Chapter Six

The feeling of a bullet going through your body… it's the most painful feeling a human could endure…

It first feels numb… like nothing had happened… but then it all attacks you at once, the pain feels unbearable… especially to a child… to someone who can't take pain… for someone… who has died… from a bullet…

"I hate counting to twenty! There's no way I can do it backwards!" Little Alfred gently threw his crayon down onto the plastic table. The kindergarten classroom was filled with small talk of about twenty students, all trying to do the same task that was assigned; count backwards from twenty. All the kids barely knew how to count, they were just learning. They had given up and continued to draw on their papers as the teacher helped one of the students who actually tried… his name was Li… at least that's what he could remember. The day was overall quiet, like any other school day. They were dropped off by their parents early, they would go home by lunch time, which was maybe fifteen minutes away.

"It's easy Alfie," Little Matthew said. He put down his crayon and looked toward his friend, "It's just like in the song teacher taught us, but backwards!"

"That's stupid!" Alfred pouted and crossed his arms. "I wanna go home and eat already… boo the numbers!"

"You gotta know them," Matthew poked Alfred's cheek. "It's easy."

"Prove it, I bet you can't."

"I-I could," Matthew thought a bit. "Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen,… um… fourteen! F-fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten!"

"Geez, you are smart." Alfred pouted.

"Hehe… Then it's ten, nine, eight… um, seven, six, five… then four, three, two, and one."

The door of the classroom suddenly broke down and startled the children. Matthew and Alfred quickly looked up as a stranger walked into the classroom with crimson liquid soaked into his jacket. The two couldn't see his face, it was covered with some kind of mask. He began yelling at the kids, waving some kind of black object in his hand that shot off with a horrible sound that echoed around the room. The next they knew it, the teacher had fallen against the wall and fell to the floor, the same crimson liquid splattered all over her. He ordered the kids to get up, to stand against the wall, his voice send shivers down Matthew's spine.

"Get down." Alfred grabbed onto Matthew's arm and pulled him under the small table. The two peeked out as their classmates stood against the wall as the trembling man paced back and forth in front of them, they all seemed to whimper and cry until the man yelled at them to shut up. The horrible sound went of again… and again… and again and again and again! Matthew tried to cover his ears but his hands shook too much to actually cover them. Alfred stayed close to him under the small table as he watched their classmates fall to the ground, their heads soaked in the same color…

The sound had stopped, the man stood there still… it was done now. Alfred covered his mouth so not a single peep could come out, Matthew did the same. But the little blonde girl hiding under the table let out a small whimper, in which the man heard and rushed over. He flipped the table over and aimed the object at the girl. The terrifying sound went off again as the girl fell back. Matthew wanted to cry, he couldn't understand what was happening… he heard no sound from anyone else, just the man's angry breathing, not even his own or Alfred's. His heart pounded in his chest with pure terror as the man stood several inches away. They didn't make a single sound, but he knew.

The table was flipped off them as he aimed the object at the two of them. "I told you to line up!" The man yelled with a rough voice. "N-Now you have to be punished…" That sound went off again.

It hurt so much… the feeling… the numbness that came with the bullet that had entered his chest… then the pure pain…

Matthew's blank eyes were only focused on the ceiling as he coughed a bit for air. One of his hands laid on his chest, on the wound that pained him to the point that he couldn't move. He clutched onto his chest with the pain soaring through his body, he couldn't understand what was happening. He didn't blink, he didn't move, he couldn't speak, he simply stared at the ceiling and took the pain the best he could… he couldn't stop his eyes from tearing though.

"M-mat…" He could hear Alfred's shaky voice next to him. "H-hey… s-stay here o-okay?…" He could hear, he could feel Alfred's hand grab onto his empty one that laid on the floor. "M-Mat…" Matthew gasped for air but instead chocked a bit on the blood that laid in his mouth, he tried coughing it up. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe anymore. The feeling of Alfred's hand slowly began to disappear, simply fade away. "M-mat… t-their coming… t-those heroes t-teacher talked about.. T-their gonna c-come… a-and help us… o-okay?…" He knew Alfred was trying not to cry, but the fear in his voice only made Matthew more afraid. "J-just stay awake…"

He couldn't anymore… he couldn't breathe, he couldn't stay awake… everything felt numb…his hand clutching his wound lost its grip… he could feel his heart slowing it's pace… giving out.. He felt cold… so cold… he felt tired…he breathed out and closed his eyes.

Everything was blank, silent, numb, nothing… it was nothing… he was nothing… he was gone…

He suddenly heard voices, beeping sounds, the sound of an siren, he could hear again… he could see bright lights, shadows in the shapes of people above him… he could feel his body again, but he felt very cold still, a numbing kind of cold.

He could open his eyes, he could see people…

"He's stable," He could hear.

"Heart rate 119." He could hear.

"The bleeding is starting to stop," He could hear.

"He's waking up," he could hear. "Matthew, you're okay, just don't move okay?"

"Papa…" he could hear himself say…

"You're going to see your father very soon, it'll be okay." He could hear. The bright lights hurt his eyes, he couldn't see anyone's faces, just their figures. He could hear his own shaky breathing, his breath stuttering every time air entered his lungs. He was still numb, he still felt cold, he couldn't know what was happening… that pain though… that pain was still there… it still struck his entire being, it attacked at his core; it hurt too much… "It's going to be okay Matthew…"

That same pain struck now…

Matthew fell back a bit with the impact of the bullet but regained his balance. His eyes gazed down to his shoulder as the hot liquid soaked into his shirt and dripped down his arm. It was numb… simply numb… he knew the feeling, he knew the pain would come… but it wasn't… it wasn't coming…

His eyes gazed back up toward Alfred. Alfred stood there in confusion and fear, he didn't understand… his gun was empty… his gun was already empty. His ear rang though, from the sound that had been shot off so close to him. He looked over his shoulder then quickly backed away once he saw the gun so close to his own head.

"Little boy, you should step away now." The figure with the gun behind Alfred said. He clicked the weapon, "Or the next bullet will through your skull." The figure stood under a hooded cape, just like Roma had done. Ivan stared at him in disbelief, he couldn't understand. "Well? Move!"

"No!" Matthew yelled angrily. Ivan's eyes widened with the thought that the next bullet would take Matthew's life, he quickly tried to stand himself up. Matthew turned and looked down as the Russian used to wall to lift himself up, his blood dripping onto the floor. "I-Ivan?…" He grabbed onto the boy's shoulder.

"I-It's okay," Ivan breathed heavily. "I-I don't want you getting hurt anymore."

"Yeah! ? L-Look at you!"

"I'm fine, this is nothing." Ivan tried his best to stand up straight and look at the stranger. "Neither of them have anything to do with why you're here, don't hurt either of them anymore." Ivan knew, he knew what was happening; the ending of the story. Alfred gulped a bit as Matthew only looked in worry at Ivan. Ivan only smiled and reached his bloodied hand up to Matthew's cheek. "Don't worry, it'll be fine… I want you to take your friend and walk out that door, understand?"

"Bu-"

"Go. Now. Both of you." He let his hand drop away from Matthew and backed up against the wall, he was actually falling back but he couldn't look any weaker right now. "Go ahead. Get out." Matthew teared a bit but didn't let it show, he hurried over to Alfred and grabbed his arm.

"C-Come on Alfred," He said with a shaky voice. "L-Let's go." He pulled Alfred's arm with his only good arm and pulled him toward the door. Alfred stood in more of a shock than anything, but Matthew pulling him seemed to snap him out of it. Matthew looked back at Ivan as Ivan only gave a gentle smile and a nod… Matthew pulled Alfred out and tried to get away from the house.

Ivan looked back toward the stranger as the door shut behind them. The stranger took his hood off, showing his shortish brown hair and his dark eyes. The man slowly walked over to Ivan, who tried getting himself off the wall and onto his feet with balance. The man put the gun up to Ivan's chest though, right over his beating heart, and shot it off. The impact pushed Ivan back into the wall and gasping in pain as he grabbed onto his chest.

"It's beating in your chest again isn't it? Your heart?" the stranger smiled. "Human hearts can't take much, Ivan."

"Y-You… who are you…" Ivan managed to chock out.

"You can call me "Bul" if you want to… you're not going to have much time to though…"

"Y-You're here… because of Roma… aren't you?…" Ivan questioned. The name made Bul glare and put his gun up again, shooting the stop of Ivan's shoulder. "Ugh!… s-so I'm right?… you are here because of him… huh?"

"You killed him!"

"He killed my sisters! H-he killed my friends! He took my own life away for decades!" Ivan yelled then lost the ability to yell anymore, his body felt weak. "He ruined everything… and none of us did anything to deserve it…"

"You did something. Roma wouldn't of just "killed" you all without a reason… you did deserve it, you all deserved it."

"And he deserved to die then." Ivan sharply said. Bul twitched and shot his gun off once again, grazing Ivan's throat through his scarf and hitting the wall. His scarf soaked up the blood as Ivan slipped down the wall in pain, switching his hand from his chest to his throat. His vision was getting blurry, his eyes were pale and blank now. He looked up as Bul pulled his hands away from him, then shot his weapon off again, hitting though both of Ivan's hands. Ivan almost whimpered as his hands shook with pain, he couldn't control it anymore.

"You will pay for killing him…" Bul said. "I've tracked you down for the longest time… when I saw the house's fence and dangers disappear, I knew it was Roma's magic; I knew it was you. I knew you killed him for the longest time, and now you will die too!" Bul grabbed the oiled lamp on the small table that sat against one of the walls. Ivan only watched as Bul spilled the oil onto the ground, then take out a lighter

"T-There's gas in the basement…" Ivan said. "I-if you light it-"

"The whole house will blow up with us inside, I know." Bul said. "That's the plan… my life has been wasted to find you… I want to make sure you're dead… and I want to see Roma again…" His grip on the lighter tightened. "You and me will die together…"

"If you're willing to die… then so be it…" Ivan tried lifting himself up again but he simply couldn't, he fell back onto the bloody ground. "I-I have nothing to live for…" He smiled a bit. "Any life that I have lived took place within the last few days…" He could remember Matthew, the boy he had carried in and tried so hard to keep alive. The boy he had saved and took care of, who had actually cared for him, who loved him enough to break the damn spell they were under… the one that he had fallen in love with. "I've had enough… I'm ready to die… so I can see my sisters and my parents…"

Bul looked down at Ivan, there was nothing left now. He closed his eyes and flicked the lighter on. Within seconds, one small flame had set everything burning, flames and smoke filled the room within a minute, working it's way down to the basement where gas was used as their power source. Ivan closed his eyes, he knew it was over… it was the end of his story. He smiled though, even in the mist of the heat a tear managed to roll down his cheek. He had felt human again, he didn't care anymore. The pain was gone, soon he would be free… the story was over…

Matthew and Alfred managed to get almost out to the woods, far enough away from the house, until Matthew froze; he knew something was wrong. Behind him, the house blew up into the sky, shattering pieces around the area. Matthew quickly turned and looked toward the burning wreckage, his eyed widening in disbelief. He began panting, he couldn't look at it, he knew Ivan was in there… Ivan was gone… right?… just as sirens of police vehicles came closer, Matthew let out a burst of tears and screamed at the top of his lungs. "IVAN! ! ! ! ! ! !"

To be continued (in chapter seven)