The Following

After the death of his family, Lukas begins his journey to find his family's killer and avenge them.

The smoke from the fire filled Lukas’ lungs as he ran towards his burning home. He could hear the deafening screams of his family, trapped inside. Lukas had been retrieving water from the well and was walking back when saw the black thick smoke engulfing the sky. As he got closer, a cloaked figure could be seen running away from the fire. Even if they were not cloaked, it was too dark for Lukas to see who it was. When Lukas reached the house, the screams halted and he realised he was too late.  He watched in horror and devastation as the house he grew up in crumbled and collapsed. Tears began to fall from his eyes and trickle down his face. His legs gave way underneath him and he fell to his knees, grasping the dirt in his hands. He sobbed with grief and curled up on the ground, and there he stayed until morning.  

As the sun began to rise, Lukas raised himself from the ground and wiped away the tears from his eyes. The fire had stopped but the air still smelt of burnt wood. The grief he was feeling begun to be replaced with anger. He remembered the cloaked figure he had seen. That must have been the person who started the fire and killed his family. Lukas walked to the back of the property laid four large stones in a row as makeshift graves for his family; one for his mother, one for his father, one for his twin brother and one for his younger sister. He knelt down in front of them and said, “I will find who did this to you. I will avenge you. Even if it’s the last thing I do. I promise.” He walked to the barn and found a sword; the sword that he would use to kill his family’s murderer. Then he began his journey, walking in the direction the cloaked figure had gone. He wondered how he would find this man as he did not see his face however he did see defining feature, a rip on the back of the cloak.

Lukas travelled on foot for two months from village to village, from forest to forest, asking everyone he could if they had seen a cloaked man with a rip on their back to no avail. It wasn’t until late one stormy night, he spotted a cloaked figure with a very distinct rip on their back. He quickly drew his sword and ran out the door. Anger and vengeance boiled inside him as he followed his family’s killer, slowly quickening his pace. Lukas was ready, sword in hand, ready to plunge the sword into the cloaked man’s back, but he stopped. He decided to follow him, to attempt to determine what kind of person the killer is.

 

Every night, Lukas set up camp in eye shot of his family’s murderer who he decided to call “Sicarius”, meaning murderer or killer.  He followed Sicarius for two weeks, studying him, learning his movement patterns, how he hunted and what places he frequently visited. The only thing he couldn’t figure out was where he was going. Sicarius was headed in the direction of the ocean. If he was aiming to cross the sea, he didn’t seem wealthy enough to gain passage on a ship. Sicarius was not in fact aiming to board a ship. When he reached the quiet village of Archeron, situated by the ocean, Sicarius, followed by Lukas, climbed the tall, rocky stairway to a very timeworn cemetery, located on a cliff.  

 It was a dark and cold night with much fog, making it had to see. Lukas thought he had lost Sicarius in the fog, but spotted him crouching down by a gravestone. This was his chance. He promised his family that he would avenge them and that was what he was going to do. He drew his sword and slowly crept towards the killer. When Lukas was standing right behind him, he whispered, “This is for my family,” and with one swift, deadly swing, he severed Sicarius’ head from his body. A sense of relief and accomplishment came over Lukas until he saw the killer’s head and he gasped in horror. He dropped his sword and stumbled backwards. The lifeless face that was staring back at him was his twin brother, Maliki. Lukas knelt down beside his brother’s body, tears streaming down his face. He noticed a piece of parchment in his brother’s hand. Lukas reached out to grab and realised there was something written on it:

“To whoever finds this, I am currently being pursued by my family’s killer. I thought I was following him but I eventually found out that he is behind me. I decided to go to the cemetery to be with my ancestors before he eventually catches and kills me. If my brother Lukas, finds this note, please know that I love you and I tried my hardest to avenge our parents and sister but I was not quick enough, I am sorry Lukas.”
- Maliki

Lukas’ body began to shake as grief came over him. “I’m so sorry Maliki,” he whispered, grasping his brother’s hand. It was at this moment that he remembered what he’d done. He had left a candle burning under the window in his room when he went to collect water from the well. He had been told countless times by his parents not to leave it there because the curtains may catch the flames. It was his fault. He murdered his own family.

Lukas rose to his feet and walked over to the edge of the cliff. He looked down at the crashing waves and deadly rocks below. He couldn’t live with himself after what he had done and he didn’t want to be without his family. Tears streamed down his face as he stepped off the cliff, falling to his death.