AN-

I wanted to go ahead and post this cause I'm super happy with the response I've had to the first couple of chapters! It's also a bit on the short side, so I'll be updating with the next chapter on Thursday, per usual.

I sat in my tree for a few more minutes, waiting to be sure that no one was going to come back, regardless of whether that was rough Zeklos, handsome Ivan or any other person in the "Great King's" army. I quickly climbed down and landed with a quiet thud on the leaf covered ground as my foot slipped off the last branch. I jumped out of the tree line and turned toward my village. I ran as hard and fast down the path as I could. By the time the houses and shops came into view, my head was pounding and my side aching. I expected as much, knowing I'd run more than a few miles in the past hour or two. What I didn't expect was to see bodies, all along the edge of the road. People huddled around dying or already dead figures. I heard groans of pain and all I could do was pray the suffering for those would end soon. I saw the twin boys, Alexander and Sergei, from my class at school crying over their mother's lifeless form. Sergei was holding her hand and Alexander was smoothing her hair off of her forehead. It wasn't until their father came out of their house with a white sheet to cover the body that I realized I had stopped in the middle of the path and was staring. I didn't know what to say. Their father saw me standing there and, though there was pain in his eyes, something changed when he looked at me.

He was looking at me with pity.

Pity.

Why would a man who had just lost his wife be looking at me like I had lost everything in the whole world? Unless…

No.

Tears began to form in my eyes before I'd even turned to run to my house.

"Please. No. No," I silently cried as I ran. The sun was starting to set and the temperature was beginning to drop. The wind made the skin where tears had been burn, and I furiously wiped my tears away as I rounded the corner onto the road my land was on. When I got home, I couldn't let my father see me cry. I had to be strong so I could tell him what I had heard the soldiers say. I ran through my front yard and burst through the door.

"Daddy?!" I yelled as the door slammed into the wall. I would get in trouble for that, but I would deal with it later. "Daddy, where are you?!"

I ran through the house, searching every room. I ran back outside and looked around, and that's when I heard it.

There was a quiet coughing coming from around the side of my house.

"Daddy?" I whimpered, slowly making my way to where I'd heard the faint noise.

There, crumpled on the ground, was my father. He wasn't the only one, however. The family who lived next door was lying on the ground around him. The whole family.

I ran to his side, stepping over the bodies of the mother and the young girl I'd watched grow up since she was born 4 years ago. The father and their older son were both lying face down in front of them, bullet holes in the back of their heads. The son had two arrows in his back as well. I think he was 2 years older than me. Michael is his name. Well, was.

"Rosemarie…" my father whispered, as I took his hand. He was bleeding from his side and I tried to put pressure on it, causing him to grimace.

"Daddy," was all I could choke out between my sobs.

He reached up and touched my face, brushing my hair out of my eyes. At some point, it had started to fall out of the bun I had wrapped it in on top of my head.

"Rose… Listen," he said, breathing heavier and heavier with every passing second. "You're not my-"

He began to cough again and I felt blood spray face.

"Daddy, what?" I asked, cradling his head in my lap. I thought maybe I'd seen someone do that before when someone was coughing. It couldn't hurt, right? "What am I not?"

His eyes went cloudy as he was looking at me. "Janine…"

With that one word, I knew he was no longer looking at me, but thought he was seeing my mother. "You look so much like her…" he said, in a choked whisper. He reached his hand up to my face again, and this time I held it there with my own. "Janine…"

"Daddy, please don't," I whispered, as fresh, hot tears spilled down my cheeks. "You can't leave me. You're all that I have…"

With a sad, pained smile, he began to cough again, as I buried my face into his calloused palm. I sobbed, breathing in his scent, committing it to memory. I closed my eyes and inhaled as I felt his hand go limp and heavy in my own. I snapped my eyes open and saw that his had slipped closed. They didn't reopen.

AN (again)-

So if you guessed that her dear father was going to pass away, you were right. I know this story has been super dark and depressing so far, but hey, it's always darkest before the dawn! Please leave me a review and let me know how you're liking it so far! Also, if you have any ideas or constructive criticism, please, feel free to leave it in a review or shoot me PM! Until Thursday, lovelies!

-S