As the invader moved towards the father, the mother holding the child walked further. The father did not dare run for the fear of having the other two attacked instead.
"Run away," He said to the mother. And she did just as told. If she were to stay, her weak body would be just a distraction to the father.
The invader finally reached the father, but since there was no more distraction, his martial art training from the old days kicked in, sidestepping the attack.
He tried to get ahold of the knife, but as the knife was wrapped in the invader's hand, his attempt was to no avail. So he got his hand cut instead. He changed his plan and pushed the invader with a kick. Blood dribbled down the wooden floor, followed by a groan.
The mother looked back at the direction sound due to either the familiarity of the voice or just plain curiosity. Her face grimaced as she saw a crouching person holding his hand.
"Dad!" She yelled, making the boy's ears ring.
"Don't worry about me, just run!" He told her with a heavy voice.
The mother hesitated a little, but she knew what would happen if she proceeded to go back. The mother could see and hear the boy's tears and sobbing, and so She ran and ran, holding the boy on her weak arms. Finally she reached the door and opened it.
Meanwhile, as the father saw her run, the invader got back at his feet and looked at the man in front of him.
"You have everything I want. You bastard!" He shouted.
"I don't understand what it is you want, but if it's my family, then I will never give you even a strand of their hair," The father replied with resolute, ready to sacrifice anything.
The invader was trembling, if not for the fact that he had a weapon tied to him. Maybe he would've been long on the ground unconscious. He was now more cautious than before the kick.
But as he trembled, the father ran and picked up objects such as: the remote control, a toy, slippers, etc. He couldn't just go to the kitchen and get a knife to defend himself. They were in a peculiar spot, as they had a growing curious boy. The invader probably wouldn't just let him do that either.
After the father took some items, he threw them at the invader, hoping to distract him and attacked with his fists.
He hoped to attack with the slipper, but he didn't think it would deal enough pain to stop the invader.
His fist was aimed at the abdomen, but the invader saw the attack and ducked, but not on time. The fist landed on the invaders chest, making the man spit out saliva, but it couldn't be seen dropping because of the mask.
The invader swung his knife forward aimlessly, hoping to cut something, and surprisingly did.
Blood came out on the father's right arm. Now he had a cut in his hand and arm, making his main arm weaken.
***
As the mother ran outside the house, she held the boy on her arm. She had pale skin and long black hair that could be seen fluttering in the wind. She soon became tired due to the running and the weight of the boy. Certainly, a person who became weak due to giving birth would not be able to hold on much even with adrenaline rush.
She decided to let the boy run on his own. She told him that he should go to Lulu's house, and she would follow along.
He hesitated at first but ran soon after. He looked to be much faster than her, making her form a wry smile.
***
In a house, two people could be seen sitting on a couch, watching a show on the TV.
"So, these people fight for the sake of the world?" A man with a seasoned face and well trained body asked a young girl who was jumping from excitement of what was happening in the show.
"Yup! look! She is about to transform!"
The two of them watched the spectacle until the show ended.
The young girl was a little sad at first, but soon, the sound of their doorbell ringing multiple times in a second, making them frown at the impatient person behind the door.
The girl went ahead and opened the door due to her slow patience and the annoying ringing of the doorbell.
"What is it?!" She said angrily.
But she soon realized that the person ringing the doorbell was sweating and crying profusely. She can hear his loud sobbing.
"Sim? what happened? why are you crying? are you okay?" She voiced out her worries.
Soon, the man with seasoned face arrived and calmed the crying boy down. He carefully asked him a few questions without making him agitated again.
He suddenly moved, so quick that her niece had never seen him move this quick before.
"Uncle? what happened?" She asked, not knowing what Sim had said because she wanted to make space for the two to talk.
"Stay in the house. Don't open the door unless you're sure of who the person outside is," He told her with an authoritative voice.
Scared by the tone of his voice, the girl nodded in agreement without any hesitation.
Soon, she saw the uncle pick up a few items and a mysterious L-shaped object in his hand before putting it somewhere. Her interest peaked at what that object was. She had never seen it before. She wanted to question the uncle, but before she knew it, he was out of the house.
She walked to seem who still looked like he was about to cry at any moment. She tried to comfort him by watching some shows on the TV, but it didn't really work. So, she gave him some food to eat and water, which he ate tearfully.
After a while, the doorbell could be heard ringing. The girl wanted to open the door but suddenly remembered her uncle's words. So, she grabbed a chair and looked at the peephole on the door. She saw a beautiful lady who looked almost just like her friend Sim.
She opened the door without any questions. After all, why would a child question why her friend's mother is on the front door when her child is in the house?
The mother surveyed the house, and her face brightened as her gaze stayed on a young boy. She ran toward him and hugged him with all her might. Even though her body was weak, her worries for the boy were strong.
The girl was confused by the whole thing, but she didn't question it. As her parents were out for the week for their anniversary, her uncle was the only one to watch her. She gave the two a room to stay in. The mother thanked Lulu for letting them stay. Just like that, the night passed.
As the bright sunlight began to overtake the night and then reach its zenith, the uncle came back home.
He went to the mother and went to an area without the children. A few minutes later, loud sobbing could be heard.
Words such as "No," "That can't be true," "You're lying," and many more were shouted with a weak voice repeatedly.
After a few more minutes of these continuous yelling, it finally came to a halt. Soon, the two adults went to the children, the mother looked like a mess, her face paler than before and her eyes were red, a lot of her long black hair stuck to her face.
"Sim, we're going away for a bit. Don't go outside no matter what, you too, Lulu, okay?" The messy mother said.
The children were in a state dismay due to the sobbing and yelling, but they nodded in agreement.
Although it was dangerous to leave children on their own, they had to go.
***
After a week, although her parents were already home, the uncle stayed at the house because of some important stuff. Lulu finally had the courage to ask him about the mysterious L-shaped item that she had seen him carry.
"Uncle, uncle," the girl called out.
"What is it, Lulu?"
"Uhmm... I want to ask you something," She hesitantly said.
"Ask away, kid."
"When I saw you running around last week, I saw you carry an L-shaped object. What was it?"
The uncle freezed. He didn't know what to say to the little girl. But he decided to say what he thought was best.
"...It's a gun," He said after a pause.
"A gun? what does it do?" She asked innocently.
"It is used to protect... And to kill."
'To protect.'
For some baffling reason, she only digested the word "protect", maybe it was the influence of the show she loved or just the thinking of a child.
"I see. Thank you, uncle! please tell me more about it!" She said enthusiastically.
"..."
The uncle was speechless, not expecting her reaction at all. He decided to refuse her and told her that he would in the future.
***
"Amazing."
A gentle voice said. A man with pointy ears and a beautiful face could be seen sitting on a couch opposite to another couch, which two people were sitting on, a man and a woman.
The two opened their eyes as the voice sounded in their ears.
"Concentrate. You two are doing good. Think of the magic that you want to use. To create and to strengthen," He said with an unhurried voice.
A few minutes later, Lulu clapped her hands, and between it, a glow appeared. She imagined what she wanted to create, and as she opened her hands, indescribable words could be seen in the glow.
When her hands fully opened, a bullet appeared, and she grabbed it. She looked at the bullet with astonishment and excitement.
Next to her, Sim stood and ran around the room with excitement. His speed was much faster than an athlete on Earth. In fact, he could probably outrun a cheetah for a few minutes. But the latter part was just overconfidence in his head.
Soon, he went slow and limped toward the couch.
Burst of laughter could be heard from the room, including Trin.
'Wait,Trin?' The weakened Sim said inwardly.
Trin noticed his gaze and said:
"Oh, yeah, I'm back. It's already late out. Look at the window."
The two of them did as she said, and their eyes widened.
It was already night.
As they were in extreme concentration earlier, they hadn't noticed the sun had already gone down.
"No way... does that mean we don't get to train with our magic today?" Sim asked with a bit of sadness.
"Don't worry, I did not expect you two to actually learn how to use magic today," Sung replied
"Oh... so we wouldn't be able to use magic either way," Lulu said.
"Yep. It's amazing how you two learned magic today, really," He said with visible amazement on his face. "I was going to wake you up, but you were too concentrated that I thought just maybe I'd let you two continue," He added.
"We must be amazing then!" Sim exclaimed.
"Haha, you're not wrong,"
Sim's face looked to be overwhelmed at the praise for something he said as a joke.
"Anyway, let's eat dinner. Sung and I prepared it earlier when you two were concentrating," Trin chimed in the conversation.
*growls*
A growl could be heard, not from a monster but a belly monster.
"You're right, let's go eat dinner."
The three of them laughed at the ridiculous timing of his stomach growl.
The four of them feasted on the food and talked about their future plans now that they can use magic.
***
After eating, we said our goodnight to each other and went to our rooms.
As I sat on my futon, Lulu's voice came out.
"You okay, Sim?" She asked with a sorry tone and expression.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I believe they'd want me to be happier than not. I'm not forcing myself to be happy or anything, I'm genuinely happy right now."
"I see, that's good."
"Thank you for always worrying about me."
"Of course, I'd never not worry about you."
"Haha, you sound just like my mother."
Lulu's face reddened at his words and proceeded to throw her pillow at him, landing on his face.
"Hey, I didn't want to ask, but what happened after that night? if you're okay with it."
"It's okay, it's been quite a while now, I bet it's been living in your head rent-free."
"It certainly has been."
"Anyway, after the attack, and my father who ended up in the hospital, which you know what happened after that."
Lulu nodded.
"The assailant, who was shot dead in the process, was identified. And it turned out to be my mother's coworker. He was her stalker."
Lulu's mouth gaped.
"Really... he would do those acts, for that reason."
"Yeah, when I learned the reason, I constantly wanted to go back in the past just to punch the man. But I know it's impossible."
The two of them went silent after their interaction.
"That's normal. Anyway, let's head off to sleep, Trin might knock just like yesterday," Lulu said.
"Haha, I felt shivers in my spine when I heard her."
"Same, all right. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
With that, the two of them laid down and went to sleep.
'Maybe it's possible now.'
...