Warning: This chapter, although short, contains elements that may be disturbing to some readers. However, no violence is explicitly described.
As the sun timidly made its appearance behind the tall neighboring towers and its gentle rays penetrated the Lemoine house, Stéphanie woke up with difficulty as if after an intense night of drinking. Her body, however, was sore like never before. Her face hurt, her wrists were bruised, and her clothes had been torn off and left on her sister's bedroom floor.
A low groan escaped her mouth as she sat up and surveyed the situation. A painful flash made her aware of her situation. Men had entered their home and harmed her. Not just her, but her entire family. She vaguely remembered being struck multiple times before being dragged by the wrists into her older sister's room. Although she had no clear memories, she became aware of what had happened. There, on the floor, she had been raped. She didn't know how long it had lasted, but it had seemed endless to her. And they hadn't stopped at just once.
Silent tears began to flow down her bruised cheeks. With a weak, almost inaudible voice, she called for help.
"Mom..."
Her voice seemed muffled as if under a thick blanket. She doubted she had heard anything herself. She then reached between her sore legs. She had never felt so dirty. She grabbed what remained of her t-shirt and used it as a rag to wipe herself, although it was useless. Like sandpaper, she rubbed, rubbed hard as if trying to tear her skin off.
"Mom. Mom. Mom," she repeated in a loop as she struggled to get up and limped down the upstairs hallway. Many objects had been overturned, but she barely noticed them.
Her increasingly hoarse voice echoed through the small house. Painfully, she arrived at her room, more disordered than usual.
She found her mother and sister in the same state as herself, if not worse in her own room, their faces so battered that she could hardly recognize them.
"Mom... Marie... Wake up. Please," the young girl with a battered and tear-stained face pleaded in a choked voice. Blood had flowed onto the carpet of her room near where her mother's head lay, forming a dark stain. With great care, Stéphanie collapsed and crawled to her mother, precariously lifting Christine's head with both hands.
Mom! Oh my God! Please!
There wasn't much blood on the carpet, but Stéphanie knew nothing about medicine. All she saw was her mother not moving and that she had bled. During the night, the blood had dried, and she had almost none on her fingers when she moved Christine's head.
It was only then that she noticed her mother's skin was cold. Her whole body began to tremble as if she were the only one affected by an earthquake. Her vision blurred, and although her mouth was wide open, she couldn't produce a sound. It opened and closed without anything coming out.
Mom!
Her tears continued to fall onto her mother's swollen face. Leaning forward, then backward, she continued to support her mother's head without being able to say anything. Finally, relief came:
"Aaaargh!"
A powerful and tearing scream resonated throughout the house and beyond. There were no words to accurately describe the pain the young girl felt at that moment. Her heart was broken, and an immense chasm had formed within it. The pain was too intense for the gaping-mouthed girl. But one scream wasn't enough to release the overflow of emotion.
It took her a moment to regain enough composure to realize that she hadn't checked on her sister and father. She delicately placed her mother's skull on the floor of her room to lean over to Marie, who was at the other end of the room.
Like her mother and herself, she had been forcibly undressed and struck multiple times. Her lip was split, her body covered in bruises, and blood stained her face.
"Ha, M-Marie... Marie, open your eyes! Please! Please, I beg you," she managed to say, shaking her sister gently but urgently.
"Uhh..."
Marie was alive, which greatly relieved the almost shattered girl. As soon as Marie opened her eyes, Stéphanie threw herself at her, holding her in her arms and crying. After a few attempts, she managed to convey that their mother was no longer there. Marie, deeply shocked, rushed to her mother and burst into tears, burying her face in her chest.
But the two girls didn't see their father. Remembering that he had gone downstairs when the criminals made noise entering their home, they went downstairs. It was dark because no one had yet opened the shutters.
Because it had been daylight for some time now, there was still some light coming in and illuminating certain areas. She violently opened a shutter in the living room and soon found her father's lifeless body. He lay on his side in the hallway, not far from the kitchen, curled up.
"D-dad," Marie and Stéphanie said at the same time as they discovered him. The tiled floor was stained with blood, and a large brown puddle spread around their father's body.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
The two girls rushed to him and quickly realized that the last breath of life in him had left him long ago. His body had become as cold as their mother's, as if it had never been warm. The two girls felt like they were living a nightmare. Turning Xavier's inert body, they realized that he had been stabbed multiple times by one or more knives. The monster who did this had stabbed him in the front and on the sides. It was too much for the two young girls who collapsed completely.