Recognition

A while ago…

Nicholas woke up with a start, his breathing, heavy, and his chest, rising and falling rapidly. With eyes tearing up and stretched wide as if he just had a terrifying nightmare, he pushed himself into a sitting position,

But what he saw delivered another shocking confusion to his little heart. There were policemen inside the house, about four of them, and while two were walking around, inspecting the place, one stood by the door, and the last one was talking to Mrs. Casey, who also happened to be inside the house at that time.

"Ellie," He called out in apprehension, looking alarmed when he didn't catch sight of her inside the house. The only thing that gave him a little hope was that she might be in the bathroom, as that was what happened the other day when he woke up and didn't see her.

His movement and voice attracted the attention of the policemen and Mrs. Casey.

"You're awake, my child. Why are you crying?" Mrs. Casey hurried toward him, plopping herself down beside him on the bed.

Ellie… Where's Ellie? Nicholas questioned, looking intently at the woman as he expected her answer.

"I believe she went out to get something. She will soon be back." Mrs. Casey answered, wiping the lone tear that dropped to his cheek with her thumb.

She became confused when instead of calming down, the boy's face twisted further into a look of distress, as more tears flowed out of his eyes when he shook his head at the answer he was given.

"No. She is not fine. I saw her. He caught her and he is going to hurt her." Nicholas spoke with a shaking voice, pain and fear evident on his face.

Mrs. Casey became confused. What was the boy talking about? He just woke up so she didn't understand why he was acting like that. Could he have been dreaming?

"Who caught her?" She decided to ask and not just dismiss his words like that. She needed to know if he was dreaming or if there was something else going on with Ellie which he knows and no one else knows about.

"A… a man…" Nick started to speak, but his words were coming out broken due to his sobs.

"Stop crying. Everything is under cont—" Mrs. Casey couldn't finish what she was saying because that very second, a series of screams coming from different people resonated around the apartment complex.

While that was going on, gunshot sounds added to and intensified the panic.

All eyes moved toward the door as they all wondered what was going on outside.

The policemen, who were already paying attention to what Nick was trying to say, all rushed outside to find out what was happening. Mrs. Casey also stood up and began to approach the door.

"Please stay inside, Ma'am." One of the police officers told her, and she ceased trying to go outside.

However, when she turned around to approach Nicholas again, the bed was empty.

***

Nicholas still hadn't recovered from all the shocks he received since he opened his eyes that night when another one was delivered.

The moment Mrs Casey walked away from the bed, turning her back on him, strong arms from nowhere grabbed onto his body, and zoomed off with such a speed that his frail body could barely handle.

Clothed in only his pajamas, which did little to protect him from the cold weather and strong wind, he instinctively grabbed tightly onto whatever was moving him.

The fast movement lasted for a few moments, but that was enough to make him begin to shiver from the cold.

When the person that held him slowed down, he broke down in tears as his brain tried to process everything that just happened.

He couldn't see the face of the person holding him because he was carried over the shoulder. He could only see the ground and the back of the person's legs.

Nick continued sobbing until they reached a warmer place, and soon, he was placed on top of a bed. That was when he saw the face of his captor.

Before Nick could say anything or ask any question, another man appeared out of thin air. He had white hair and black eyes. He didn't look ugly, but his mere presence terrified the little boy.

Frozen in fear, Nick kept his large blue eyes locked with the black pair that wanted to bore into his soul. He wanted to look away and maybe try to back away from these two scary people, but he couldn't. It was as if the black-eyed man held him captive with his gaze.

"This is going to be a problem." Elfin let out a sigh, finally breaking eye contact and releasing the boy from the force of his stare. He leaned against the wall and let out another sigh.

Seth, who was wondering why Elfin was looking at the boy like that, frowned when he heard his comment.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"This is going to be a problem." Elfin simply repeated his last statement, and Seth just knew he won't say more than that.

However, instead of asking any further questions, Seth just turned toward the door.

"Don't bother. He's already on his way here." Elfin spoke again, stopping Seth from continuing on his journey outside.

The next second, Elfin let out a low, menacing chuckle. "Aren't you a little too eager to get here? Don't mess with me, Storm."

Nicholas looked from the black-eyed man to the other big guy with no hair on his head. He didn't understand what they were talking about, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

His mind was still trying to understand how the black-eyed man materialized in the room. Was he a ghost?

He was still wondering about all this when the door opened and another terrifying man walked into the room.

Nick's heart rate picked up as soon as he set his gaze on the man's face, and his eyes stretched to their full capacity.

He recognized this face.