shone out, the girl started to ask questions
"What's your name?" She asked
"Where do you come from" She asked again
"Do you want a cookie?" she questioned again, and I nodded
She then shouted "Mom!" and a woman looking exactly the girl came down a staircase, took one look at me and retreated upstairs, a few seconds later she comes back with a few cookies in a plate in her hand, she bent down and said.
"Open wide~" putting a cookie next to my mouth, I chomped on it still feeling it's warmth on my tongue and swallowed finishing off the cookie,
"Do you feel better now?" asked the blonde-haired man
I nodded standing up, after previously being on the floor and said, "Thank you"
"What's your name?" asked the tall lady
"Terrenum.." I replied.
"Okay, Terrenum. Do you want to take a bath?" she asked, I nodded vigorously
"Tai, I'll get the bath ready for Terrenum here, keep him company will ya?" she asked with a smile on her face.
"Okay, Terrenum How do you feel about meeting my daughters?" asked the newly named Tai I murmured a quiet "sure".
"Great!, YANG!" He suddenly shouted.
"WHAT DAD!?" shouted back a high-pitched voice.
"GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE"
"FINE"
We heard a loud thud and feet shuffling down the steps, a girl who had bright yellow hair came down and looked around and saw me, Tai and the other girl right next to the glass door.
"Oh" was what came out of her mouth when she got to the ground floor, she started asking the same questions that, I assuming her black-haired sister asked.
I stayed silent during the interrogation waiting for the tall lady to come back, so I could take a bath, to let the hot water wash everything off my body.
"Yang, stop asking him questions you can see he doesn't want to answer them." Said Tai, she stops and takes notice of my attire and what I look like and started apologizing profusely.
The tall lady, I now remember as Summer as Tai said, came and said the bath was ready. She then told me that she'll wash my clothing while I took my bath. I said a quick thank you to her and went along to the bathroom which was upstairs. I undressed and lowered myself into the tub, letting the steamy hot water take away my uncertainties and which in turn helped me relax, soon my skin started getting wrinkly, So I stepped outside the tub and grabbed a black towel with a blue wave bobbing up and down, laid on top of a small table. I dried my skin and found my worn clothing washed and dry under where the towel was. I put on my clothes and headed downstairs finding the family of four having a conversation. I heard pieces of conversation when getting closer.
"Something bad has happened to Terrenum. Yang and Ruby, so for now he's staying with us until we find out what happened okay?" said Tai
Summer turned around and grabbed my hand bringing me close to her. "Do you feel better Terrenum?"
"Yes Ms. Summer." I replied
She giggled and said "Aw, you don't have to call me that!"
"Then, How about Aunty Summer? I asked
"Sure, let's go with that" she said cheerfully, out of the corner of my eye I saw Uncle Tai look at Aunty Summer wistfully.
"Then these are your cousins! Yang and Ruby, Say hi both of you."
"Hiya!, My name's Ruby" said the raven-haired girl named Ruby
"Hey, Sorry for asking you a lot of questions earlier Terrenum…" apologized Yang
"It's no problem Yang" I said
"Terrenum, do you want to talk about what happened that ended up with you here?" asked Summer with a kind-hearted expression on her face
"I suppose it's better to get it out now, than to agonize over it later.." I mumbled
"Yes, I would like to, can we all sit down for this?"
I then told them how I woke up with my house on fire with various bits of the house caved in already and the near dead bodies of my parents near the entrance of the kitchen. With the last words my only living relative said to me, I ran out of the house into the giant forest I've spent years playing in. My father cooked and hunted for food, occasionally bringing me with him and showing me the basic ways to catch animals, how to skin an animal, trap them etcetera. It's how I survived for 2 days. At the end of my story, each of them were in various degrees of shock, looking at me with sadness in their eyes.
Ruby then got up and hugged me, then Yang came and hugged me, then Aunty Summer and Uncle Tai hugged all of us. Ruby and Yang were crying into my shoulders saying that they're sorry, while Tai and Summer just hugged all of us tighter.
Two minutes passed and we all untangled ourselves from each other, I let out a loud yawn
"Ruby, you don't mind Terrenum sleeping in the same room as you?" said Summer
"Nope" said Ruby, she grabbed my hand and ran up the stairs dragging me with her.
We arrived at her room with speed I didn't think the small girl had, she opened her door and I saw various shades of red along the wall, with me looking around Ruby's room I saw she took out a sleeping bag out of her closet.
"Alright!, you can sleep in the sleeping bag Tear. I'll get you some more pillows" said Ruby as she hopped on her bed and came off with pillows with a Dog on it
'Tear? Well it's not as bad what mom and dad used to call me'
A pang of sadness hit me when I remembered they aren't coming back. I bit back the tears knowing crying won't bring them back.
Ruby arranged the soft pillows, so they were like a caved-in wall
"Night.. Tear." Yawning herself Ruby drifted into slumber
"Heh, I'll miss you guys wherever you are Mom, Dad I hope you're looking after me" I said aloud
I wiggled into the sleeping bag, surrounded by the soft cushiness of the sleeping bag and pillows I went to sleep.