vendetta

ven·det·ta

/venˈdedə/

noun

a blood feud in which the family of a murdered person seeks vengeance on the murderer or the murderer's family.

"Hurry up Jackson, it's Friday and you're still worrying about your math grade," said Lux, my first and only friend. He was slender and a bit snobbish at times, but he's the one that I feel most comfortable around.

"Hold on for a second, you go on ahead and I'll catch up," I replied.

"Geez Jackson, you're probably the biggest nerd I know," Lux said as he walked closer to me. "Come on lets just go, and you can check your grades tomorrow."

"Ugh fine," I replied, slightly annoyed.

"Yay, now we can play basketball at the hoop near our house," Lux joyfully yelled.

"No I can't today, my mom asked me to come home and take care of Cassidy," I yelled back.

"Bro, it'll be really quick, you suck ass at basketball anyways. I could probably beat you twice in a row, and we'd still have time to get home," countered Lux. I couldn't talk Lux out of playing now, he's the most stubborn person I know. As soon as he has his mind set on something, there is nothing that stops him.

"Fine, but only one game and you have to go easy on me," I reluctantly said. We quickly hurried down the grass path to the basketball court. Lux pulled a basketball out of his backpack. "Shouldn't you keep your books in there, instead of a basketball?"

"It's fine, school is boring anyways. Why would I waste time studying for a stupid test on a subject that I will never use in my life. I'd rather just keep a ball in my bag, so I can smoke you any day and any time," Lux said, as he passed the ball to me. "Check*." I passed the ball back to him and immediately closed in on him. I didn't want to give him space to drive pass me. Though people think I am not athletic, I am actually really good at playing defense because of my long arms, and tall body. However, Lux was simply a genius when it came to playing basketball. He could maneuver the ball in any way he desired. He crossed the ball between his legs to fake me to the right, then suddenly hit the ball behind his back to the other side. He immediately drove passed me, tossed the ball up against the backboard, and slammed the ball down. It was like he flew right above me. "Damn, bruh* I knew you were ass but good fucking lord that was too easy."

"Shut up, and stop saying bad words Lux," I said.

"Make me bitch," Lux replied. He was purposely angering me. "Check." Half an our flew past us and I still hadn't scored a point. Lux was simply too good at basketball. "Yo Jackson, do you want to go home now. I'm getting kind of bored of absolutely wiping the floor with you."

"Fine, I've already spent more time here than I wanted to," I replied. We crossed the street from the court to get to our neighborhood. Lux was my neighbor by the way. "Alright I'll see you tomorrow Lux."

"Bet*, and hopefully you can actually score a point tomorrow," Lux said.

"Shut up," I replied as I opened the door to my house. It was an average house, not too big, and not too small. "Mom I'm home." There was no reply. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. It wasn't unusual for her to sleep during the day, considering she worked the night shift at the local bar. However, it was unusual for Cassidy to not be singing at this time. "Cassidy," I raised my voice so that she could hear me, but not enough to wake up mom. There was still no reply. Now I was starting to get worried. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. I hurried up the stairs to Mom's room. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. Cassidy was still only five, so it was a possibility that they were both just tired. Nonetheless, Mom's room was empty. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦? I searched the entire house but I didn't find them. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦? 𝘈𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦. I rushed down the stairs, and jumped the last four. I zoomed past the living room and slipped. 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠. I crashed down on my back. I got up to see what I slipped on. Immediately I gagged in disgust. It was blood, and there was a trail of it leading to the center of the living room. There lied Cassidy, and mom. I screamed, "Mom! Cassidy!" I rushed over to their sides while my eyes were bawling out. I kept shaking them, as if that would make them wake up. "Mom please wake up, please!" 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 911. I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed 911. My tears wouldn't stop dripping from my face and snot was coming out of my nose.

"Hello, 911 what is your emergency," the dispatcher said. Her voice told me that she was a female.

"My mom and sister are dead! Can you send an ambulance," I replied while sniffling my nose.

"Yes, can you tell me your address," the dispatcher asked.

"It's the 4th house on xx street," I replied to her.

"Alright we have two ambulances on the way right now, but while they get there make sure your family members can throw up if they need to. Tilt them on the sides of their bodies," The dispatcher told me. I did as she said and moved Mom's and Cassidy's body to be on their sides.

"Wow, I didn't think there was another one of them," a voice behind me said. I turned my head around to see a tall man in a black suit sitting on the couch. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸? "You might want to tell that dispatcher lady to hurry up, or else your mom and sister will die."

"Who are you? Did you kill them," I asked while raising my voice. "ANSWER ME!"

"Me, oh I'm nobody. I'm just the guy that killed your family," He said with a big smile on his face. He was angering me on purpose. I got up and grabbed him by his collar, ready to punch him. Right before I was about to punch him he said, "Oh, the ambulance is here already. I guess this is goodbye," and disappeared into thin air. The medics came in and put my mom and sister on a stretcher. I stood there dazed, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

"Hey kid are you coming," one of the medics asked me.

"Yeah, sorry let's go" I replied. I hopped into the back of the ambulance, right next to my mom. She was in the middle of the ambulance. My sister was in the ambulance behind us. We quickly rushed to the hospital. When we arrived the medics rolled my mom and sister out of the ambulance. We went through the backdoor of the hospital because it was the quickest route to the emergency room. My hand was on the side of Mom's stretcher. We were rolling them down the hallway as fast as possible. I turned around to see Cassidy's face. When I faced back forward I accidentally bumped into an old man. "Sorry," I said to him. He didn't reply, but instead just nodded to acknowledge my apology. Judging by his long gray beard, I would say he was about 50 years old. But, his body looked like that of a 20 year old. The nurses stopped me as soon as we reached the end of the hallway.

"Sorry we can't let you past the yellow line," The nurse said while gesturing to the thick yellow line on the floor.

"Please, it's my mom and my sister. Can't you let me go through," I asked.

"Sorry sir, rules are rules," He replied. "You sit and wait in the lounge." He pointed me to the left of the door into a room that read "lounge" on the door. I walked into the room and sat down in the very corner. I began to think about the man in the black suit. How did he enter the room so silently. How'd did he also disappear right in front of my eyes. I began to ponder that, but I also started to worry about my family. It had been two hours and the doctor still hadn't come out to tell me anything. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦... I didn't want to jinx it. Another hour passed, and I became anxious. Finally the doctor came through, but the look on her face told me something horrible had happened. She sat down next to me to comfort me because she knew that what she was about to tell me was going to shatter me. She opened her mouth but I didn't need her to tell me what happened, I already knew. My family was 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃.

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Check - The start of a 1v1 game in basketball. Signalling both players are ready.

Bruh - Slang for bro.

Bet - slang for yes/alright.

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