Lifeless.

There the cold and lifeless body lay: Desolate, weak and without host. The smell of gunpowder could still be perceived within the room. It was a terrible event that had taken place. Suddenly a scream was heard by one of the girls in the back. It was Mary. She was unfavourably yet loudly, dejecting her voice so loud it pierced the ears of everyone such a screech was bewilderingly powerful. Light was finally cast upon the cold lifeless figure: it was one of the abandoned boys that Mari and Judah had seen previously; he was truly in a pitiful state, a pitiful child. It was quite surprising, really. But Judah came to the realization that the boy, as frail and dead as he was, did indeed follow them. Strangely, in the vision of everyone, time had appeared to slow down. Within this moment, the boy charged right in front of the contraption to avoid the mother getting hurt. Jumping head first with no thought as fast as he could possibly move. The bullet pierced his head and he instantly fell to the floor. Judah, unable to do anything just sat there, helpless, impotent, weak and powerless. This was his first regret. Not just him, but everyone too. They failed to acknowledge that this boy wanted to join in. Often, at the corner of their eyes, they would see him peering through the window and having a face which longed for acceptance and love. Not just him, many other children too. But, he too, was a victim of evil circumstances. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, his death could have been prevented.

Judah: "KID!" he yelled loudly.

Judah, signalling towards Mari and Alice (which he now discovered that she was under the table) motioned that they should retrieve the body. They crawled and seeing as though Alice was the closest, she attempted to grab the boy by the hands. Of course, this was a failed attempt as her hands were immediately cut off. Every bone was exposed from her hands. The person who had viscously disconnected her hands from her body was seen as this: He had shark teeth, followed by a threatening gaze. No matter what anyone said, these creatures were not human. They were utter incorrigible and unsympathetic beings who only cared about their existence; they must have been devil spawn .

Mari, who was overcome by his emotions, stupidly, futile, charged at the now two figures rather than one previously. There was the sound of wind slashing; Mari's head was on the floor. Blood gushing out of his neck and utter screams of resentment, anger and sadness could be heard.

Judah: "Ha..Ha..." he laughed while trembling and barely holding his composure.

Ever heard of giving up? That's exactly how Judah was feeling. He had given up. His mind, his soul, his spirit, everything and anything he had. His eyes, retina's, iris, brain, legs, calves: any, and every fibre of his being, gave up. What could he do? He was merely a 12 year old boy, he was powerless and weak. With looks of an outcast.

It was almost as though time had slowed down. He tried to scream with all his might, but his very soul and spirit was in disagreement and refused to listen to him as if he's soul had already left his physical body. What could he do? He sludged towards the figure ahead almost as though he was incapable of walking. Slowly and slowly creeping up to him, yet only to be met with the sound of an explosion; then black out.

"AHHH" Judah yelled while leaping out of his blanket, confused and perplexed

"What's going on?! Is this the afterlife?!" Judah screams while looking around him as he wonders where he is.

Trying to gain composure, he looks around. He's currently underneath sheets of ragged and torn clothing, with the fire behind him making noises of crackling wood. He swiftly and impatiently turns his head to look around him and sees all his family is okay. With a sigh of relief he lays back his head and looks towards the ceiling. Looking at each person he comes to see their features: Alice, with golden strands of hair flowing as though a river, her eyelashes were being complimented by the sun. Her skin was also pale like mothers, but was filled with life as her cheeks were plum red making her individually pretty. As well as her smile that could capture anyone who could be witness to this girl. Reuben, his dark flowy and frizzy hair covering his eyes, having long strands of hair dangling over his face, his skin was a beautiful light brown which was also complimented by the sun as the sun shone on him. Megan, who was in the back by the shade, had beige hair with a nice peachy- white coloured skin, another beautiful one that was sleeping , her innocent face was prepossessing and charming . Mary too, with a slightly darker skin tone than Reuben, had black flowy hair almost like mother's, had her eyes open just a bit. Having emerald green eyes which were radiant and beautiful. And finally, James. He had freckles that were perfectly placed to comment his beautiful features, with light brown hair along with snow white skin like Alice. On the other hand, he was not as cute as the others as he was snoring loudly. Although, it was comforting for Judah as he smiled with a sigh of relief , he could finally get rid of the heavy anvil that was clenching his heart from the sadness . After a short while he walks outside to see the foggy area: cold and quite frosty. It appeared to be winter time. Walking down to a nearby lake, he looks at the frosted ice and sees his reflection. Kneeling down, he weeps. Gnashing of teeth and marks of punches at the snow were to be seen. Finally after weeping, he goes back to the house with relief.

Visualizing the house, he comes to realize how small it really is. With a one bedroom shack, one kitchen, and one living room, it really wasn't a luxurious place for them to live in. With vines and moss dangling over the house, and the bricks for the foundation being eroded, it seems as though it could break apart anytime. This poor excuse of a house was rickety, gloomy and lopsided. It was primitive and tiny yet it was fairly warm and comfortable. Approaching the front door, he's greeted with faces of worry and confusion.

Mari: "Hey! Where'd you go man?"

Megan: "Yeah! Momma was worried about you!" she says with worry.

Judah: "Oh hey, I just went out to the lake to see the frost! It's snowing you know!" He says while making an excuse for the real reason he went outside.

Alice: "Really! It's snowing right now?!" she says, filled with excitement and happiness.

Judah: "Sure is. See for yourself!" with an almost genuine smile.

Judah, walking into the house sees that Reuben, Mary and James are still asleep. He smiles while walking in of course, but his eyes have the aftermath of deep weeping. He had bagged eyes which were so obvious that Mari, his closet companion, can't help but notice and asks him directly:

Mari: "You can fool everyone else Judah, but not me." he says, under his breath quietly .

Judah: "Nothing can ever get past you eh? Don't worry, I just saw a dead animal and it kinda tore me up, you know?" he says.

"Anyways," Judah says, trying to change the subject.

Judah: "Where's mom?"

Megan: "She's not here at the moment, she's gone out like usual" Megan informs Judah, while sulking.

Judah: "Like usual eh? Alright, guys come in. We have to clean this place up before she comes back!"

Alice, Megan and Mari (non- enthusiastic): "Yeahhhhh Ok!"

Waking up the rest of the people who are sleeping, they are now all cleaning up. Alice, Megan and Mari clean up the place in a slow and slothful manner.

Eventually after all the children cleaned up, mother finally came back home. Of course, Judah didn't want her to worry about him, going to the lake previously and finding out he was crying. But that was the least of his worries. On the other hand, he was more worried about what that dream meant. Judah couldn't discern if it was just a nightmare or a sign of a coming disaster, he wondered whether it was a prophecy of the future.

Mother came through the front door which made a loud creaking noise as the door opened. The sound was quite irritating to Judah's ears as he had sensitive ears. Well, he had to ignore the sound and looked up to mom. She apparently had news to tell them.

"Guys, I've got something to tell you all." she said while smiling.

No one knew what was going on. They didn't know what she was about to say, but they were just confused. Although, they were all in excitement as they thought that she probably was going to make their favourite food, which was, hamburger steak.

Assuming that she was going to say she got the steak, Judah who had an idea of what was going on, wanted to tell her that there was no need as the food was expensive. But, he was unaware that it wasn't food that she wanted to give them, it was rather the news of enrolment at a popular school.

"Mom, there really was no need for you to go so far for us you know." Judah says, knowing that this would have probably cost a huge fortune for her.

"Yeah, but you're my children. No matter what, whether I'm your real mother or not, I have the responsibility to take care of you no matter the situation!" She states while smiling and comforting us to not worry about the cost.

At this point, they were itching to know what was going on. Judah had a bad habit of twiddling his fingers when he got really excited he also started breathing faster. Of course, Mari looked at him with a sense of disgust when he saw that he was almost weirding out in the background. To mock him, he replicated his movements and smirks at him doing a stupid, yet sly laughter which also seemed to annoy him.

After a couple of seconds, she revealed that both Judah and Mari had enrolled into an academy. Deep down they were filled with so much excitement they could burst as they were filled with joy and there were so many questions they wanted to ask, but, to play it cool, they tried to keep the most serious face ever. So they made a poker face. Which didn't seem to help as mother could see right through both of them.

"And guess which academy it is?" She said eagerly.

"Ehhhh but what even an academy? Is it some sort of training?" Mari says, throwing an obvious question out.

"WHY DID YOU EVEN GET EXCITED IF YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A ACADEMY WAS?!" Judah shouts while raising his voice.

"DON'T ASK ME IT JUST SOUNDED COOL DUMBASS!" Mari shouts back.

They both start fighting, pulling each other's hair and trying to throw punches, which do not even reach their destination at all. The mother hits both of them lightly at the top of their heads and sits them down. They begin to talk about the enrolment as they forget their previous dispute.