Chapter Twenty-One
Axel remains upset about Roxas for a few days, and I feel guilty. I don't know if I feel guilty about not saving Roxas or guilty about telling Axel about him. I could've lied and told him I didn't know Roxas or he had been bought by someone; anything would've been better than the truth.
Thinking about Roxas makes me think about all the other young men and women I didn't help when I had the chance. These thoughts make my mind wander back to the night I couldn't even save myself. It's this thought that I fall asleep to a few nights later.
I wake up to the sound of a crash. I rub my eyes and look over to my clock. It's three in the morning, so I know it's not my sister or brother just getting in. Even when they go to outrageous parties, they get in at a semi-respectable hour. I lay and listen for another sound and am soon granted with indistinguishable yelling. It sounds like my dad, but I can't be sure. I clamber out of bed and cross my room the door. I crack it open and pop my head out. The yelling is louder out here, but still too far away to hear properly. I almost jump out of my skin when I hear another door along the hall open. I quickly look and see my brother's head sticking out of his door. He looks at me quizzically.
"What's going on, Ris-Ris?" he whispers. I shake my head and frown. Him being twenty-one and me eighteen, he only uses his childhood nickname for me when he's really worried about something.
"I don't know, Me-Me" I reply. I glance down the hall to our sister's closed door. "Where's Lars?" I ask. He looks to her door as well before shrugging. There's another crash and he waves at me, gesturing for me to come into his room. I scamper across the few feet separating our doors. He pulls me inside and shuts and locks the door.
"What do you think we should do?" he asks, fear in his eyes.
"I don't know… I mean, I'm sure mom and dad heard it, so they'll probably take care of it, right?" I ask anxiously.
"But how could someone have gotten in? They'd have to get over the gate and past the guards without tripping the alarms." I only have a second to ponder this before a scream and a slamming sound permeates the air. My brother and I both jump and look at the door fearfully. "That sounded like-"
"-Mommy?" I whimper, unintentionally finishing his sentence. We scurry into a corner of the room together as footsteps sound on the staircase. A light in the hallway clicks on and I can see shadows moving under the door. The shadows disappear, but I hear my bedroom door open. My brother is suddenly on his feet and pulling me up.
"They must be after you. Quick, hide in the closet before they come in here, and don't make a sound," he says, shoving me towards his closet. I've never heard him sound so resolute, so I do as he says. I huddle into the very back of the closet behind his clothes and he shuts the door. I hear him shuffle back into bed to fake sleeping.
A few minutes later, his bedroom door opens and I hear the pad of footsteps go to his bed. It sounds as though there are two, maybe three, people in the room.
"Get up, kid. I know you're awake," a smooth, deep voice says. A strangled sound erupts from my brother's lips as someone forces him out of bed. I have to make myself remain where I am.
"Where's your sister?" a different, rougher voice asks.
"Wh-Which one?" my brother asks, and it sounds as though he's struck across the face.
"Don't play dumb. You know which one we're looking for."
"If she wasn't in her room, I don't know where she is," he says, but I hear the quiver in his voice.
"He's lying," says a third voice with a hint of laughter. "What a good brother, trying to save his baby sister. What a farce."
"A far- no, don't!"
The closet door is suddenly wrenched open and a hand grabs onto my hair. I scream as the man pulls me from my hiding spot.
"Well, well, well. Look at what I found," the third man hisses in my ear and a piece of his long blue-silver hair falls into my face. My brother makes a lunge for the man, but one of the other men, a burly man with long black hair and sideburns, grabs him to hold him back.
"What a pathetic display," drawls the first voice, now matching a man with long silver hair and amber eyes. He waves his hand at the man holding me.
"You're coming with me," the man says, tightening his grip on my upper arm.
"No! Ris-Ris!" my brother screams, reaching a hand out to me. I try in vain to struggle forward to grab on, but I can't reach.
"Me-Me!" I yell desperately, tears flowing down my face as I'm dragged from the room and down the grand staircase. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, but no one seems to hear me. "Mommy! Daddy! Lars!" I yell, and the man chuckles.
"Oh, they can't help you now," he says calmly. In the living room, I learn what he means. The figure of my father is slumped against the wall, a gaping bloody wound in his chest and blood splattered on the wall behind him.
"Daddy! No! Daddy!" I cry uselessly. My eyes dart around the room fervently and I spot my mother, sprawled on the floor, unmoving but there's no blood. She's just knocked out; she's not dead. She can't be dead, I think, hoping more than anything I'm right.
Outside, the bodies of our guards litter the ground. The scene is terrifying and extremely gruesome, and I feel my knees going weak and my brain going hazy. I'm forced into a dark car and the man climbs in after me. I get one burst of adrenaline and lash out at him, but he catches my wrists easily in one hand and grabs the back of my head in the other. He presses my face against the window and puts his lips against my ear.
"Goodnight, princess," he whispers before rearing my head back and slamming it against the window. I feel my nose snap before blacking out.
I bolt upright in my bed and look around, panicked. I'm drenched in a cold sweat and my face is wet with tears. I'm shaking violently as my eyes dart around the room. Realizing where I am, I let out the breath I had been holding and feel my limbs go limp. Knowing I won't be able to go back to sleep, I shakily get out of bed and leave the room.