None of us could gain purpose in our own life without difficulty. As Friedrich Nietzsche, a Germany philosopher, said, "To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."
My father used to tell me about that. I wasn't of the same mind at the outset, but I began to see eye to eye as I got older. This life is nothing but survival. And, it's full of stumbling blocks, especially when we lived in this town, named Mendalthan.
Lots of people here were unable to understand what my family did eternally. At no time did they know our reasons. They said we were insane. Some of them hated us. Nevertheless, we were not bad people. My family members weren't criminals. We just needed to survive, no matter what the consequences were. As long as we survived, it was where we could obtain our own existence.
This was a beautiful night. No rain, no storm; just a wind waved my hair and some crickets cried outside.
My soul found happiness today. This rarely happened. My family and I had dinner together and enjoyed a big turkey with wine. We sat on classy chairs. A flashy lamp brightened our view. Everything looked luxurious.
All were cheerful. My uncle, Steven, kept laughing at Amanda's jokes. As a daughter, she was good enough to make her own father smirk.
"Hey, Richard!" Uncle Steven called me. "Don't you feel funny about that?"
"Not exactly," I answered.
Honestly, her joke was corny. Nothing was funny because I knew Amanda was really bad at jesting. If Uncle Steven were not drunken, he wouldn't laugh like that.
My little sister, Lucy, didn't care about whatever conversation went around. She just enjoyed the turkey. In dining, she always focused on her food. However, she was a fussy girl outside of mealtime.
Ryu took a seat beside me. He's my adoptive brother, a tough boy, really good in combat. Moreover, he worked at a restaurant as a security guard. He came in and began joining my family at ten years old. At that time, I was still sixteen and Lucy was six. It had been seven years ago since our parents were still alive.
A boy sat beside Amanda was her young brother, Will. He was eight years old, but his face looked like a teenager. Every time he went to school, some parents would think that he was a high school student. In fact, he wasn't at all.
All of us were so glad. Uncle Steven couldn't stop laughing. Will and Ryu kept talking while eating. Nothing is more fun than gathering with family.
However, it couldn't stay long. Everyone stopped. No more sound, except friction of a key with the main door lock of this house.
"Oh, no!" said Amanda.
"It's earlier than I thought," I spoke while looking at a clock.
The door was opened. A man and a woman went inside this house. Both wore gorgeous clothes. It was easy to notice that they were from some kind of fancy party.
Both of them looked surprised after four steps. We stared at each other for a minute.
"Hi, Galton!" Uncle Steven greeted the man with a big smile.
We all knew that guy. He's Galton Cleame, the owner of this house. And, the woman standing beside him was his wife, Nora.
Nobody expected that Mr. and Mrs. Cleame would go back earlier. Previously, we thought they'd return at nearly nine o'clock. This was out of our prospect.
Galton pulled out a gun of sudden and ran to us. His face turned from cheer to anger. "Damn you, Cavergons!"
Nora froze. She just stood watching us from afar.
"Party over, let's move!" told Amanda.
My family and I got up from the chairs. We moved together and tried to leave the dining room in a full speed.
Ryu and I turned the dining table. We faced the top side of the table to Galton and covered ourselves at once. We hid behind the table for a while.
All tableware and dishes fell down. Some plates and glasses were broken.
Galton aimed his gun at the table and shot several times. It created many holes.
"Now what?" asked Ryu.
"I don't know!" I responded to him in spontaneity while looking at Amanda who had reached the back door.
Ryu took out a gun. He shot a light bulb and destroyed it.
This room turned dark. It was a very useful act although I didn't realize Ryu brought a gun.
Galton stopped shooting. He sauntered yet he lost the ability to see our motion clearly.
It was a good opportunity for us to move out faster. Amanda opened the door. She let Will and Lucy go out first. My part was quite difficult since I had to drag Uncle Steven. Fortunately, Amanda wanted to hold the door.
"The turkey!" I said.
Ryu took the half-eaten turkey from the floor. He ran to the door and exited before Amanda.
Everyone jointly left this house. We succeeded in running away from pursuit.
Although Galton really wanted to hit us, he knew that he couldn't chase us like that. He just stopped to see us escaping from him.
As an officer, Galton could be considered a nobleman. I mean who won't get mad if someone comes to a house without permission and steals food. Especially if the victim is the police, he may just kill the stealer. However, Galton wasn't that person.
This wasn't the first time. My family and I had done this frequently. This might be the sixth and Galton caught us in his eyes for the third time.
Even so, Galton looked like he just let us do it again and again for the next moment. He could forget easily every bad thing occurred, though to himself. It was very hard to find another one like him nowadays.
As Cavergon family, I never said it was a piece of luck. That was a chance, a truly big chance for all of us.