Chapter 65

Blood starts to gush from her throat. My body freezes in place. My scream gets stuck in my throat. I can’t believe what has just happened to my sweet mother.
“No!” Oliver screams for me and Cedar since we can’t do it. He throws himself on the man who killed our mother, but it’s too late. She’s already dead. Oliver lashes out and punches the guy, my brother, who has always been collected, acts on impulse for the first time ever. The man takes advantage of my brother’s despair, and with incredible strength, he immobilizes him, forcing him onto the floor even though my brother cuts his arm with one of the knives in the process. Oliver’s no match for his strength.
“Mom!” Oliver screams and struggles, trying to escape from under the man. “Dad! No!”
I turn my eyes to my father. His eyes are swollen shut, and blood is trickling from his broken nose. He’s pale. Too pale. The urge to run out there overwhelms me, but I stay hidden because I’m completely paralyzed. Besides, I promised Ollie I’d hide and not make a noise. 
But then the other man starts beating our father. Even though my father seems unconscious, he continues punching him in the face over and over. Dad’s head starts to deform, and if he wasn’t dead, now I’m sure he is.
Oliver screams through the sound of the man’s punches as Cedar shrinks me  a little back into the dark closet. 
“Scream! Let your brother and little sister hear what awaits them. Where are they, boy? You hid them somewhere, didn’t you?”
I slide down against my brother with my hands over my ears, careful not to knock over board games.
I silently beg for this to be a nightmare. Salty tears stream down my cheeks, and I feel my head wet with Cedar’s tears, too. His face is pressed on the top of my head as he still hugs me. No matter how much I cover my ears, I still hear Oliver screaming because now, he’s the one getting hit. 
“Where are your siblings?” I hear one of the men say. “Your parents knew what they were getting into. The rule is clear. If you don’t pay, then the whole family pays the price.” I hear more punches and my brother screaming in pain. “Tell me where they are and I’ll let you live.” 
After a few seconds, my brother answers, “Do you... think... I’m dumb?” 
I hear several punch noises again before the other man says, “We know you have a brother and a sister, kid. And no matter where they’re hiding, we’ll fucking find them!”
Cedar rises to his feet and pulls me to mine before we peek again.
Oh, God!
Oliver screams and fights, punching and kicking. But the man is stronger. He knocks my brother to the floor.
The man kicks Oliver in the ribs. My brother’s face is already unrecognizable. “You’ll never find them.” Oliver spits blood on the floor.
“Check upstairs for them,” the man standing next to my older brother tells the other, using a finger to direct the other man where to go. The guy in shorts is nowhere to be seen. “We’ll track them down, no matter what,” he says before yelling to the other man climbing the stairs, “Turn this fucking place upside down!”
The man digs a gun into Ollie’s temple. I hold my breath.
No!
“Allie!” Cedar silently grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him. “Listen to me.”
I shake my head. I know what he’s going to say.
“Yes, Allie...” Cedar whispers. More tears gather on his lashes, and he quickly wipes them away as we hear Oliver roar.
“I need to go help Ollie.”
“No!”
“I have to, Allie! Or he’ll end up dead, too!”
“I’m going with you!” 
“No!” He shakes his head vehemently. I see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. “The other fucker isn’t here. He’s searching us upstairs. This is the best time to go. Oliver needs me! I’m going to attack the man who is torturing Oliver and—”
We both hear the sound of a gunshot. 
Cedar and I look at each other, neither of us daring to peek out and see what’s happened. But from Oliver’s silence...
No!
I muffle a scream.
It can’t be true!
At the same time, Cedar and I look through the small gap again, and then I spot my older brother. Blood is pouring from Oliver’s forehead.
He’s dead. Oliver is dead! 
Mom is dead! 
Dad is dead!
“Allie.” Cedar turns me back to him and hugs me tightly. But I can’t hug him back because I’m paralyzed. “We don’t have much time,” Cedar whispers in my ear. “As soon as I walk out this door, you wait for the man to be distracted by attacking me and then you get out of here as fast as you can without making a sound!”
I shake my head, tears streaming down my face. “Please, no, Cedar! Please!”
“I know, little sister.” Cedar tightens his arms around me.
“You’re going to sacrifice yourself for me! I don’t want to!”
“I need to!” Cedar lets go of me, and his green gaze meets mine. “It’s my job to protect you, remember? I’m your big brother. Run and don’t make any noise. Run as fast as you can, and don’t look back! Get out of town, change your name, and don’t let them find you because they won’t have mercy!”
“I’m not going without you!”
Cedar presses his lips together. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you. I’ll buy you time so you can run ahead, okay?”
From the look in his eyes, I feel like my brother has already accepted he would meet his death as soon as he left this closet. And he’s okay with that, so I can be safe.
“Please, Cedar, come with me. I don’t want to go alone! I’m scared!” My voice breaks.
“Shh! Everything will be fine. I love you, Allie! I’ll find you, don’t worry! And if that doesn’t happen, I’ll always be with you just like Oliver, Mom, and Dad,” Cedar promises softly as he strokes the back of my head.
“Promise me that you’ll do it, Allie. Please.”
I wipe my tears before hugging him tightly again, trying not to make any sound. “I p-promise.”
Then, Cedar leaves the closet, running towards the stairs. “There you go!” the monster next to Oliver’s body says before running towards Cedar.
I can’t see them anymore from where I am, but I can hear them fighting. Then suddenly I hear the voice of the man in dark grey shorts. “Ahh, look what we have here. So you thought you could camouflage yourself from me?”
And then I hear Cedar, my cheerful brother, scream in pain. Not even when Oliver was being beaten did he scream so much.
Cedar’s scream is deafening as if he is not only dying but losing his soul.
What are they doing to him?
A heavy ache presses on my chest.
I force my legs to keep them from running to where my brother is. I made a promise to him, and Oliver said he was in charge. That’s why I take my hands off my mouth, use them to hold tightly onto the straps of Ollie’s backpack, and silently walk out of the closet.
I steal a quick look at Oliver, and from where I am standing, he seems to be staring directly at me as blood flows from a large, gaping wound on his forehead.
Oh God!
I can’t. I can’t look at my parents.
I hurry, trying to make as little noise as possible until I reach the door to the backyard. The whole way I hear Cedar screaming nonstop, as if he’s been hit with acid.
“It’s burning! Stop! It hurts! Stop!”
“It doesn’t matter where your sister is hiding. You see? With a fucking hair color like this and a glow that practically screams for attention, it wasn’t hard to track down your family. It’ll be child’s play to find your little sister. I’m going to find her and have a lot of fun with her before she joins your brother and those dumb parents of yours.”
My brother screams again. But then, a silence settles like a heavy, suffocating blanket. My eyes are blurry with stinging tears. 
Breathing hard, I struggle to see the path in front of me as Cedar’s screams finally stop right when I’m just a few steps outside my sweet home’s fence. Yet, they haunt my mind for the next ten years.