Never Be Alone [REPUBLISH]

Interlude

In Rei Zhan's narration...

There were countless things I never wanted in life. For one, I never wanted to be born into a family of killers. I never wanted to know how to kill someone with one chop. Most of all, I never wanted to live but take another's life. But still, God allowed it, so I have trust that this is all for the better. But how?

If I had the chance to pick the family I'd be born into, there would be no way I would choose Lixin Zhan and Yu Zhan, deadly assassins, as my parents. Even so, it wasn't for me to decide.

My family were composed of serial killers - assassins. They kill just for pleasure and for money. All of my family members are murderers. My parents and older siblings killed more than fifty innocent people by themselves. They loved to see the weak suffer. They hunger for the smell of blood. Most of all, they live to kill. They were all the same.

My little sister Iyah and I had always been the odd ones out.

"You'd see, lad," my father once told me. "You'd understand us one day. Try to kill one, just one, and you'll see how satisfying it is to see their agony. Once you smell blood, you'd get the kick. Killing is in your blood."

I was only ten years old, and Iyah was four. I remember being forced to learn how to break a neck with one swipe. The idea horrified me.

"I don't want to be an assassin!" I yelled at my parents.

"We're doing you a favour, my love, by training you." my mother said. "In life, it's either kill or be killed. Which do you choose?"

"Neither! Life isn't about that. There is more to it than killing. I want to be something else."

"Well, wait 'til you're sixteen, and then you can leave and do anything you want. But for now, as long as you're under this roof, you'll do as we say. Now bring me the knives - I'll teach you some tricks."

And just like that, I learned how to throw knives. I practised it every day and refused to master anything else. While my three older siblings learned atrocious 'talents,' I stuck on with knives. Iyah followed in my footsteps and practised only knife throwing. She was always by my side. Through the years, we trained until we were as good as the best knife thrower in China.

After six years, I was finally able to leave home. I promised Iyah I would bring her with me.

My parents prepared a special dinner for me on my sixteenth birthday. They ordered me to keep out of the kitchen and dining room, so I stayed on my bedroom balcony, gazing at the sky above and dreaming of the many adventures I would share with my little sister - while unbeknownst to me, something unpleasant was brewing in the kitchen.

'Oh, father, please don't do this!' Iyah pleaded.

'What can you do about it, little lass?' her father, Lixin Zhan, said. Iyah ran to her mother, who was stirring a stew while her father was mixing odd things into a vial.

'Please, Ma,' Iyah begged. 'Rei Zhan would hate himself. He never dreamed of killing anyone.'

'We're doing it for his good, darling,' stated Yu Zhan. 'This is our last and final shot. We'll show him the pleasure of killing, won't we, Pa?'

'Yes, my sweet, black heart, we will.' Lixin replied.

Iyah watched her parents as sadness and terror filled her lightning-grey eyes.

'Ma, please, stop.' she cried.

'Oh, be off with you, you little varmint.' her father yelled in annoyance. Iyah towards the door, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.