Kade steeled his resolve and swung the front door open as a metallic scent assaulted his nose. In front of him lay a scene that would scar him for life.   

There was a man dressed entirely in black with a long knife in his hand. Blood dripped from it, and under him was his father and his younger brother bleeding out on the floor. His mother was crying above them.  

Kade froze in place. There was so much blood, so, much, blood!   

Mrs Fullbring saw him. She screamed at him to run, but he couldn't run, nor could he fight. He was stuck in place.   

The attacker wiped the blood off his knife with a cloth, then walked away from the dead bodies and stopped in front of the boy. Mrs Fullbring screamed and threatened him not to hurt him, but the attacker ignored her and approached Kade. He stood in front of him and whispered words at him. Kade couldn't hear anything. He only heard the last part." I've done my part. This is the last you will see of me."  

Once the attacker was gone, it felt like the world resumed, and Kade's body responded to him. He ran to his mother and hugged her while the sound of sirens came closer.   

After the event, Kade's mother grew distant. She tried to act strong in front of him, but clearly, she missed her husband. Kade still hadn't told her how he felt about her. He thought it was the wrong time, but really, he knew even if he said to her that he thought of her as a mother, it wouldn't cure her broken heart and, in a way, it would mean that somehow, he wasn't enough again.  

After his father's passing, his mother would seclude herself in his father's office just like he did and do God knows what till late hours.   

A month later, Kade noticed his mom being paranoid, a little more than before when she reprimanded him for not locking the doors or triggering the house alarm. Kade looked at her and asked her what was wrong. However, she denied anything being wrong other than the obvious. Kade accepted her words. It was what he wanted to hear, even though deep down he knew something wasn't.   

While lying in bed, Kade heard a scream that was quickly muffled coming from his mother's room. Kade jumped out of bed, and his worst nightmare was confirmed. A man dressed in black had a pillow pressed up against his mother's face as she bled out on the bed.  

Seeing Kade, the man sighed. He realized his stealthy efforts were in vain. He climbed off of her and walked to Kade, "You weren't supposed to see this." He wanted to say more but decided against it and left the room. Downstairs Kade could hear him breaking pots and toppling things over.  

Kade ran to his mom, bleeding out on the floor as the police and ambulance sirens grew louder.  

Kade immediately pressed his hand on his mom's wound, "Mom! Stay awake, the ambulance is coming now! Don't die, please don't die!"  

Hearing Kade finally call her mom, she smiled peacefully before her eyes became taught focusing on the boy above her, " Before I go, promise me one thing." 

Kade shook his head, "No, you're not dying!"  

She gently caressed his face with her bloody hand, "My son, p-promise me one thing." 

Kade looked into her eyes, and he could see the end. He encapsulated his hand over her and pressed his face into her soft palm, " Yes, mom. I'm listening." 

"Don't close off your heart." After she forced those words out through her collapsing lungs, her arm grew weak, and her eyes closed.   

"Mom!" Kade screamed.  

"Upstairs, upstairs." The paramedic had been informed by a young staff member who had survived the attack.   

The paramedics followed the wailing sounds of an eleven-year-old boy until they found Kade crying over his mom's body. They quickly assessed the situation, injected her with first aid nanites then carried her body to the Medi-Heli waiting outside.   

Within an instant, they were up in the air and on their way to the hospital. Kade held his mother's hands tightly, praying to whatever god would listen to save his mother's life, and in return, he would give up anything.   

However, he received no answer. In fact, the heart that slowly beat began to fail. The first aid nanites inside her had been exhausted.   

Seconds later, they landed on the hospital roof where a team of doctors were waiting. The paramedics explained the situation to the doctors then they started screaming medical terms he had never heard before and quickly transported his mom into the hospital.   

Kade ran after them until he reached a point he was not allowed to enter. He just watched as they dragged his mother away down the long white halls through a door, and she was out of sight but not out of mind.   

A nurse directed Kade to the waiting room for VIP clients, where he stood pacing around the room. His mind thinking of the worst scenarios. Was his mom alive? Was she dead? What was going to happen to him?    

He began to blame himself for not forcing his mom to tell him that something was wrong because he knew there was. He blamed himself for allowing himself to be happy. It was a trend in his life. After happiness, immense pain was sure to follow.   

Kade kept looking at every doctor that came by, hoping to glean information from their facial expressions and demeanour, but nobody said anything. Kade continued to pace up and down when a man dressed in white clothes walked up to him.   

He got onto his knees and looked up at Kade, "I'm sorry, your mom didn't make it..." The doctor continued to speak, but Kade wasn't listening. All he heard was an elongated high pitch sound ringing in his ears as he stared into space.  

It was at this moment he wished he could go back in time and fix it. Once he realized that was impossible, he thought, 'Aah, fuck this world and everything in it!'  

---------  

Kade looked into his soul as his amira became visible, and from it, a stream of pure darkness flowed out and entered his separated soul essence. In an instant, it turned into a jet-black ball of thick smoke. It dispersed in all directions making it hard to see what was going on.   

Boom!  

A wave of darkness shot out of Kade, projecting itself into the world, then disappeared as Kade's unconscious body dropped to the floor. 

VenomousSnake

This is the last chapter of the mass release. We resume with the next on the 26th of October. Thanks for reading!