-1The next morning, Frank walked onto the sunny lawn to play catch with his son, Frank Jr.
Frank Jr. was now 13 years old and a prime athlete, excelling in baseball, track, and basketball. Frank's firstborn was a remarkable kid, always selfless and working for the betterment for his mother.
For Frank, young boys always represented tragedies to him. His experiences in the jungle were a constant reminder of his dark past. However, Frank Jr. was another bright spot, another blessing that would never be taken away from him.
Frank's meltdown last evening prompted him to realize the gifts that God gave him. There was no need to dwell on events that were beyond Frank's control. They were events created by crazed bureaucrats and cowardly hawks. There was no need to chastise himself anymore. He had a family to take care of.
Losing focus, Frank suddenly woke up to reality when the baseball hit Frank in the head.
"Dad? What the heck are you doing?" Frank Jr. asked in bewilderment. Frank suddenly charged his son jokingly and attempted to hoist him into the air. With most men, this would have been a trying feat, but Frank's extremely impeccable health, strength, and stamina, made it relatively easy.
"You think that's funny! Throwing baseballs at your old man?" Frank joked as he flung his son across the lawn.
"Ow Dad! What was that for?" As Frank charged at his son again, Frank Jr. dodged it with ease and began to pour taunts faster than the force of Niagara Falls.
"You call that a charge Dad! Garth's grandmother could hit harder than you!" Frank Jr. ran around like a maniac before finally tripping over a root. As the younger Frank Castle tried to spit out roots, Frank finally caught up with him and threw him again into the ground, right in front of Maria Castle. With her hands on her hips and an irritated expression on her face, Maria walked over to settle the situation.
"What are you two doing?" asked Maria with false fury. "C'mon, let's get ready for the picnic." Frank suddenly swept Maria off her feet and into her arms causing his wife to scream and laugh at the same time. With his beautiful wife in his arms, Frank carried her into the kitchen where Frank's 10-year-old daughter Lisa was busy making sandwiches. After Frank set his wife down and gave her a long kiss, Lisa voiced her displeasure.
"Yuck!"
"What? Are you jealous of your mother?" Frank reached and hoisted his daughter into the air causing her to squeal in delight.
"Hey, put me down!" ordered Lisa amidst cries of laughter. Frank obeyed and set her daughter down by the sandwiches.
"So what did you make anyway?"
"Turkey, peanut butter and jelly, and grilled cheese. You like that dad?" Frank smiled.
"Like it? I love it Lisa!" Frank exclaimed giving her a kiss on the cheek. Maria was right, there was nothing better than having a great loving family. \
The Castle family got in the family car and drove off to have a wonderful day as a family, the first time in a while that the family was able to experience this.
As the silver van backed out of the Castle home, a sleek black car pulled up abruptly near the house. Inside were Brock Bones, Quentin Glass, Johnny Barini, Billy Russo, and four other goons.
"Yeah, this is his house," Bones said silently. Billy and Brock left the car and took out several gas cans.
"Follow that car. Don't let them out of your sight," said Billy ruthlessly.
They broke into the house and promptly flooded the place with as much gasoline as possible. Billy lit a cigarette before he was about to set the place on fire.
"You know Brock, the stupid thing about the suburbs in Paragon, they never come with home security systems, just a half-assed pig patrol," Billy said with arrogance as they walked out of the house. After finishing his cigarette, Billy chucked his lighter into the home, lighting up the Castle belongings in destructive liquid gold.
The tulips were in full bloom once again as Frank and his wife and kids walked happily into Reginald Park to enjoy a long-delayed picnic. There the family munched on sandwiches and began to play a fun game of badminton as an hour passed.
With Frank Jr. and Lisa running around to play a game of "I Spy," Frank rested himself on a rock near a pond filled with lily pads. Maria walked over and promptly rested against her husband.
"How are you?" she asked Frank lazily. The food coma was just beginning to set in.
"I'm doing fine, thanks to you." Maria smiled back at Frank.
"You remember the first time we met here?"
"How could I forget? That moment was the day when my past could finally leave me alone." Maria closed her eyes and sighed with content.
"I'm afraid Frank." Frank frowned.
"Of what?" Maria paused for a moment. A cool spring breeze captured both of them in an intimate moment.
"I had a dream. In that dream, you left us and you never returned. I don't want that to happen." Frank stared gloomily at the pond in front of him.
"I swear to you Maria," he began, "I will never abandon the children. And I would especially never leave you." The warm air soaked the two lovers in a comfortable ray of sunlight and Frank bent down to kiss his beautiful wife, the gentle caress of her soft lips bringing tears to his eyes. Maria in turn clung tighter to Frank's embrace.
"I know you will always protect us," Maria said softly.
Suddenly, multiple gunshots rattled through the air, catching the two in a sensation of fear.
"The kids!" Frank jumped away and lightly grabbed his wife in a frantic search for the kids. Frank ran as fast as legs could carry him through the park when he and his wife tripped over the body of a dead police officer.
"Dad!" called out a moderate whisper. "Dad! It's me Frank!" Stepping out of a nearby rock were Frank Jr. and Lisa.
"What the hell is going on?" Frank asked as he slipped the police officer's Beretta into his jeans.
"I don't know!" Frank Jr. rambled nervously. "These armed thugs dressed in black just came out of nowhere and started coming after me and Lisa. I ran as fast as I could and we hid behind these rocks when we saw one of them gun down this cop." Frank scanned the park for potential threats. As Lisa cried in panic, Frank turned to his wife.
"Maria, take the kids and go back to the house!" he ordered.
"Frank! You said you would never leave us!"
"Maria!" Frank began with more insistence. "These guys are probably after me. I need you to leave now so you will be safe. I can deal with this on my own."
"But Frank--"
"There's no time!" angrily interjected Frank. "Go now!" Wiping away tears, Maria simply nodded and gathered her children. Before she left, Frank grabbed her arm with force. "Maria, I love you. Never forget that." Crying uncontrollably, Maria hugged Frank and promptly sprinted for the parking lot.
Quickly arming himself with the Beretta, Frank pointed the gun to find the perpetrators. One leapt at him with a combat knife from behind several bushes. He was an extremely muscular man who subdued Frank with ease.
Trying hard to stab Frank, the man grunted and snorted as Frank pushed away his hand. Frank just barely got his Beretta and shot one bullet into his stomach. Groaning with pain and clutching the wound, the thug tried to lunge for Frank again but Frank shot him again in the leg.
"There he is!" called out a voice as a bunch of thugs in black sprinted after Frank. Realizing he stood little chance, Frank took off with the Beretta in his hand and made his way over to the parking lot of the park.
He noticed the silver van in the parking lot staring back at him with twisted humor. Frank frantically looked around for his wife and kids.
"Maria!" he cried out in vain. "Maria!"
"She's right here you fucking shit!" Frank turned around to see five thugs dressed in black. To his unimaginable horror, he saw his wife and two children kneeling down with their hands behind their head, their fates at the mercy of the cold and wicked killers in front of him. One of them, a balding man with mirrored sunglasses approached Castle slowly.
"Frank Castle,"
"What the fuck do you want?" The man promptly punched Castle across the face. Maria screamed and Lisa began to cry harder.
"Stop crying you little bitch!" threatened Johnny Barini as he pointed his gun closer to Lisa's face.
Quentin Glass continued to punch Frank across the face before Frank's face resembled oozed blood from his nose.
"Please…"
"What did you say?"
"Please… leave my family alone." Glass laughed. He then nodded over at Billy Russo. Billy's handsome face suddenly smiled as he cocked his Desert Eagle at Frank Jr.
Maria screamed.
Billy strutted confidently over to Lisa who cried uncontrollably.
"Please! I don't want to die!" she pleaded. Billy laughed with a sickening glee.
"Don't worry. It won't hurt." He emptied two shots into the head of Lisa Castle, a girl who was only 10 years old.
"You see that you fucking asshole!" Glass yelled as he held up Frank to see the brutal execution of his two children. Frank lamented in anguish as Billy slowly walked over to Maria Castle. Maria wailed and cried out for mercy as Billy began to toy with her, putting his gun in her mouth and spitting on her.
"Lady, get the hell out of my life." Before Billy squeezed the trigger, Frank stared through tearful eyes at his wife for the last time. He saw her beautiful eyes gleam back at him.
"I love you Frank." Billy squeezed the trigger and chuckled. The flash of the gun struck Frank's psyche like a bolt of cold lightning, the subsequent recoil thundering in his mind like a horrid note. Maria's body fell forward in slow motion, a grotesque dance, the life gradually fading in her beautiful face.
"Would have fucked her brains out if there was time." At those words, Frank immediately charged at Billy and knocked him to the ground. However, Johnny Barini grabbed Frank's physically and emotionally weakened body.
"Don't you even dare you fucking narc pig!" Johnny threw him to the ground and kicked him alternately in the gut and the spine, causing Frank to convulse and cough out blood. Grabbing Frank by the collar, Johnny mercilessly beat Frank to a pulp before his face was nothing but a bloody mask. At that moment, Johnny let Frank fall to the ground in agony.
Despite the beating, nothing pained him more than the sight of his wife and kids lying on the ground, their life brutally taken away from them by a man who arrogantly sneered back at Frank.
Glass grabbed a cooler of beer and together, the goons toasted over a disturbing occasion. To them, another assassination meant more paychecks, more partying, more booze, and more women. There was plenty of alcohol for other things.
"You like beer, dip shit?" asked Johnny with a nauseating mockery. "Drink up before you overheat!" The goons poured alcohol all over the Castle family as they walked over to the nearby black car. Using the strength that he still had, Castle painfully arched his neck to see Billy lighting a match and flicking onto the ground.
"Adieu Castle."