Mafia Men: Nikolai's Inferno novel Chapter 3

•Evangeline•

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The first thing I saw was multiple bloody shoeprints, my chin trembled and I inhaled deeply. I wiped my tears and moved further into our home.

Blood...

There was blood everywhere. As I got close to our living room I saw someone lying on the ground. By his uniform, I could tell that he was one of the household's help.

Then I saw it, for the first time in my life I saw a dead body with a hole in his chest, the blood still oozing out of it. Fear became a tangible, living force that crept over me like some hungry beast, immobilizing me; my brain, holding me captive.

I covered my mouth with both of my hands to muffle my loud cries. No, please, this can't be happening, please.

I took two small steps backward. Terror sucked the very breath from my mouth. Pulse beating in my ears, blocking out all other sounds even my own.

Panicking, I ran inside the living, stepping over the bodies that were lying in my way. Bodies... bodies... so many dead bodies. I could not find the ones I was looking for. I hoped they were not among all these dead people. I hoped they were alive but I couldn't find them, I couldn't see them.

And then I tripped over something, landing on all fours. I looked up and saw my mother's dead eyes staring back at me. I couldn’t scream. I could only open my mouth to find that even words had deserted me. I immediately shuffled closer to my mother's body.

Everything I ever knew and everyone I ever knew was laying right in front of me, in the pools of their own blood. I mumbled incoherent things through my hands and choked on my sobs.

With trembling and gentle hands, I held up my mother's head and put it on my lap. There were several bloodied holes in her chest and abdomen. I softly touched her cheek, a few hours ago, she had kissed me good night and now she was pale and so damn cold.

"Mom? Mom, please, open your eyes! MOM! MOM, PLEASE!"

I screamed for her at the top of my lungs, but no matter how much I tried to talk to her, to wake her up, to let her know that here I was out of my room but she didn't listen. She didn't scold me or gave a reaction. She kept looking at the ceiling with her empty, dead eyes and her skin and lips were turning bluish-purple with each passing second.

Tears streamed down my face profusely and I made no effort to wipe them. My tears rained down on my mother's face but nothing seemed to bother her. I can't believe it, I refuse to believe that my mother had died. She can't! She just can't.

A streak of blood trailed down from the corner of her lips, I screamed, sobbed, and wailed but to no avail.

I need to save her, I need to save my mom. I gently placed her head down on the ground and ripped my dress from the bottom. I placed the piece of my dress over the giant gunshot wound over my mother's heart and it didn't help, instead, it got drenched in her blood as well.

I cried for help but no one was there to listen to my agonizing pleas. I had never seen this much blood before. I didn't know what to do.

This can't happen to me. I need them, I need my parents. I don't know about anything without them. They are my whole life. This can't happen.

I stubbornly cried out for help but I didn't know who to call. I didn't even know where my parent's cellphones were or how to use them.

"Mom, wake up, please, mom. I'll die without you. I don't know what to do. Tell me, please, tell me what to do! How to bring you back! There hasn't been a single day in my life when you weren't there for me! I don't want to see the light of the day without you. Take me with you. You promised you'll be there for me, you promised, mom, PLEASE, WAKE UP!" I sobbed miserably.

My tear-stricken face was burning now. My voice had turned rough from all the screaming. The sound of my wailing and suffering echoed throughout the house.

I kept caressing my mother's lifeless face but then a pain-stricken cough resonated in the living room. My head shot in its direction as I stood up.

Someone was alive and he was here. I prayed, I prayed, please don't let it be my dad, please, don't be a dad. I hoped that dad would be fine, he is fine, and he will be fine.

I can not lose both of them. I will die, I just can't lose both of my parents. I slowly walked towards the sound and saw my dad trying to get up, all bloodied and injured. There were bruises on his face and blood was trickling down his forehead. He looked up and saw me standing in front of him. My mind blanked and suddenly, I didn't know what to do. I ran to my father's aid and engulfed him in my arms.

He was losing consciousness, his eyes were on the verge of closing.

"Dad, please, dad, no, I can't lose you too, please, dad!"

He coughed out blood. "Are you hurt, Evangeline? Did they hurt you?" he asked as he gave me a pained look.

"I'm fine, Dad, please, stay alive, stay with me... I'm so scared"

"I'm always with you, Evie but you have to be strong now." he breathed out with difficulty.

"No, dad!"

"You have to get out of here, run as fast as you can, and never come back, you hear me, never come back here. Go!" he was breathing heavily.