BLOODHOUNDS #3: THE MALICE

Chapter 19 - ATTACK

Leila Morrow

Fourteen years ago...

"Stop it!" I pushed Luke away from me because he kept ruining my hair, "Mom!" I hissed, and she turned to Luke, giving him a warning look to not mess with me again.

"Asshole." I mouthed, and Luke ignored my remarks like he always does.

"Dad, where are we going?" Luke asked because my dad turned around at the last minute before we reached our penthouse. My dad gave my mom a secretive smile, which made me question.

"Where are we going, Dad?"

"You'll see." He was smiling with my mom. We were entering a gated community, and he stopped before a mansion. I turned to Luke, who couldn't believe his eyes seeing a beautiful mansion before us. I was speechless, and words can't come out of my mouth.

We love living in the penthouse, especially my dad. The reason why he wanted to live in a penthouse is because he loves the view. He's obsessed with it. We've lived in our current penthouse for almost four years, so many memories were made when we lived there.

But my dad knew he didn't want to live in the penthouse forever. He tried to move into a mansion one day.

"Come out, guys." We got out of the car, and as I walked slowly toward the mansion, I heard a commotion behind me. Before I could turn around, someone grabbed me, pinning me to the ground. I lifted my head to see four masked men beat my parents, and Luke was being punched by one of them. I saw them dragging my dad's body towards Luke's.

I screamed my lungs out.

The man behind me muffled my mouth with some cloth, and he put my head down against the concrete floor. I could hear screams from my mom, and my dad tried to talk to them. He told them to take everything he had but not hurt his family in return. My heart hurts, but I can't do anything to save them. I was crying, screaming, and trying to get him off me. I wanted to look it up, but it was useless; he pinned my head down.

After what felt like an eternity, the weight on my body was lifted. I looked up and saw them running away. My ears were ringing, and my body felt numb. I tried to get up, but I couldn't.

All I could hear was the sound of ambulance sirens.

The sirens filled my head as people helped me to turn my body over to see my condition. They took the cloth out of my mouth, checking for any wounds on my body. I saw people trying to talk to me, I saw people trying to wave my hands in front of me, but all I heard was sirens. It's so loud that it somehow hypnotized my brain into hearing it.

People were calling my name as they carried me into the ambulance. My eyes met Luke's, who was severely beaten; his face was covered with blood, and his left eye was closed. That was when something snapped within me. I got up and called his name.

"Luke!"

"Her eyes were not focusing..." I heard the doctor beside me, but my eyes were set on Like. He turned to me, and he let out a breath of relief.

"Leila, can you hear me?" I was ignoring all the questions that they threw at me. My ears were ringing, and it filled with the sirens. Not only with the sirens but also my mom's screams and my dad's hopeless beg.

They brought me to the hospital, and it felt like I was floating. I couldn't keep my eyes closed, and they stared straight at the ceiling as if something caught my attention. They gave me an oxygen tank to help me breathe, and they kept calling my name to see if I was responding to them.

"Leila..." They kept calling my name like they were trying to summon my soul. I heard them, but the sirens kept ringing, and I could feel my throat burning. My hand reached my throat, and the doctors looked at me weirdly until one of them took the initiative to check my throat.

They started screaming after they saw my throat. They put me to sleep to cure whatever was inside of my throat.

My eyes snapped open, and the first thing that I saw was a white ceiling. My mouth was covered, and the first thing that I saw was Luke. His left eye was severely bruised and bloated. He got cuts on his lips, too.

"Leila..." He whispered, and when I wanted to speak, nothing came out.

"Don't speak, and they had to operate you because there's poison in your throat." What?

"Mom and Dad are okay. They came just in time, but Dad has many broken bones, so he needs time to heal." Luke explained it to me, but something about him changed that day. His eyes were not as bright as they used to be. He looked like a living corpse.

"The doctors said that because you were not responding to anything, your whole body paused. Because of that, the poison didn't get into your body, or you'd die. They put some chemicals in that cloth that they stuffed into your mouth, hoping you'll die." Not only his eyes but his voice also changed.

"You'll be okay, little sis. I'll protect you, Mom and Dad, from now on." He grabbed my hand, caressing it. I found myself nodding, and he gave me a faint smile.

After that incident, Luke changed. He changed so much that it scared both my mom and dad. It's like something within him snapped. We returned to our penthouse with a private doctor and nurses to care for us.

Dad was trying to work with police regarding the attack, and they promised to catch the suspect. My dad broke his arm, his ribs, and his right ankle. My mom got some cuts on her face and a badly bruised jaw. As for me, I was having a hard time sleeping.

Every time I heard sirens, my head hurt, and my ears rang. I don't know why. I think it's because of the attack.