LUCIEN
She never saw me.
Not when I stood across the street with a cigarette burning between my fingers, or when I passed by on my engine low, hood up. Her world was made of sunshine and flowers. I watched it all from the dark.
Eleanor. Her name tasted like something forbidden and I loved it.
The first time I saw her, she was in the garden. Barefoot, dirt on her knees, her blonde hair catching the light like spun gold. She laughed at a flower, a bee, maybe nothing at all. I remember tightening my grip on the handlebar, my heart slowing, not racing.
She didn't belong in the kind of world I came from.
"That's the girl?" Smoke asked beside me that day. He was always chewing something, gum or hate, didn't matter.
"She's pretty. Shame."
I didn't answer. Just kept watching her like she was something holy.
My father had already made the call.
"Kill the family. Leave nothing behind," he'd said that night, his breath heavy with liquor and years of bloodlust.
" Montclair ran his mouth to the cops. Hye dies. They all die. You hear me, boy? No exceptions."
I looked him in the eye, masking the hesitation like a coward hides a wound. I hated him.
"I hear you."
He shoved a small blade into my hand. Not a gun. Never a gun. Guns were noisy. "Do it clean. Do it quietly. Smoke and Rat'll back you up."
We drove out past midnight. Black van. Windows tinted. I remember Smoke humming under his breath, the same sick tune he always did before we spilt blood. Rat was high again, twitchy, eyes wide.
"Did your Father tell you why he wants this family dead?" Rat was always curious to know why we were sent on missions.
"Yeah, shits complicated" I told him.
"How shitty?"
"He said something to the cops about the gang," I muttered.
Rat shook his head slowly. "Tch. The old man really didn't know what he was signing up for. One word to the police… and his whole family paid the price. Tragic."
"Who's doing the killing, Luc?" Smoke asked driving
"I'll do it myself, you both're here to make sure we don't get caught".
We arrived at Montclair's, broke in through the back kitchen window, frame's already loosened from our earlier recon. They had no alarm system. Just a dog that barked once and fell silent when Smoke stuck it in the throat.
I spotted the old man sitting in the living room. Cuddling someone, I think his wife.
The moment our eyes met, he got tensed, he lunged for the cabinet, desperate, clumsy. He was going for a weapon, maybe a gun.
But he was old, he was slow. I stopped him without breaking a sweat. He never really stood a chance.
I killed him first, one hand over his mouth, the blade sliding in just below the ribs and then his chest. I stabbed him 11 times.
He thrashed for a moment, then went limp. The mother woke as I turned. Her scream never made it to the hallway.
Adelyn, the older sister, wasn't asleep.
She heard us. She came downstairs, saw the 3 of us with the bodies of her parents and tried to run towards what looked like the kitchen.
I cornered her near the stairs. She fought like hell, nails slashing, knees kicking. Rat grabbed her from behind and pinned her to the floor. Smoke was already pulling her nightgown up.
"You guys shouldn't....," I said, voice low, urgent.
They didn't listen, they fucked her.
"Please... please don't. Please," she pleaded, her voice shaking like her body couldn't bear what was coming.
"Shut the fuck up! You're no virgin," Rat snarled. He always spoke with venom when he wanted to feel bigger than he was.
She didn't stop.
"Please… please… I am," she whispered, clinging to the last shred of hope like it could shield her.
I think they took turns.
I didn't stop them. I didn't even move. I stood there… watching.
When it was over, she lay there crying, bloodied, broken.
And I couldn't unsee it.
I knelt beside her and pressed the blade into her chest. Her eyes were still open when the light went out.
I signaled Rat and smoke to Clear traces
Then it was Eleanor's turn.
Her room was warm. Fairy lights, books, and a small unicorn plush were beside her pillow. She was asleep, completely unaware.
I stood over her with blood on my hands, heart hammering. The others waited behind me.
"She's just a kid," I said.
Smoke scoffed. "So was the last one."
"We could spare her," I murmured.
"She didn't see anything."
"Orders were clear, c'mon man do it, or should I...?" Rat snapped.
I turned. Glared. "Touch her and I swear to God...."
There was silence. I was their leader tonight.
The others left the room, they were pissed. They think I was being a bitch.
I shut the door. Locked it.
But I didn't leave.
I stood in the dark corner of her room, watching her chest rise and fall. Swirling the blade in my hands.
Then, she stirred.
Her eyes opened.
I was standing right there, but she didn't see me. She heard a thud, we both did. It was obviously the boys trying to clean up traces.
She left her room, She was curious to know where the sound came from,
I heard her call for her dad.
"Oh, poor girl, daddy's gone", I whispered.
I followed her down the hallway. I stood by the corner and watched as shock took over her. She saw her mum, decapitated arm and blood spilled on the floor, sheets... literally everywhere.
And then I stepped on something, I'm not sure what it was but it made a sound. She knew someone was behind her.
She turned back, hesitantly then saw me.
Her face went pale, eyes wide, like she'd just seen a ghost.
Then her gaze shifted. She saw Rat and Smoke ahead and that's when the real fear hit
Her lips parted, a scream on the edge
but nothing came out.
Maybe it was fear.
Maybe disbelief.
I stepped back.
She blinked, then bolted.
Down the hallway, bare feet slapping against wood. She ran straight past Smoke and Rat, who were wiping down surfaces, cleaning prints, and flipping drawers to make it look like a break-in. They froze.
"What the hell...."
"Let her go," I snapped. My voice was low but firm.
Rat looked ready to follow her. He did.
Smoke didn't move.
Rat followed her. I followed him. When he got to the room she ran into, I watched him rattle with the door.
"Let her be, Rat" I snarled
"Lucien you were told to kill everyone and besides, she saw you," Smoke pointed out.
"She saw a ghost," I replied.
"Fine then, if this goes south I had nothing to do with it", Rat was pissed, I didn't give 2 shits.
We left before dawn.
When I got back to the safe house, my father was waiting.
"All done?"
I nodded.
He leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Everyone?"
"Everyone."
He smirked, satisfied. "Good. Now they'll think twice before crossing us."
He never asked for proof. He never checked. He trusted me.
But that night... I made a mistake.
I let the one girl I wasn't supposed to remember live.
And I haven't stopped watching her since.