text: hunter lynne truth in darkness I dedicate this book to my best friend Laura Deal wo has been a godsend  
   
   
   Truth in Darkness 
   
   Truth in the Darkness 
   
   
   by: 
   
   
   Hunter Lynne 
   
   "Christain, seriously, get down from there before she sees you!" I yell up to my older brother. He looked down from his perch in the highest branches of the White Oak tree in our front yard and gave one of his mischievious smiles. 
   "It's all right little sister. She hasn't got back yet, so take a chill pill and I promise you, she won't see me up here anyway." Christain called down from the top of the tree. I had to squint up to see him and caught a glimpse of his charming smile that wins every girls heart. 
   "I brought you some lunch from Romatech. Would you like the chicken or the burger?" I managed a slight smile. I have just returned from Romatech Industries,a grocery store in our local neighborhood. 
   "Back up ! I'm comin down" When I backed up, he leaped from the branch and landed right where I was standing. 
   "Seriously, what has gotten into you. You haven't been right since Lucan left." I commented when he landed without a single sound. Christain was smiling like he won the triathalon. 
   It is a while before he finally speaks up. "What do you mean? I am seriously confused right now. Who is Lucan?" When he saw the look on my face, his face paled "Oh, the one I called a brother before he betrayed me. Well, he did some things I can't even explain. And don't even think about bringing it up again." 
   I quickly stepped back from him. "Sorry, I didn't know you were still that angry. I thought you were over it now considering that was three years ago." 
   Before he could reply, my phone blared. I took it out of my pocket without looking at  the display screen and answered it. " Hello." 
   " Hey, sweetheart." 
   "Hi, mom. Is something wrong?" 
   "No,sweetheart, I was calling to tell you we will be home in about thirty minutes." 
   "Mom, you're not supposed to be coming home for another week. Why are you coming home so early?" 
   "Is Gloria there?" She brushed off my question. 
   "No, she left for Romatech a few hours ago." I thought it was strange since I left Romatech a few minutes ago. I didn't see her there, either. 
   I finally said, " Huh, that is rather weird. Romatech is only a few blocks away from here so she should have been home a while ago. Why? What is wrong?" 
   "Nothing, dear. How is Christain?" 
   " A show-off as usual. He's fine. How are you?" 
   "Scared and angry. I will be fine. Listen, your grandmother just dropped off Charity and Joshua a few hours ago because something came up and she couldn't have them with her now. So, do you have your stuff ready for in the morning?" 
   Tomorrow is the first day of my Junior year, I totally forgot. "No, I don't, I totally forgot and is dad doing services tonight?" 
   "No he's not. We have had  a long trip and we are tired .The money is in my nightstand drawer. Have Chirstian take you to get supplies. I love you, sweetheart." 
   "Okay, I love you, too." Then she hung up. 
   Christain was looking at me with with wide eyes and a pale face. I started to say something when he regained his composure. He took a shaky breath and finally spoke, "I'm fine. What did mom want?" The intensity left his eyes and the color slowly came back to his face. The charming smile came back. I finally said, "They will be home in a little while. They have Charity and Joshua with them so I doubt they will wait much longer to see us. And she said for us to go pick up our school stuff." 
   "Wow, time already. I completely forgot. Go get the money. I will get the keys and the lists." 
   "Fine." And we went into the house. I made my way upstairs to my parents bedroom. My parents room is huge, considering it is the master bedroom. My mom was right the money was laying in the top drawer of her nightstand with a rubber band around it to keep it all together. I walked out of their room and realized that dad's study door is open. 
   Huh, that wasn't open when  I came up here, I thought. I walked toward it without thinking what was in there. I was just curious because  dad never left his study open like that. I finally made it to the door and peered inside. 
   I gasped. The room was destoyed. Dads books were on the floor, the shelves torn from the walls, and paper ripped to shreds on top of it all. Right in the middle of the room, lying on thew floor covered in blood, was Aunt Gloria. 
   I ran toward her. When I got near her, I could see the  were the blood was coming from. A deep gash across her chest and a long, silver knife in her hand. I screamed and screamed until Christain burst into the room. He saw her lying there motionless in a heap on the floor in front of me. 
   He luged forward, grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back. I slammed into his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. He whispered in me ear, "Are you okay?" 
   Through the tears I managed to say, "I'm fine. W-what h-h-happened to her?"My voice was barely audible. 
   "I don't know,Tess. Go call mom, now!" 
   "I'll be downstairs. Chrisatin?" 
   "Yes, Tess?" 
   "Please hurry." With that I boltled out the room.Tears streaked my face as I ran down the stairs and out the front door. I dailled mom's number faster than I thought possible. She picked up on  the third ring. 
   "Mom, you need to get home, now! As fast as possible!"I was out of breath and my voice was shaking so badly from crying. 
   "Sweetheart, slow down and tell me what happened" 
   I slowed down and explained to her what I saw in dad's study. My voice started to go back to normal, but I'm pretty sure she could barely understand me. She was silent for a few minutes. Finally she she spoke,"We are about twenty minutes from Staples. Go get your stuff and don't come back until we call you. Then you come running." 
   "Please hurry!" I ran back into the house and up the stairs. I nearly ran into Christain on the top step. He caught me before I could tumble back down the stairs. He looked down at me. His eyes were rimmed with red and his face was paler than usual. He finally spoke with a great effort,"What did mom say?" 
   "She said to go get our stuff for school and don't come back until they call us back." 
   "Alright, I see you have the money. So lets go. I already have the keys." He turned me around, but he kept his arm around me. Which is kind of weird because he never did that anymore. I assumed it was a protectively gesture. He did this when we were in a great deal of danger. 
   He led me down the stairs and out the front door to his old Mustang. He opened the passenger door and I got in. After Christain shut my door, he dashed around the car to the drivers side, he was practically a blur, and jumped in. He never drives the old Mustang, it was always the old Ford pick-up that we drove to the shelter. 
   We zoomed down the road and out of sight of the house. Within a few minutes we were pulling into the parking lot of Staples. We were practically running through the parking lot when I realized that my phone was ringing. Christian looked at me as soon as I made a grab for it. 
   
   
   Text: Hunter Lynne Images: google Editing: Hunter Lynn All rights reserved. Publication Date: September 7th 2013 https://www.bookrix.com/-vvb7067c4578e15