Prolouge

Prologue

Do you ever wonder what would happen if you changed one thing in your life? Year after year we make thousands of choices, and go down thousands of paths, only to end up in the same place, the dirt. So, why do we try?  One choice after another, and suddenly I'm standing on the edge of a warehouse thinking about how it all started. 

Maybell Age 6 

Walking past the door that would wake my parents up. I look towards the ceiling and make a silent prayer that the floor I'm walking on won’t squeak under my feet. Walking down the stairs of our sensible two story house was no picnic. Stair after stair squeaked when I stepped as lightly as I could. Making my way across the living room, I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. What to get, what to get. The decision was so obvious for me when my eyes landed on the chocolate ice cream sitting in the back, untouched, that my mother bought after work today. 

Grabbing it out of the fridge, I open the freezer and fill a cup with ice for my twin. Doing my best to retrace my steps back to the room Paison and I share, was more difficult than coming down the stairs that would squeak endlessly. Living in the same room with your twin has its benefits, like, when you want to stay up late one day, you say the word and your twin has to stay up also, it's like an unspoken rule.  

Walking into the bedroom, I plop down on my bed that is  littered with all the stuffed animals I've had since I was a little kid. Throwing the cup of ice to mason, I wonder how one tiny cup filled with frozen water would be appealing. 

“Dude, mom just bought that, she is going to be pissed that you ate it all” he scoffed, while shoving two pieces of ice down his throat. 

“No, she will never know as long as we vow to each other that this is our little secret.”  I say scoffing into the pint of ice cream that is filling my little life with joy. He huffs and sits into his bed, which could be mistaken for batman's batcave, instead of a 6-year-olds-bed. 

While eating the food that I snuck up the stairs, we both suddenly freeze when we hear the door at the end of the hall dramatically open. The footsteps walking towards our room have us breathing hard and trying to not make a peep. Slamming our door open, my mother stands in the doorway with the robe we got her for Christmas hung loosely over her shoulders. We jump from the sudden noise, which makes our mom burst out laughing. 

“What are you guys still doing up?” 

“Maybell made me” pointing dramatically at me, I look at him like he just broke the most sacred vow that we literally made like 2 seconds ago. 

“Dude!” 

Looking at me with an apology, my mother’s gaze zeroes in on the spoon that is halfway to my mouth. 

“Is that what I think it is?” She asks with a mocking glare. You know, one of the looks that makes you question why you actually decided to get up that morning. 

“Noooo?” I say as I try to hide the ice cream under my pillow. Walking towards me she crouches down and wrestles the ice cream out of my grip. 

“I just bought this, you know, for the party we are hosting, in your honor.” Standing, she gives Paison the same look she gave me and says

“You, young man, are getting water all over your bed. Give that to me.” Giving her the cup, Paison glares at me as if I got him in this mess, the jerk. When she has the food that took me ages to sneak up the stairs, she gives us one last look and walks out the door throwing threats like, selling our books, or killing us, over her shoulder. 

Looking at each other, we silently pass the blame before finally sinking into our respective beds, and closing our eyes. 

Feeling like seconds later, a big bang woke me up and instantly I was in a bad mood. How dare someone wake me up. Getting up fast from the bed, I land back on my butt while my head spins from getting up so fast. Shoving my feet in my slippers, Mason and I quietly trudge down the stairs stepping on the parts that we know won’t make a noise under our weight. Feeling Paison at my back, we get to the bottom, and peek our head around the corner to witness the scene that will remain in my head for as long as I will live. 

My sweet mother is on her knees, telling the people that are pointing a black, shiny gun at her head, to go to hell. The very word she told us was forbidden, was being thrown around like it was candy. Gazing around the room, I notice my father in a heap on the floor with a golf ball sized bump on his head. While another masked man stands above him, laughing at what my mother is saying. 

“Come on, Cynthia, we all know that her mark will show up at some point, might as well give her to us while you still have the chance.” Laughing at the woman that has raised me, he raises his gun and points it to the place that me and my twin are hiding. “You can’t protect her forever, Fletcher wants them all dead. It will be better when she is younger, you know, so she can’t fight us.”

Fighting the bonds that are tying her wrist together, she raises her head and spits right into the face that is staring back at her.

“My daughter will never be in the hands of whoever the hell Fletcher is.” Giving him a look that would have my whole body shaking, the masked man wipes the mucus off his face and laughs like it was the funniest thing he has ever heard. Paison and I shared a look that held one emotion, fright. The next thing we know, another big bang threaded around the room. Looking back at the scene, my mother falls to the ground and a big puddle of sticky, red liquid seeps out. 

A scream escapes my lips, and the masked men turn towards me. Smiling, he raises the same gun that killed my mother, and points it straight at me and the quivering mess at my back. Throwing my hand up, bright white light shoots out and another embarrassing scream rips from my throat. 

Looking from between my fingers, I look at the chaos that is before me. My mother on the ground with more red liquid around her, my father, blinking while seemingly raising from a coma-like-state, and worst of all, two men that walked right into our house, stuck in one big block of ice that looks like a masterpiece from that one movie, “How to train your Dragon”. 

Moving toward my father, I prepare to throw myself into the arms that have shown me nothing but love, when suddenly he jumps to his feet and turns his burning gaze to me and my brother. 

“What have you done?” he screams like suddenly this is all our fault. 

Looking me up and down, he gives me a look that is all disgust and runs towards his wife laying on the floor. “You killed her, you freaking monster.” 

Looking between my parents, suddenly everything is making sense. 

“I'm a mythical '' I whisper, like if I say the words out loud it would cause bad things to happen. Turning toward Paison, I’m prepared to see jealousy, anger, or even fright, but seeing the pity on his face was like pouring ice over my whole body. Turning, I ran for the door that was kicked off its hinges, when I was grabbed from behind by little hands that similarly resemble my own. Screaming at him to let me go, we go crashing to the floor, where I beg him to unhand me so I don't have to hurt him like I did to the horrible men that all caused this. 

“Maybell, please look at me.” Turning me around, I stare at the eyes I see in the mirror every day, only he had tears that were trying to escape.

“You're not a monster, you're a protector, don’t listen to him.”

“GET OUT, AND NEVER COME BACK.” Hearing the rage that pours from my fathers throat makes me shake to my bones. I grab Mason’s hand and flee the only home I have ever known. And suddenly we enter a world that has become very big.