Protecting... One Direction?

Chapter 1: The Defining Past

Status: Edited

Rouge and Scarlet, can never be considered as one of those 'normal' teenage girls. They don't hang out with their friends on Saturdays, stay up all night to get a history project done, cry from bad breakups, or be on the phone for hours just to talk to a friend. Maybe they would've if circumstances were different. But it's not. And it's all because of one night.

Nottingham, 9:54 pm.
Approximately 10 years from current time.

"Hihihi..." Scarlet's ten-year-old self giggled. Rouge and her were playing one of their 'super spy' games wherein they each possessed a toy gun made of plastic while pretending they were on a secret mission. Their goal? To stop the evil Snore-a-lot, a tattered teddy bear given to them when they were five, from destroying the world and to save some of their other spy friends: Tina, Kevin and Senior Dominic(a rag doll, a green plush monkey, and an overstuffed teddy with a mustache, respectively) from being eaten by a pool of hungry sharks.

Everything was going fine that night. Scarlet could vaguely hear the television from downstairs, no doubt their parents watching some soap opera. That's when it happened.

Scarlet found Rouge's terrified gaze just as the sound of a gunshot was heard. With them knowing things that others their age wouldn't, they knew it was not from the television.

As quiet as they could, the twins opened the door of their room and stepped out of it. They then tip-toed to the edge of the railings (for they lived in a two-story house) where they peered down. From where they were, they could see most of their living room. But something was not right as they noticed three, not two figures below. Rouge's eyes widened as she grabbed her sister's hand and violently tugged on it. Scarlet looked at her questionably before she followed her sister's gaze. Dressed in all black was a guy no older than their parents. He had shockingly bright blonde hair which looked almost white. It was formed into a spiky quiff that looked quite messy. In his hand was a gun,a real one, which he was pointing to the other two figures on the floor.

Both of them knew it was their parents.

Their mother was sitting, their father's head on her lap as he clutched his abdomen. Around the area was blood.
Scarlet quickly pulled Rouge away from the railings and directed them back into their room as quietly as they can.

"We have to call the police!" Scarlet hurriedly said to her sister.

"But we don't know the number!"

"Mum has a phone book in their room, right?"

"I think so."

"Find a way to get the phone!" Scarlet instructed her sister just as she ran out of the room and into the other across from it. She scanned the room, trying to find where her mother kept it. She found it on one of their bedside tables. Quickly she grabbed it and was about to dash back into where her sister was when the doorknob jingled. Scarlet did not waste time and hid under her parent's bed.

Her parents walked in first. She was about to sigh in relief when she noticed her father's limp and the now blood soaked khaki pants he was wearing. Her mother was doing her best to help him walk. After them came the man from earlier.

"Where's the stash?!" The man's aggressive voice said. Scarlet clamped a hand onto her mouth to keep herself from making any noise. The bed shifted slightly as her parents climbed onto it.

"There in the safe..." Scarlet heard her mother reply.

"You!" the man said, "Open the goddamn safe," the bed once again shifted as one of her parents tried to get up. There was a hiss of pain.

"No!" Cried out her mother. "I'll do it!"

"Shut up, you stupid bint! He opens it."

The bed shifted again as her father weakly got off. Limping, he went towards where his favourite painting was. In the background, her mother sobbed.

"I said shut up!" The man said as he fired his gun at the television screen in her parent's room. The glass shattered. Her mother's cries faded into sniffs.

There was the sound of metal clanking as her father successfully opened the safe. Scarlet was about to breath out a sigh of relief, thinking that the man was going to leave now, when she heard it.

"No!" her mother.

A gun shot. Her father dropped to the floor, blood oozing from the side of his head. Scarlet pressed her hand to her mouth in shock as she tried to not make a sound.

"You bastard!" Her mother screamed as she tackled the man to the ground. Scarlet used this as a distraction as she hurried out from under the bed and ran out of the scene.

She had to call the cops. Now.

"Rouge!" She called as she went back into their room. There was no more reason for her to try and be discrete. They had to get out of here fast.

She grabbed Rouge's hand which held a phone and together they ran out of the house. It was then they flipped open the directory and search the police hotline.

"Hello, Nottingham Poli-"

"Help! Man with a gun! Parents! Help!" Scarlet said in a hurry.

"Okay, where are you?!" She worriedly asked. She gave them their address. Just then, another gunshot was heard. "Please hurry!" Both of the twins were crying now.

Moments later, the sound of sirens were heard as an ambulance and several police cars zoomed towards them. It was then that the criminal opened the front door to run, only to be shot down by an officer on the leg.

Paramedics hurriedly entered the house, returning moments later with two stretchers containing bodies covered in white cloth.

"No..." Rouge whispered in disbelief at the implication of the scene before them. The twins had watched too many crime movies to know what those covered lump of cloths meant. Scarlet suddenly felt heavy with grief.

They were too late.

"Scy!" Rouge yelled as her twin fell to the ground, unconscious.

Their parents were gone.