"D-Do you want to play?"

Eight year old Angelo Trusk asked the
little girl, who had somewhat found her way to the opposite side of his sandcastle.

She looked down at him and then cringed, fear written all over her face. He stood up and then took a step towards her.

"I make pretty good castles. I could teach you." He continued. Taking another step forward but she took another step back,fear evident on her face.

She looked around nervously, her breathing hard and uneven.

It was almost as though she was trying to see if she was being followed.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" He asked slowly when his eyes met the thin metal bracelet around her wrist. She swallowed and then looked away.

"Are they after you?"

She looked at him slowly, gulped and nodded.

"H-help me." She whispered.

Angelo glanced up instantly at the sound of blades whirling above them.

A helicopter.

"Over there!" They heard someone yell.

"Come with me." He grabbed her hand. "I'll protect you."

They could already hear the barking of hunting dogs from a distance. He knew they were not too far away.

"Angelo!" He heard his mother cry out as she rushed out of the house, pulling her kimono in place and approached them, his father following closely behind her. She was a slender woman, petite, fragile. He'd always wondered why she never seemed to get fatter no matter how much she ate.

He could see the huge frown on his father's face when his eyes met the little girl, it was like he knew who she was immediately, especially when he noticed how there were agents in uniforms running right behind them.

"Get away from my son!" His father said, pushing the little girl to the ground. He watched her bracelet fall to the ground, the faint sound of the metal hitting the ground playing repeatedly in his head.

Angelo could hear his mother utter some inaudible words as his eyes moved to the girl who lay on the floor helplessly.

She looked so scared...so angry.

He watched the soldiers run towards her with guns in their hands.

They seemed to be yelling words at them but he couldn't process.

She was just a child.

"You said you'd protect me!" She muttered, her words barely above a whisper. "You promised!" In an instant she was up, her hands balled into a fist as the soldiers drew closer.

His eyes widened as a ball of fire surrounded her fist.

"Get down!"

Those were the last words he heard.
The last thing he could remember.