Stories I Never Finished

BREACH

Darkness flooded the house, seeping through cracks in the walls as the skyline whispered secrets only the moon would ever know; starlight watching with pained eyes as soft hazel colours filled with tears, terrified at the sound of a dragging axe scraping against wooden floorboards.

"Please... please, don't hurt me!" Ashton Irwin begged for mercy, trembling as he was backed into a wall; forced to stare helplessly up at a vicious madman he had never met before, struggling to see through burning tears.

"I'm gonna fuckin' enjoy this, for sure." The man gleamed with violence, lifting his bloodied axe dripping red with the death of Ashton's family. "Last of the Irwin clan... the final bloodline."

"Please—" Ashton sobbed, "you-you already took everything-"

"Just one more thing, huh?" The killer laughed, a sick mocking sound that caused Ashton to sob louder. "I'll make it quick for a pretty thing like you."

"Oi."

Movement from behind the stranger in pitch black, face hidden by a blood-damp balaclava, caused the killer to pause for a brief second; eyes glancing over his shoulder and tearing away from the twenty-year-old huddled into the corner.

"Leave him." The apparent leader of the small group of men stalked out from the kitchen, clutching Ashton's father's pocket watch in his hand; having stolen it from the dead body slumped on the kitchen floor.

Ashton could still see his father's head in the doorway of the kitchen, dead eyes staring wide back at him.

"What-?" The first killer spluttered in confusion. "Dude, this is the last guy. We can literally wipe out the entire Irwin mob with him."

"I said. Leave him." The man didn't leave room for negation, his voice deepened with sheer malice as he dared the killer to argue again.

The killer faltered, grip adjusting on his weighted axe, only to sigh in dismay and lower his weapon; sparing Ashton's life. "Fine." He muttered, infuriated as his boss approached the pair with calm steps, tucking the watch away. "But you can fuckin' keep him."

The killer stepped aside, looking to his leader whose dark evil green eyes were lingering dangerously on Ashton's trembling figure.

"We're not risking him goin' out and archin up to us later." The first one spat, and Ashton felt his heart shatter in fear as the boss's lips curled into a malicious smile from beneath his balaclava.

"Oh... I'll keep him, alright."

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ONE

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Ropes burned through tender flesh, ripping into soft tan shades as tired limbs struggled to free themselves from agonising binds; peeling skin burning red hot with each futile attempt they made.

Hazel eyes refused to lift toward the man sitting backward on a simple kitchen chair a few feet away, watching with dull amusement as he sat with his arms resting nonchalantly over the chair's back; a gun held within calloused fingers lined by fading tattoos.

"Keep struggling, pet." The boss mused, his voice dark as his eyes watched with unnerving eagerness; enthralled by the way such a baby deer struggled to get free from its hunter.
"I'm sure it'll work sooner or later." He chuckled, a heavy sound laden with mockery, and Ashton choked back a sob; petrified.

"Please," hazel eyes dared to lift toward the man whose mask was never taken off no matter how many times he came down to see Ashton's trapped figure, "why're you doing this to me?"