"Hey kiddos,"

His voice comes out husky and tired. As if he wore it out from yelling. It sends chills down my spine as it echos slightly, creating an ominous vibe. 

I freeze in horror when he wipes the hunting knife down his black shirt, leaving a faint stain of apple red blood. I look down, trying to avoid his piercing dark brown eyes, and I find more blood spattered over his boots. 

I want to scream, but my throat feels all clammy. I steal a look towards the boy, my brother, and see him brandishing a bow from what appears to be thin air. The man just chuckles.

It sounds more like a hoarse cough, but his eyes seem to be laughing at us. 

"Now," the humor drops from his voice, returning it to a dull throb, "I thought we already talked about pulling weapons on me last time. Did we not?" 

The question hangs in the air, making my brother's knuckles go white with the force being applied to the bow. The man lets out another raspy laugh and snaps his fingers, sending the bow flying out of my brother's hands and across the clearing. 

My brother doesn't waste any time before summoning a ball of light and making it hover in his palm. He looks uncertain, as if he doesn't know how long he can fight. The man smiles at his discomfort, and I'm still rooted to my spot. 

I try to access the part of my brain that did the thought communication thing, but it seems blocked off. I try to pry at it with my mind, but I gasp at the pain that shoots down my neck. 

The man's eyes dart over to me, and his eyebrows arch up, as if he had forgotten I was there. His eyes light up with insanity, and I can see the shift in his demeanor. He curls his finger towards me, motioning for me to come closer. 

Every part of my body screams out for me to stay still, but it feels like my body isn't mine anymore. I watch from inside of my prison as I walk closer and closer to the man clad in black. I see myself stop when I am only about a foot away. 

I hear my brother scream out, hear him struggle in his body cage. He's stronger than me, I can barely open my mouth, but the man is stronger then him. 

In horror, I watch the knife rise up and up, and see the man prepare himself for the impact. I follow his arm with my frightened eyes as he lets the knife fall down, down... 

13 Years Ago

"Why are there two?"

She rolls her eyes at this, struggling to not retort that 'there just are'. But she doesn't say anything. She stays silent as her husband yells from the foyer. 

"We don't have the money to raise two children!"

She tries to reason with him, but to no avail. She sighs a low breath, and gathers up the two bundles of skin in her arms and offers them out to her husband.

In a small voice she asks, "Which one shall we keep?"

She knows the answer already. The boy. It was always about the boy. But she had hope for the little girl. The girl with the fiery red hair and bright green eyes.

"The boy."

She sighs deeply again, and drags herself out of the house, leaving the little girl's fate in her husbands hands. With nowhere else to go, she kneels at the alter hidden in the back of the barn. She prays for hope, and mercy towards the littler girl. 

After crying for quite a bit, she decides to return to the house all red, and puffy in the eyes, hoping her husband won't see. But the house is quiet. She hears nothing.

Not her husband in the kitchen, or in the room they share. 

Cautiously, she enters the small kitchen and hears a baby cry out. On the table, tucked into a small, brown, beaded satchel, she finds the little girl with a note tied to her wrist. 

She opens it and steps back with a gasp. The note only had two words.

"I heard."