#mixed language

This was funner in my head

also I learn what fire is in Japanese but that part doesn't matter

(TW! There is death mentioned/described)

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Kalia

(15 years ago)

“Hi, Kalia. My name is Lenora.” The lady in front of me crouches down., Hher face is now level with mine but she still keeps her distance from me. “Are you thirsty? Or hungry?”

I shake my head no. The only thing I want is my parents.

“You know you’re safe here, right?” I just stare at the woman. Her red hair held back in an updo of braids, gold chains hanging from pins that stick out of the bun. Her skin is pale, reminding me of the once white walls in my room.

“Je veux ma mère. I want to go-” The door behind the lady, Lenora, slams open, banging against the wall behind it. I feel my body go rigid, my blood freezing when I see the man that walks in and I’m transported back to the night before.

The Night Before

I was supposed to be asleep but I wanted Father to read me another story. I opened my door and started making my way down to his office. I was 10 steps from the bottom of the marble staircase when I heard the shouting.

“What have you done, Alaric? The plan was simple! You go in, get the money and you leave.” I can hear Mother’s voice from down the hall. They’re in Father’s study.

“Charlotte, mon chéri. Kalia is asleep, keep your voice down.” I’m rounding the corner now, the door to my father’s study is open, allowing me to see inside but stay hidden behind the wall.

“They’re coming, Alaric. They will take her. They will take our daughter if we don’t have that money. You know this.” Mother is pacing back and forth in front of Father’s desk and he sits there, watching her.

“I will not let that bastard lay a finger on her. She will not be turned into a killer, Charlotte. I promise you.” Father stands now, hands balled into fists on his desk. I take a step forward, pausing when I hear a click.

I turn to the side and see shadows outside the window, not wasting a second, I scream as loud as I can. My mother and father whip around, rushing to the sound of my fear. My arm is raised, finger pointing to the window. I can’t speak, my mind not being able to form the right words to warn my parents of the intruders I saw trying to open the window.

“La personne. T-there was a man at the window, le Père (Father).” Tears stream down my face, hiccups interrupting at every other word as I fumbletry to speak again. Mother and Father share a look.

“Go upstairs. Lock your door and get under your bed. Do not come out until you hear my voice, est-ce que tu me comprends, do you understand me, Kalia?” My father is in front of me now. I nod my head frantically before running back to my room, following my fathers directions.

I’m hiding under my bed now, clutching my bunny tight to my chest. I had just locked my door when I heard the first set of windows break. The glass shattering made me jump, scurrying to hide. I hear my mother screaming, father yelling back at her, begging her to be quiet, to not make the situation worse. More voices join them, slightly muffled but loud enough for me to hear them.

“Alaric, Charlotte, it is so nice to see you again.” The man’s voice is sharp, no sincerity held in them, a foreign greeting.nothing close to being as sincere as how the words are meant to be used.

“Miko, h-hey man, I know-” Father is cut off by a loud crunch, his scream that follows terrifies mells me more than I would’ve liked to have known at my age.

“I know that you do not have my money, like we agreed. You had a year, Alaric. That’s a very generous amount of time that I gave you. More than what I give most.” My father whimpers, my mothers cries are muffled.

“J-just one more week, please, Miko. I swear I’ll have it by next week. Don’t take my baby girl. She’s only four, Je t'en supplie, aie pitié.” My fathers voice is heavy with pain and fear, he's scared.

If the man responded I did not hear it, the only thing I hear is footsteps. Loud and unforgiving as they make their way up the marble steps. My mother screams again. Begging them not to take me, to take her instead. A bang goes off, followed by a series of loud thuds and my fathers screams. I can no longer hear my mother. Her soft angelic voice, gone in the blink of an eye.

The heavy feet grow louder the closer they get to my bedroom door. The handle jiggles. Once. Twice. Then silence.

“Kalia, it’s your father.” His voice is raspy, shaking, as he speaks through the door. No longer muffled, I hear the panic in his voice, and I crawl out from under my bed.

I take small steps until I reach the door. I peek through the key hole, taking in the four figures outside my door. Two of the men hold my father up by his arms, his legs are folded at awkward angles beneath him and his face is bloody, a massive cut across his right brow. The other man is standing off to the side, waiting impatiently for me to open the door.

“P-Père?” I hiccup and Father inhales sharply.

“I need you to open the door for my friends, Kalia.”

“Ils ne ressemblent pas à tes amis, Père. (They d-don’t look like your friends, Father.)” He lets out a strangled sound, almost like a cry. The man on the side crouches down, whispering in my fathers ear, and whatever was said made his eyes widen and dart around frantically. Scared of what may happen to my father I step back quickly and flip the lock on my door. I grab the handle and twist it, finally pulling it open to let the strangers and my father in.

The man stands up suddenly and turns around towards me. His piercing blue eyes find me, he looks me up and down before stepping towards me. I stay still, not wanting to move in fear that he’ll hurt me. He takes another step, and another, until he’s right in front of me, and crouches down.

“Go sit on your bed, I have a little show for you. Do you like shows, Kalia?” The man's voice is soft as he speaks to me. I nod my head slowly, not sure if I should be nodding at all.

“Good. Go on, sit.” He picks me upushers me to my bed, setting me on the end of the bed, facing the door. The only thing blocking the view of my father is the man, until he moves and motions for the men holding him to drag him inside my room. They set him down on the wall right next to my door frame, his body slumps to the side a little bit when they let go of his arms. The men start speaking with each other, their voices muffled again, but this time it’s like my head is under water. My father is screaming at them, begging them to not do this in front of me.

“She’s only four. She’s only four.” He keeps repeating the words over and over. Like the declaration would change the outcome.

I look at my father, and he stares back at me. He’s stopped his pleading, like he knows his fate has been sealed. His lips are moving but I can’t hear anything. ‘I love you, Kalia.’ The words form on his lips over and over. He never stops saying them, not even as the man, Miko, pulls out a long knife. My father doesn’t stop when the tip presses against the underneath of his jaw. He doesn’t stop even after the blade swipes across in a quick motion, blood sprays, covering the walls. Stray drops fly through the air and land on my face and my bunny.

He only stops speaking after the blood slows to a trickle and the light leaves his eyes. My name is the last word on his lips.

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