"Lucia, Lucia!" A small voice filled the otherwise silent room, waking the girl from her deep slumber.
Despite being woken in the still early hours of the morning, Lucia couldn't help, but smile because when she opened her eyes she was greeted by a toothy grin of an eight year old child, silver hair a mess upon the little girl's head.
"Claire," She chuckled lightly, rolling over onto her side and moving her duvet out of the way, pulling the girl's arms and bringing her down into a hug. "What are you doing up so early?" She joked lightly, already knowing the answer.
Claire rolled her bright ocean-like eyes, "Luc, you know why." She complained, lightly tugging a strand of Lucia's red-brown hair and then absently twisting the curl around her finger.
She pretended to think for a bit, frustrating the child till she laughed and said, "That's right, it's someone's birthday!" And Claire grinned at that, more than obviously thrilled.
"You never told me what you wanted though." Lucia told her as an afterthought, sitting them both up and pushing the blinds apart to check the weather outside, it was sunny and bright, a perfect Illinois summer day.
Claire smiled that secretive smile of hers, and despite how young she was, the girl had a sense of mystery and intelligence about her. "Well," She began, playing with Lucia's hands. "I wanted you to show me how to shoot."
Lucia was confused and a bit surprised at first, not to mention worried. Even though she had learned to shoot bow and arrow at a very young age, it scared her to even think of putting such weapons in such innocent hands.
Though, the surprise didn't stay long. She knew the reason for wanting to learn how to shoot; it was to simply be able to defend herself. She always saw Claire looking at her with those clear eyes when she would strap on her hunting gear and now understood why the girl had always been so interested.
Lucia decided upon it, quickly nodding her head. "Sure thing, it's your birthday after all." Her sister's face lit up in joy, happily clapping her hands together. "Go get your shoes; we'll head out right away."
"Thanks, Luc, I love you." Her joyous voice rang through the room and without another moment of hesitation, she took off like a rocket while Lucia stayed behind for second, wondering if she'd regret this decision or not.
;;;
"No, Claire, like this." Lucia patiently straightened out her little sister's elbow, careful to avoid the arrow that was so precariously put into Claire's hand.
"Alright, now look straight ahead and imagine a bull's eye on that tree right there." She waited silently till the blonde-haired girl nodded, putting all her concentration on the oak tree ahead. "Shoot whenever you're ready, but keep picturing the arrow flying straight at the target." Again, she nodded and waited a moment, making sure her aim was precise.
The two siblings had been at shooting for over an hour, Lucia always patient and Claire getting more and more frustrated as each arrow as flew past its target and into the forest ahead.
Lucia had taken them to a remote area on the border of Illinois and Iowa, more than careful to stay out of any sort of populated place, knowing the dangers if they were to get caught.
Back then, Lucia hardly knew what they were up against. She only knew that there had been some sort of invasion on their planet and human bodies were being taken over, the rest was a mystery to her.
The memory of her father being taken was still fresh and hurt to think about, but she continued to be strong for her sister, risking her life by raiding and hunting during the night time to be able to feed them.
Without warning, Claire's arrow flew in the air, slightly aimed for the tree, but much too off to ever hit its actual target.
The young girl groaned and threw her bow onto the ground, flustered and frustrated at her poor attempts.
But, Lucia was patient and calm as always, stepping forward to pick up the bow gently, placing it away from the child. "Claire," She slowly spoke, placing a comforting hand on her bony shoulder. Her sister turned to face her, tears burning in her eyes, making Lucia's heart clench in sadness. There was nothing more that she hated than seeing her sister in pain.
"I'll never get it right!" She screamed in anger. "It's not fair, Luc, you're so good at it, why can't I be? No matter how many times I try, it won't go right." She was crying harder now. "You're so brave and nice. I just want to be like you." She whispered the last part in anguish, pushing tears in Lucia's own eyes.
There was a moment of silence before the older girl wrapped Claire tightly in her arms, brushing her pale hair from her face. "Claire, you don't have to be like me. Do you know how smart you are? I wish I was half as smart as you at your age. And how you're always so happy." She smiled, putting sincerity into her words and trying to bring the mood up.
Claire sniffled, "I'm not happy right now." She admitted, shamefully looking down.
"No, you're not." Lucia lifted her sister's face up to look at her. "But, you could be." She suggested and got a confused look from her. "How about we give the bow a break and we can go pick some of those wild berries we saw down the trail a bit, hmm? We can even bring some back to the shed and make some jam. Does that sound good?" She asked and after a moment finally pulled a smile from Claire.
"That sounds great." She smiled crookedly, moving in to hug her older sister again. "I love you, Luc."
"Love you too, kiddo." And then broke the embrace, standing up at full height. "I'll go fetch those arrows and you pack up, okay?" Claire nodded, already starting to remove the bracer from her wrist.
Watching the girl for a moment, Lucia turned to head off into the dense forest area, trying to recall where each arrow had gone.
She enjoyed the forests life as she searched for all the arrows, finding some stuck in brushes, other high up in trees that took her a while to climb and retrieve. But, it was relaxing anyways. She would stop occasionally to smell the wildflowers or observe a small grouping of birds in a willow tree.
She could have sworn she heard shuffling behind her at intervals, but every time she would turn around there would be nothing and no evidence of anything behind her.
Having found all the loose arrows, Lucia headed back towards the grassy clearing, chills going down her spine at the thought of being followed and unarmed.
It wasn't until she was a few hundred feet from the clearing that she heard a loud and obnoxious sound up ahead. It was a churning sort of noise, annoying and stirring the air. It was a noise you'd only find at airports, or shuttle station.
Seekers.
That was a word she had familiarized herself with, knowing that those were the beings that took her father away and made a monster out of his body.
"Claire," She screamed, dropping every single arrow besides one, holding it out in front of her like a knife. She may not have her bow, but the arrow was the most important part of the weapon, the sharpened metal would be enough to hurt someone.
The worry and panic only got worse as she got no answer back and she continued to charge faster, the opening to clearing looking like it was years away. Lucia's breaths came in abrupt pulls and gasps, heart pumping wildly as she thought of those…those things getting their hands on her poor, innocent sister.
A piercing scream dove into her eardrums and it sounded a bit like her name, no doubt it was Claire's scream.
"No, no, no," She gasped and was about to break into the clearing…before she was being tackled to the ground.
It felt like she had gotten hit by a brick wall, slamming her all the way to ground and knowing any breath she had out of her.
The lack of oxygen and the impact her head took from hitting the forest floor left her dizzy and disoriented. She could feel her vision slipping as her view narrowed down to a pinpoint and the last thing she saw was the light from the clearing, her sister's scream replaying over and over again.
(A/N : So, just thought I'd put a full flash-back chapter up. I'll hopefully have another up today or early tomorrow since I'm leaving wifi for two days afterwards.
Anyways, enjoy!
And tell me what you think of it and if I should make more flash-back chapters or not.)