Fire. That was all I saw everywhere I looked. I wasn’t sure who caused this, but surely I wasn’t planning on waiting to find out.
I hurried through the hallways, trying to find my parents room. It was hard to see and breathe through all the smoke, but I still went on.
I used my sleeve to cover my nose as I coughed, the shrill laughter of the culprits ringing around me. It entered my head, sending a massive headache through my brain. The sound of firemen yelling and the wails of their trucks was deafening.
Through the smoke and my teary eyes, I found the door to my parent’s room. I kicked it open, its hinges already weak from the fire.
“Mom?!” I called in the room, coughing. There were wails, laughter, the shout of orders... it was all too much. I felt like giving up; letting the fire take me away.
Never, ever, give up.
That’s what dad would have said. Never, never, never...
I went on in the smoke filled room, my eyes desperately looking through the blazing flames. I could only make out their burning bed and the chair my mother was sitting on. Well, her charred corpse, that is.
My eyes darted away from her as I doubled over and vomited. It was all just a horrible dream. A nightmare. I’ll wake up soon, jump out of bed, and get breakfast...
Due to my lack of focus and the world swimming around me, I tripped on something big. I looked over at the object. My father’s empty sockets stared back at me, his face burnt black from the fire, his mouth forever formed in a shocked O.
The breath I was hanging onto escaped out of my lungs.
It was over.
I felt myself lose consciousness as hands desperately tried to grab after me.
Never give up. Never, never, never...
By the time I woke up I was in a dark room, only lit by the dim florescent lamp beside me. I recognized that I was laying down on a steel table, my arms and legs restricted. Maybe I was still in the nightmare.
I shut my eyes and counted to ten. I opened them again. Two brown eyes stared down at me.
“This isn’t a dream,” The man said. “So might as well stop trying.”
I didn’t listen. Instead, I shut my eyes again, ignoring the cool sensation of the bars against my wrists. When I wake up, everything will be back to normal. This is just a long, torturing, nightmare.
I opened them again, the man with the brown eyes smiled.
“Believe me now? No waking up from this mess.”
“Who are you?” My voice sounded foreign to me. So raspy; dead.
“I’m the one who saved your pathetic life. I see a promising future for you. I believe you’ll work pleasingly for us.” Work pleasingly for us. I couldn’t help but wonder who the ‘us’ was.
“Where am I?” The man straightened himself. I heard him walk around the room.
“You’re at a little place called Inferno. We’re the long lasting Mafia you’re dad worked for.”
“Is that the reason why our house—“
“Burned down, yes. Your father betrayed from some very dangerous people. Burning down your house was their payback.”
The way the man responded to me was off. I knew something wasn’t right.
“You’re lying.” I said. The man looked at me and smiled.
“See? I knew I wouldn’t regret saving you. You’re pretty good. Alright, we’re not a Mafia.”
“Then what are you?” He leaned in close to my ear and whispered,
“Assassins.”
The brown eyed man, whose name I now know as Scott Griffin, guided me out of the Inferno building. News reporters shoved microphones in my face and camera men desperately tried to get shots of me. I heard thousands of the same questions over and over again being spewed in my ear. So this was the mayhem Scott was talking about.
Scott pushed most of the reporters away until we got to the black limo. Inside, as Scott promised, was my friend Callie, who I had known since the dawn of time.
She looked at me sympathetically, which I was expecting from anyone. When you lost your house and family, forced to believe a man that he is an assassin, forced to live with him and call him your long lost cousin, and forced to agree for him to train you to become an assassin yourself, you’ll really need sympathy from others.
I looked away from her (I refuse to cry in front of a girl I’ve had a crush on since I hit puberty) and looked outside at the reporters shoving their bodies against the car. Desperate bastards.
“Cameron, I’m so sorry.” She finally said, as I was expecting. I didn’t say anything, which she was expecting.
Scott shifted in his seat, as if to acknowledge us of his existence. I rolled my eyes.
“This is Scott. He’s taking full custody of me from now on.” I said and waved my hand at him. “Scott, this is my insubstantial best friend, Callie.”
They shook hands.
“It’s nice of you to be taking care of Cam. He’s quite a handful though.” Jeez, she’s worse than my late mother.
“I’m up for the challenge. I’m pretty sure he has no choice.” Scott answered, glancing at me. I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting revenge on the Daoine Sidhe, the fey who ruined my life.
