Red - Chapter: Prologue
I tapped my pencil against the paper and rubbed my head irked at not being able to think of how I wanted to start this off. I tossed the pencil down across the desk and leaned back in my chair, folding my arms behind my head. My class was assigned to write a report about a foreign culture and had been given 2 weeks to complete it. Tonight was the final night before the set deadline and I had yet to even write a title on the page before me. 'Why does this have to always be so damn hard?' I thought to myself, 'It's not like this kind of thing actually holds real world applications..' I looked at my watch, a little past 11:00PM. I stretched, groaning, then stood up and walked over to my window. The moon was full tonight, so I could clearly see the suburbian yards of my street. My house was 2-stories tall and had an attic loft, where I had made my room. The house was built so the room wasn't obvious to anyone wandering through the house, but since I had lived here for 5-years alongside my parents and 2-siblings, so there was nothing we hadn't discovered while exploring. I had just turned 18 and was in the process of joining the military and so had been going to weekly PT (Physical Training) sessions with other hopefuls and recruits while I waited for my graduation date. I just needed to finish this assignment to get the points I needed to graduate and finally go to bootcamp. I lay down on my futon closing my eyes wishing I were gone already. Hoping anything would happen to break this cycle I had been forced into following for these last 12-years of my life. Little did I know my wish was about to come true..~~~~I awoke to the sounds of helicopters and shouting. I moaned and got up - having realised I never completed that paper - and looked out the window. There were citizens wandering the streets, all staring and pointing at the sky in exclamation of something. I lay back down assuming it was just some military exercise, as it was not uncommon for helicopters to fly over our neighborhood as we lived right next to an old Air Force base that the government now used to store things. I lay still and dose off for about 3 minutes until I heard the screaming. I quickly got up and looked out the window again to see armed men in foreign uniform rushing into houses along my street. I watched in horror as they kicked in my neighbors door and stormed inside, followed by the sounds of gunfire. I cursed and opened the hatch and jumped downstairs to find my brother just outside crying."Richie~! They are shooting people~!" He sobbed. Just then, I heard our door get kicked in, followed by the heavy footfall of boots. I quickly grabbed my little brother and pushed him up into my room and closed the latch quickly. "Jake, hey bud, it's gonna be ok.." I said soothingly as I walked over and hugged him. The footsteps were beginning to come upstairs."Hey, I need you to listen to me OK? Do EXACTLY
what I tell you to, understand?" He nods and I continue, "These guys are trying to hurt us. I know it's scary, but I need you to be absolutely silent until they leave. Can you do that for me buddy?.." "Okay.." He whimpered. I hugged him again and heard the footsteps search through the second floor, before hearing a single pair slowly stop just underneath the hatch.. I held my breath and waited for the hatch to swing open and the person below to shoot us, but that moment never came. The owner of the footsteps began to walk away and I let out the breath I had been holding. I let go of my brother and slowly moved to the window and peeked outside to see what was happening. "I think we are being invaded.."