Darting from room to room, the hurried thud of a small boy around pre-teen echoed across the floor, sound of his ragged breath could be heard as he ran from one room to another, opening every door hastily.
The whole building was illuminated with only the ray of moonlight through the large, arched windows of each room, darting through an endless suite of rooms, he soon entered a large room full of shelves, it appeared to be a library, sprinting through towering bookshelves and ornate furniture, his step thudding the polished floor.
Several footsteps could be heard approaching his direction, he quivered, holding something large that appeared to be a rectangular frame, he clutched it with both hands to his chest, his breath ragged, he quivered, his sense of direction confused, another set of footsteps approaching in the other direction, he scampered between the towering bookshelves to hide himself. He gnashed his teeth, every one of his breath was ragged.
In a moment, a beam of light shone into the room, some men entered holding flashlights, they were armed with guns, they scattered into the large room, and started searching around.
"That brat is one cunning kid, he cut off the whole power supply of this mansion, how the hell did he manage to do that?" One said irritably from where he was searching.
"Dunno, keep searching" another replied carefreely.
After a moment they stopped and gathered together.
"Damn that brat!" One complained, kicking one of the towering bookshelves angrily with his right foot, they all wore some sort of uniform but it wasn't visible with the limited moonlight ray.
"What should we tell Mr. President?" Another asked the first one who complained, Perhaps he was their leader.
"It can't be helped, hmmm....." He placed his hand on his chin and thought for a while. "We will tell him this, we chased him, he escaped but fell off the cliff and died but we didn't see his body"
"Oh..." Another said in realization and clapped once, "Since werewolf cases are now rampant, he will be convinced, he will think the wild wolves have eaten his body, the wolves are becoming more active recently after all"
As if on cue, a howl of a wolf echoed from a distance in the night.
"But I feel sorry for the kid, his mom is dead and Mr President doesn't even think of him as his stepson, his stepbrothers even bully him daily," one said, even though his face wasn't seen, a hint of concern could be heard in his voice.
"Yeah, me too, I heard Mr. President married his mother so he could win this just concluded election" one whispered.
"Yeah, from the meeting the representatives had yesterday, we both guard Mr. President there, they were all laughing it off during dinner" another chimed in a soft whisper.
"Hey!!" The first one who complained yelled at them, supposedly their leader. "You know our job is to protect Mr. President and not to gossip right?!, So.. shut your damn mouth, and let's go back" he commanded, using his hands to wave them forward. "We the Silver Mercenaries must fulfill our job"
After this, they all left.
The boy came out, still clutching at the rectangular frame stuff, he suddenly breathed in heavily and then out as if he had been holding his breath.
He ran for the door and opened it, the door opened to a spread-out garden, he inhaled, letting the fresh air and scent of different flowers into his nostrils he then scampered off, after a while, he reached a lightly wooded area, he continued scampering through the woods, this time, his feature becoming obvious due to the full moonlight, the moonlight was unusually bright that night, the night was cold, he wore T-shirt and denim shorts, he looked scrawny under his shirt which appeared to be torn by his left shoulder, his ragged breath misted with each quick exhale, creating tiny clouds that hung in the air before dissipating.
His teeth continued gnashing as he scampered through the woods, the path opening to a more steep area, perhaps a hill, he struggled with every step, and after a while of running, he stopped, he had reached a small open field in the midst of the wooded area. His eyes widened in surprise, perhaps he was delighted to see the natural clearings, the small field was rocky.
He sat down on a plain rock surface on the small open field.
Sounds of rustling of leaves, chirping of insects and birds, and a distant howl of wolves could be heard, after a while he stood up, glancing back at the distance, a five-story opulent mansion stood high and mighty in the distance, light was restored in all the rooms of the mansion at a time, the whole area appeared to be an island, a presidential island where the president of The Epic States of Pelagris reside.
He heaved a heavy sigh and sat down back like he had just escaped his nightmare.
He brought out the rectangular frame he had been clutching as if it were his lifeline, the full moonlight shone on it revealing it to be a photo frame, the picture in the frame appeared to be a portrait of a woman, the white light of the moon spilled over the photo frame, she looked frail, yet with beautiful bright blue eyes and smile, she had long brown hair.
"Mom..." The boy sobbed silently in the night, tears rolling down his cheeks and dropping on the wooden photo frame.
Suddenly the chirping of insects and birds stopped, the area became quiet like a graveyard, sound of footsteps could be heard from the woods, he stopped sobbing and flinched, he looked around, it looked like the footsteps were coming from different directions at once, who are they? How many people are coming? He didn't know, he used the hem of his T-shirt to wipe his teary face.
He gulped, his heart started pounding as if it would jump out any moment, the photo frame of his mom still in his hand, he held it out with his two hands while glancing around nervously, cold sweat broke down on his face as his breathing became heavier with his pounding heart.
Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and the next thing he heard was:
"Good evening, she is quite beautiful" a subtle masculine voice whispered directly into his ear, he saw a tall shadow beside his own shadow on the ground as a tall figure loomed behind him and greeted...