Welcome to this little story of mine. I know it sounds like a weird thing but I drew the map of their house and I posted it on a special Instagram account. You can find the drawings on the "masteroffangirlingart" profile, my profile actually :D A little glance at those might help you with the reading as many times they'll be at home.

See you at the end notes of this chapter., where I'll be a little more specific about the idea behind this.

Hope you'll enjoy! Buona lettura!

ACT 1 - ANGST AND TORMENT

CHAPTER 1 - Meet the Redfields

It was such a beautiful morning in Raccoon City, the sky sheer and cloudless and a bright sun had just popped over the trees, warming the chill air, last memory of a late September night. Life was awakening all over the nice residential district with cars starting to fill the streets and some sporadic early morning jogger taking advantage of the not yet crowded sidewalks. Soon those same streets would be full of kids of all ages heading to school. Chris and Claire Redfield were some of those kids.

The Redfield family moved to Raccoon City many years before, so this elegant city was home for them. Their parents were both working for the prestigious pharmaceutical company Umbrella Corporation.

Their father, Robert, was a researcher specialised in the study of neurological consequences of medicines and antitumor treatments, leading a group of other scientists and young trainees. Their mother, Lily Carter Redfield, worked for the accountability sector as an employee. They met over 20 years before on Lily's very first day at work, when Robert was himself a young trainee fresh out of university, whose good grades gained him a job and a lab coat, and whose warm smile and perseverance got him a date with the blonde woman. They fell in love pretty soon and after a couple of years he eventually proposed.

On the verge of his thirties, Robert received from his beloved wife the best news a man could ever get: he was going to be a father as Lily was pregnant with their first son. So there it was, a family had formed.

They lived in Chicago back then, when Chris was born, but as soon as Lily got pregnant again, with a little girl this time, Rob got assigned to the Neurological Research Sector in the Raccoon City Umbrella's newly built facility, and they all moved there as it was pretty easy for Lily to get transferred there too.

Chris was only 2 years old when Claire came into the world, and into the family. He soon took seriously his being an older brother as he was always caring and lovely towards that little newly born blue eyed girl. Unlike many other children may do, he never showed any jealousy, in fact, he would even try to help his parents in taking good care of Claire by handing diapers, holding the feeding bottle, or simply rocking gently the cradle to get her to sleep. So, as they grew up, a strong siblings bond grew up as well. He would always be protective and caring, she would always cheer him up with her joyful laughter and, as she grew older and started to be more aware, she would always have a good word for him and help him deal with his hot-headed nature, but being two years older, it was Chris to put his wisdom at her service more often. Adolescence only strengthened this bond.

That morning Claire had woken up in a good mood and did some stretching in front of the wide window besides her large bed. She got the shutters open and breathed deeply in the morning breeze, a smile cracking on her face. A thud and a low groan coming from the room next to hers signalled that her brother was awake too. Putting her slippers on, she reached the door and threw it open playfully. The sight of Chris, walking like a zombie, with ruffled hair and a sleepy face got her the first laugh of the day.

"Good morning! You got home pretty late, uh?" she said smiling.

A yawn and an eye rub were his reply. Enough to confirm her theory.

"You go first? Or you wanna have breakfast before?" she added pointing at the bathroom door, on the right side of her bedroom's one, with a small wave of the hand.

"You can go first, Claire. I need coffee and carbs before my two neurons wake up too." Chris said returning the smile, despite his slumber-hungry eyes "Good morning, anyway!".

That said, he turned back and headed to the stairs.

It didn't took long for Claire to disengage the bathroom for Chris, after a quick shower, she had only to wear the clothes she had already prepared on her desk's chair and as her only makeup vanity was a little of mascara, just to enhance and highlight the blue of her eyes, she was soon done.

Downstairs, on the left side of the staircase there was the dining room and right after it, towards the back of the house, the kitchen.

There her parents were busy with breakfast and some work-related chatting. She got there just in time to catch her father picking up his black handbag and jacket from the dining room's table.

"Pancakes are waiting darling!" He said pressing a kiss on her cheek. "Mom managed to leave some for you... Chris was pretty sleepy but his hunger seems to know no rest".

Claire laughed blinking at her mother across the other room.

"Uh, today I won't be home for lunch, big day at work!" Robert added catching a banana from the fruit centrepiece and sliding it into his jacket's pocket.

"Big day? Some cool experiments going on or... just boring meetings with moneylenders?" Claire asked turning her head to her Dad from the stool she was sitting on by the kitchen island.

"Cool experiment!" He replied proudly "we're turning on for the first time a new machine we've been working on in the last 14 months! It's supposed to help antitumor drugs molecules into healthy cells and streng-" he stopped, smirking slyly " I'm going full nerd, am I?"

"Just a little enthusiastic, honey" Lily answered, eyes smiling at both of them.

"It sounds really cool actually, Dad!" Chris' deep voice broke in from behind both Claire and Rob.

"Oh, but it is cool! Months of sweat, intuitions, mistakes and enormous funds might just pay back today!" Rob said with a pensive look appearing on his face. After a few moments he added "you can come attend it if you like! We'll be turning it on only this afternoon as the setting procedure is pretty long... you can come over to the lab right after school". He was so proud of his team's work that he wanted to show it to his kids.

Claire and Chris exchanged just a short glance before accepting the invitation.

Assisting to a scientific experiment was far too intriguing for a denial. They were both bit of a nerd after all - science being one of their shared passions - despite their appearances, that might make think of them of nothing more than a jock and a tomboy girl.

Chris in fact was a well-built boy, six feet two tall, with large shoulders and wide chest, and the three days a week gym had given him chiselled chest and abdomen and very strong arms. His eyes were a light hazel brown shade, just like his mother, and his thick short hair was dark brown.

He always had some short beard on his face, just enough to make him appear older than his 18 years, which, combined with a deep warm voice, was much of an advantage when buying cigarettes or liquors as nobody would guess he was actually underage for drinking.

He was a really good-hearted guy, with an impulsive temper but still very polite manners.

Claire was 5 feet 6, a slender figure, with abundant breasts and well-proportioned hips. Her eyes where a sky-blue shade, just like her father, and her hair was auburn just like... well, like a real Redfield. She usually would tie it up in a ponytail, letting just few wild strands of hair fall on the side of her beautiful face.

Despite having a passion for ballet and playing piano, her taste in clothing would make her look like a... tomboy. Not that she couldn't be described as one, in fact she was fond of motorcycles and also rock music (two passions she shared with Chris and that she actually got from him, and that only made them even closer), but she wasn't the kind of girl to fit into a defined label. She liked rock music and yet she would rock the hell out of her body to a Johann Sebastian Bach piece. She liked to dress with just jeans, plain shirts and leather jackets - dressing with cute robes only sometimes when going out with her friends - and walk around with confident deportment, still she was able of the smoothest and most gracious moves while dancing in pink pantyhose and ballerina shoes. Chris once said she has as many facets as a precious diamond.

Few minutes later, the two siblings where walking down the sidewalk to the bus stop. There they met some of their neighbours and closest friends.

Chris joined a bunch of other guys, not before having pressed his usual little peck on Claire's temple and wished her a good day.

His closest friends were two guys of his same age, Kevin and Carlos, Piers who was one year younger, and Leon who was the same age as Claire but, being Piers' cousin, he started soon hanging out with the latter's older friends.

Claire joined her two best friends Jill and Rebecca and it really took them less than a split of a second to start chatting about... well, whatever three girls would have to say that early in the morning after having stopped texting just few hours before. Basically, guys. One guy in particular: Leon.

Rebecca had a huge crush on him and would always start to hyperventilate if he'd come close. Claire, on her side, was pretty sure to have a little crush on him too but being Leon his brother's friend she'd never consider it to be more than just physical attraction. Also, he was Rebecca's crush first.

"Shouldn't it be illegal to just walk around with those killer eyes?" Rebecca eventually said. If she were a cartoon then her eyes would be heart shaped in that moment. "And that chin cleft... I mean... have you seen it? That's pretty illeg-"

"Oh, stop it Becky!" Jill sighed rolling her eyes, " if we were blind we would still know his face by heart by now, with all your talking about him! Only him! Leon here... Leon there... Leon's this... Leon's that" she mocked laughing.

Rebecca ignored her and just continued to stare, only to end up turning violently her blushed face at Leon's minimal head movement, too shy to risk meeting his gaze.

Claire just smiled at her friends and laughed mentally at both Rebecca for her... being Rebecca, and at Jill for her mocking Becky that way when Claire plainly knew she had a huge crush on Chris and would often peep at his butt, even though Jill would never admit it.

After a short bus ride through the residential area, they arrived at school, ready to start the day.

Claire and her friends' one wouldn't start much well, though. Their first class would be science with that boring teacher Mr Wesker was. Fortunately she really liked science, because with that creepy blonde wearing sunglasses even in classrooms, nobody was allowed to space out as you couldn't tell if he was staring at you or not.

Being eighteen, Chris' last year at high school had just started, nevertheless he was looking forward to what would come next. He was considering multiple chances, not closing any possible door. Going to a good college was the most probable thing, as his grades were pretty good he would manage to easily get access to the best ones. Though he wouldn't choose one far away from home, because he wouldn't like being too far from his family and dearest friends. Raccoon City was a really nice town and he truly enjoyed living there but had no colleges at all. The nearest College with a really good reputation was the prestigious Howard Foster College in Arklay City, just few miles south. Attending that would allow him to be home for the week ends without giving up to a high quality education.

Those were the kind of thoughts Chris was lost in while his history teacher was dispensing tests.

The rest of the morning went pretty smooth for both of them, and they eventually met at the school cafeteria for lunch.

"Hey Chris!" Claire called aloud waving a hand high in the air to catch his attention as he was far ahead in the queue "could you come over please? I need to ask you something..." Claire said as her brother waved back at her. And as he got closer with a slightly concerned look on his face, she added "I thought I had more money in my wallet but it's not enough for lunch, so... could you lend m-".

She hadn't quite the time to end the question that Chris took her by the hand and escorted her to the cafeteria counter and offered her lunch, making her skip the queue.

A little embarrassed, she smiled to Carlos and Kevin, and looked back at Jill and Rebecca still queuing. This was one of the advantages of being Chris's sister: nobody would argue with a queue skipping. Not that Chris was a bully or something, but his big physique would discourage any attempt in fighting. It actually happened few times before that some real bully would come across him while doing their stupid brat things (like threatening "nerds", annoying girls with vulgar comments or simply looking for a fistfight) and he always would've beat the shit out of them standing by bullying victims' side. That gained him a good reputation among all students, that's why everyone would just turn a blind eye on that. Hot-headed and good hearted. That's who Chris Redfield was.

"Do you still want to come to Dad's lab today or did you change your plans?" He asked her while grabbing fruit.

She looked at him like he had just said the dumbest of things "Sure I do! Dad's been working so hard on that thing I'm just curious to watch what it turns out to be!" She replied chuckling "Dad looks so proud of that, I think it would be really nice of us to be there today. And... who knows? Maybe we'd witness the birth of a new standard in cancer fighting!"

Chris smiled warmly, feeling proud for his dad's accomplishments. Claire was totally right, dad would be happy to have his kids by his side on such an important event.

"Leon's holding the seats at that table over there for us, wanna join? There are enough seats for you and your two friends" He said beckoning at a long table across the wide room.

"No thanks Chris, I'll be sitting with the girls at our usual table. Moira, Sheva and Ashley are already there" Claire answered and leaned forward to place a small kiss on his cheek before darting to her table. And by the way, even if the table would have had enough seats for all of them, sitting at the same place as Leon would mean no lunch for Rebecca and lots of eye rolling for Jill. She smiled at the thought of Becky drooling over Leon.

Girls. That was something Leon would've said.

School was finally over and Claire and Chris headed to the Umbrella facility with their mother, who just picked them up.

The access to Rob's lab was granted them by three permits and a welcoming lady who accompanied them through the maze of corridors and glass walls.

Robert was animatedly debating with his colleagues and had just time to acknowledge their presence before he was drawn back. Chris and Claire took a spot in a room that surrounded the whole circular lab like a ring and was separated to it by a wall of really thick crystal-clear glass. They all waited there patiently for the show to begin.

The scientists, including Dr Redfield, were in their same room just few feet away, busy with computers and various engines. In front of them, in the wide lab a weird big white device stood right in the middle.

They could hear the scientists discuss about voltage, frequency, power and some sort of strangely named materials involved in the making of the big machine. Apparently there was a fracture in the crew about some issues, few of them would try one option and others would just disagree. Rob was in the latter group.

Though the siblings couldn't exactly understand the matter, at some point, it happened to be pretty clear that Rob's side overcame the discussion.

"Double up the voltage and triplicate the moscovium dosage, reduce the outcome temperature" Robert started giving orders to his trainees, who would just follow disciplined.

Everyone seemed to know perfectly what to do, what their places were, the tasks they had to carry out.

Everything was ready, everyone was holding their breaths just waiting for Dr Redfield to digit the final inputs. And there he went, last movements before glancing up at the machine waiting for response. It started a slow noise, similar to an ultrasound going higher and higher and just as it was becoming a bit bothering for their ears, it leaped and went completely down.

After few moments of embarrassed silence everyone seemed to blow up in a huge fuss. Claire and Chris looked at each other feeling sorry for their disappointed father, he had put so much effort into this project and watching it just not work was painful even for them. Chris slipped an arm around Claire's shoulders squeezing it gently and she placed her hand upon his instinctively.

It took a while for the whole room to turn quiet again, Robert fought against a couple of his colleagues who decided to change some of the major settings of the machine and implemented the radioactive elements and the voltage even more, but he had to surrender in front of the failure of his previous suggestion and give in.

They started again all the procedure, and everyone was now back to places and tasks.

The machine started its usual annoying sound again, but it escalated more quickly than before to an almost unbearable pitch. Then it happened, really fast. Nobody saw it coming. Not even Dr Redfield. With a massive bang the machine exploded releasing a dazzling intense light, filling completely the room. Everyone was just thrown away.

Claire could feel her heavy breath have difficulty to come out her chest, her narrow vision was still blurred but slowly widening and a maddening pounding tortured her ears. She turned her head, unable to move anything else - she lost any sensitivity actually - just to meet the sight of her own body laying on the floor beside her. She blinked. Oh, she blinked many times but that was her body lying lifeless on the ground and her face the one she was staring at. Tilting her head back exhausted she closed her eyes, realising what her fate was. She was dead. She was floating somewhere beside her corpse. This was the end of her short life for sure.

Chris. Her first thought. If she could see herself she might also see him. She only had to search around. She hoped to see him safe. That's all she wanted. Despite all the effort she put into trying to move she didn't make it. She was unable to move herself, except her head, and yet Chris was nowhere to be found in the small piece of space she could see.

"Chris! CHRIS!... Chris look at me!" She heard those words coming out of somewhere, she wasn't even aware she was calling her brother. It took her a while and few more blinks to understand that she wasn't speaking at all and that the voice was actually her mother's.

"Chris! Chris honey please look at me!" Lily's broken voice continued and Claire felt a couple of hands touching her cheeks and turning her head. There she met her mother's gaze, eyes full of tears and terror looking into hers. She tried to speak, but she was voiceless, nothing came out of her throat. Or at least that's what she heard, because the still roaring pounding wouldn't let her go. She was actually loudly whimpering but she couldn't hear herself yet. The echo of the blast was still in her head. She could see a figure tossing her dead body and calling her, caressing gently her face. A deep sorrow pervaded her. Chris. She just hoped he made it. If mom was talking to him he was surely alive, isn't it?

The hands stroked her face a bit, shaking her slightly. "Chris, honey... everything's going to be fine... don't worry" Lily cried, and noticing that the face she was holding didn't watched back at her but insisted to watch on the right side, she added "Chris, don't worry, ok? Claire's gonna be fine too. She's gonna make it..." her voice even more broken and shaken, tears running down her cheeks.

Claire looked back at her mother's face, realizing only in that moment that she was actually addressing at her.

"M-mom..." She stuttered, nothing more than a whisper "Mom... where is Chris?"

Lily stared back confused "Darling you're here, you're fine... don't worry, Chris...".

"Mom..." She said, wincing at the sound of what was supposed to be her voice - she felt it coming out her throat this time - it sounded so strange "Mom I am Claire, where is Chris?"

Lily looked down in complete terror. Her son was raving. She wiped her tears and slid a hand under Chris's neck to help her son sit up. She looked at her right and saw Robert lifting Claire's unconscious body. She was alive, fortunately. They were all slightly injured for the heavy glass had broken in some points and spread splinters all over but causing no severe wounds on anybody. But the blast had been a real bash and it had struck all of them violently.

Lily eased her son up, holding him by his right shoulder and caressing his face with her other hand. "Chris... Darling...".

Claire was about to say again that she wasn't Chris and that her mother must have bumped her head hard but a glance over her body left her shattered. Of course she wouldn't have found her own body right under, because she had clearly seen it laying on the floor, but she expected to see at least some sort of ghost like version of her... Not a huge male body.

She stared at her body completely upset before turning her head back to Lily with a sorrowful gaze "Mom..." dammit her voice was so low and... masculine "Mom what happened to me?".

"Chris, there's been a burst an-" but she was cut off by her son raw rattling voice.

"I AM CLAIRE!" She screamed panting hard and feeling tears running down her cheeks. She reached up to wipe them away just to find her fingertips met with... beard.

"M-mom... what... the fuck happened to me? I am Claire." She cried sobbing hard.

Lily would just stare at his son with a confused face, unable to elaborate what his beloved Chris was saying. Her brain refused to do it. It was too much. Her daughter was unconscious and that alone was enough to hurt her mother's heart, her son was crying and shaking in her arms screaming senseless things. This was too much for her.

A shrill shout pervaded her mind, it was Claire's, she had woken up. Lily turned her head to her husband watching him struggling to keep their wiggling daughter in his arms.

Claire heard the scream too, and as she turned slowly towards it she was met by her own face looking at her in distraught. Terror was all she felt then. Terror was all mirrored in that face, her face, staring back at her.

"What the... fuck..?" She heard the body say, or better, she saw her face and lips move while pronouncing those words using her voice.

Then it all went black.

Hello there! Are you new around here? Did this first chapter tickle your fantasy? I hope so. And IF so, I have a thing to tell you, a warning and a reassurance as well: the first chapters are not so well written. I know. I was so unexprerienced back then but I learnt a lot, so if you manage to resist some awful mistakes and bad telling in the first 9 chapters, the storytelling gets better. Never perfect, never totally flawless, but better.

By swiping to the next chapter, you do an act of faith in my words. I promise, I'm doing by best to be worth your time!
Love,
a Fangirl