A peaceful beginning?

"Look mom, dad! I drew us together in the garden!"

Looking at Bryan, my 8 year old son, I couldn't help but smile. I mean, he was just the cutest! He had black hair and golden eyes.

"Wow! That's awesome son!"

Hearing my husband happily responding to my son, I thought to myself:

'This is wonderful. Just living with my son and husband is enough for me. Even if we aren't rich or don't have any noble blood in our bodies.'

"Come on! Let's go faster!"

"Have patience Bryan, the restaurant won't go anywhere."

"Noooo! I'm hungry, let's go now!"

"Alright, alright. Let's walk to the restaurant now."

"Yeah! Let's race to the restaurant!"

'Haaaa... caring for your child is a lot more work than I thought, but it's all worth it for Bryan.' I thought as I saw Bryan exiting the house and running towards the restaurant.

"You sure you want to race? I'm not gonna hold back!"

'Of course my husband is as childish as Bryan, but that's also a part of his charm.'

"Son, husband! Wait for me!"

"Haahaaha, mom, hurry up! I am way fas-" as Bryan was running while looking back, he suddenly bumped into another child that looked slightly older than him.

"Hey, kid! Watch your step!"

I anxiously responded: "Oh we are so sorry. Our son Bryan was just excited and didn't look ahead."

"You think an apology is going to cut it! My father is going to destroy your life!"

My husband stepped in: "Hey, listen kid. We apologise for bumping into you. Could you please not make a scene out of this."

The kid angrily shouted: "You dare talk back to me, Richard, your own prince?!"

My heart sank as I heard those words. Only now did I see his luxurious clothes and face that resembled the prince. Was this arrogant kid really the prince? And did we just anger him?

"..."

Silence suddenly lingered as we had no idea how to respond.

While we were standing still, thinking about a reasonable response, the prince decided to walk away. Of course he didn't forget to shout slurs at us and the rest of the people on the street.

While my husband and I were still in shock, Bryan was already walking towards the restaurant like nothing happened. Albeit without running this time.

"We should probably just go to the restaurant and relax right?" Asked my husband after a few seconds.

I responded after calming my heart: "Yeah, let's just hope nothing happens. Surely such a small accident won't cause any problems."

Although I said this, I couldn't help but be worried about our future.

"Alright, let's not keep Bryan waiting. I'm sure he is even hungrier now after all this drama."

****

(Bryan Gale)

Mom and dad got quiet after we got to the restaurant, but even I knew why. It was definitely because of the prince.

No one talked as we ate our food, and only after we were all done eating did my mom say something:

"Bryan, you don't have to worry about what happened with the prince. Nothing will happen, and even if something happens then we will fix it, alright?"

My dad also reassured me: "Yeah Bryan, we adults have got this."

"...Thanks mom, dad. I believe in you. Also I'm sorry for bumping into him."

"It's not your fault Bryan. Let's just go home now that we have finished eating."

"Alright dad."

While we walked back to our house, my dad threw in some jokes to lighten the mood, and of course we laughed together again. I felt way better than before.

Luckily we reached our house without causing any trouble and I went straight to my bed since I wanted nothing more than to rest.

Not without saying goodnight to my parents of course: "Goodnight mom, dad!"

"Goodnight Bryan!" My parents shouted at the same time.

I instantly fell asleep when I laid down in bed. It was a pretty intense day for me and my parents after all.

****

(Bryan Gale's father)

I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke.

I instantly jolted awake after realising something must be burning. I ran outside my room to check out the fire.

What I saw before me could only be described in one word: Destruction.

It looked like a volcano erupted inside our house while a tornado was going on. There was fire on the ground, tables and chairs thrown all over the place and broken glass everywhere, but at the time there was only one question in my mind.

Are my wife and son fine? I shouted at the top of my lungs: "Bryan! Sarah! Are you safe!"

I dashed into my son's room and picked him up off of his bed.

"Aaaah!" My son shouted, but I had no time to respond.

Next I ran to my wife's room and carried her with my free arm.

"Husband? What's happening!"

"I don't know, but ~cough~ our house is on fire! It isn't safe here!"

We had to get out of here fast because of the fire and smoke, and since the front door was surrounded by flames, the only way outside the house was to go through the windows.

I ran to the nearest window and tried to open it, only to find out it has been completely frozen shut!

"What! How are the windows ~cough~ suddenly frozen! And why isn't the fire melting the ice!"

Then it clicked inside my head. "We are being attacked by the prince!"

"What! The prince set our ~cough~ house on fire because we bumped into him?! Who raised that kid for him to be ~cough~ so spoiled and evil?!"

"Mom, dad, let's get out of the house first!"

Though my son said that, we all had no idea how to get out of the house. With the windows shut with magical ice and the door covered in flames, there weren't any safe options left that I could think of.

Finally I thought of a solution: " Let's all run through the front door! Even though there are ~cough~ flames around the door, we should be able to leave the house with only ~cough~ a few burns. It's a better solution than staying here."

"...Alright, it sounds like that's our only option. I'll carry Bryan while you open the door."

"Wait! I can run by myself!"

"No Bryan! Listen to your mother. It's better not to be separated and you're slower than us anyway."

"...Alright."

"Let's run in three, two, one, go!"

As I sprinted through the fires and reached the door, I quickly busted it open and ran out of the house.

When I looked back I could see my wife getting out of the house with my son in her hands. Although I got burned a bit, it wasn't something time couldn't fix.

What worried me more now that we got out of the house was how the prince was going to respond to this.

"Sarah! Let's get out of here right now!"

While my wife was panting for breath, I could see she and Bryan weren't severely hurt by the flames.

"Why? And where to?"

"The prince and his henchman could still be around here, waiting for us! We should just get away from our house first and then-" Suddenly I felt a stabbing pain around my stomach and before I could even see what happened, everything turned black.

****

(Sarah Gale)

Right before my eyes, I could see my husband's head falling off of his body.

"NOOOO! Nooooooo! Don't leave me! Please! Noooo!"

I screamed, but I knew no matter how much I screamed, he would never live again. No matter how much I hoped for this to be a bad dream, in the back of my mind I knew this was all real and I had to do something to survive this situation, or at the very least get Bryan to safety.

I thought, and I thought again. I tried a thousand times in a matter of seconds to think of something, anything to save Bryan, but no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't stop thinking of my husband's death. Never did I think it would come to this, getting murdered by the very prince of your country, helplessly crying on the ground hugging your child.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry Bryan! Please, just run away! Save yourself!"

"Mom! No please! I'm sorry, this is all my fault! If- If I hadn't bumped into him this wouldn't have happened! I'm sorry mom!"

With tears dripping down his face, my son hugged me while screaming on the ground.

"No Bryan! It isn't your fault! Now please run away! Please! You have to surv-" Without even looking, I already knew what happened. I felt immense pain and had to stop speaking.

If I had to say what my biggest regret was, it would be not being there for my son when he needs me most. To have familial love after the death of his father. To have someone to fall back on in his darkest days. To have...

And then everything turned black.