Chapter 2

Everything begins to fall into place, and disaster strikes.

Chapter 2

Vance felt bad; the parents in the picture were dead, and Jeff and Felix were the ones who took care of him.  He felt remorse for how he acted before.  He felt like a spoiled brat, which he didn’t want to be.  Vance loved Jeff and Felix.  They were his family, even if his blood parents had been alive.  All he needed over the years was their love, and everything they did was because they loved him, especially Jeff, as he was still his father.  Vance considered him slightly lucky because he was gifted with two set of parents, even if three of them were gone.  The memory still remained. 

Vance rose from his bed, and walked down the stairs, eager to find Jeff and Felix, as he wanted to apologize.  He searched for any sign of the two of them, the only family he had left.  He looked in the kitchen, and everywhere else, but could not find them.

“Felix, Father, where are you?” Vance shouted through the house.  He looked out the window in the kitchen, and spotted two figures playing with a football in the distance.  Vance smiled and stopped at the front door.  It’d be the first time he ever went outside in years. 

Vance took a deep breath of anticipation, and turned the knob with his hands shaking.  He slowly opened the wooden door, and it creaked as he pulled.  He looked through the open door with excitement.  The sun was shining high above, and the green grass lay softly below him.  He took a step into the world unknown to him, and felt refreshed finally getting the first breath of fresh air in years.  He felt like a new person, in this new world before, stronger than he had ever felt.  The soft grass supported his feet with soft comfort, and the sky seemed to blanket him, making him warm and uplifted.

He ran over to where he had seen the two silhouettes playing football, and smiled making out the figures of Jeff and Felix.

“Hey you guys!” Vance shouted at the figures as he ran towards them.  Getting a closer view of them, he realized how much Felix and Jeff looked alike.  Felix just looked a little younger than Jeff did.

“Vance?” Felix said in confusion barely blocking his father’s tackle, “Whatcha doin’ out here?” 

“I came to apologize for earlier, I was an idiot,” Vance said still running towards them.

“It’s all-” his father said loudly enough that Vance could hear him.  It was in that instant that a sudden loud explosion exploded Vance’s eardrums.  Vance was blown back, with the fleeting image of the large black house mixed with an orange flame. 

 

The next he awoke he slowly opened his eyes, aching all over; he saw the sky darkening, and the moon rising above him, but it was still bright around him.  He could barely move, but could feel his body and the position they were in.  He was on his side with one of his arms crossing above the other arm.  His leg were slightly bent, but over all there was no real damage except for a few bruises spotting his body.  His clothes were slightly singed, but mostly intact.

“DAD!  FELIX!” He lifted his head slightly, still on the ground, to look at his surroundings.  Fire was ravaging the house and the grass was burning away, not reaching him yet.  A light object flew around near him; it was the picture of his parents, slightly burned on the edges.  Mustering up all his energy, he sat up, with his body throbbing in pain.  He looked around for Felix and Jeff, hoping they had survived this unexplained phenomenon.  In the distance, he saw two figures lying unconscious on the ground, illuminated in the light of the fire. 

Vance pushed himself up to his feet, but promptly fell down once more.  Determined to get to Jeff and Felix, he tried once more, he rose to his feet and balanced himself, almost falling again.  One foot after the other, he slowly made his way to the two unconscious silhouettes.  Each step felt like millions of knives piercing his body, until he finally stumbled to the two people unconscious on the ground.  Vance fell to his knees instantly having met his goal of making it there. 

On Jeff’s face, flesh was seared and darkened.  Bruises and cuts littered his arms and legs.  His clothes were burnt at the tips.  The sight was unbearable for Vance.  Even his brother, Felix, was unbearable to look at, with his legs completely burned, probably useless if Felix was even alive, which Vance tried to think that he wasn’t.

In that moment Vance collapsed once more, feeling he couldn’t force himself to stay up any longer.  He remained conscious for a short time afterwards.  Don’t die before I do you two.  Vance thought to himself, before passing out once more.

It must have been hours later, because when Vance awoke the next time, the sun was far overhead, and the fire seemed to have died out.  Next to him were the broken bodies of his family, and it was unknown if they were even alive anymore.

Vance opened his eyes, hoping it was all a dream, and he was lying in his bed.  His sense of touch was coming back, and he felt the rough burnt grass in which he lay.  He could not think due to the fact, his body was throbbing in pain, even inside his head, and his brain seemed to beat as if his heart was in his head.  Vance tried to move even a finger, but all his attempts were futile.  He would have to wait until his strength had returned. 

He lay there in the grass, trying to ignore the pain, when he remembered that he was now thirteen.  On the eve of his birthday, something like this had to happen, robbing him of the ability to move, or even know what happened to his family.  He slightly turned his head towards the house, to see the ruins of their large mansion house.  His father’s journal was somewhere burned to a crisp.

He knew he must try to move again.  He tried moving his aching arms, and they slowly moved in the position to push him up to sit.  He mustered up all his energy and will and pushed up from the ground until he was steadily sitting.  He turned his head towards Jeff and Felix, with the hope that they were still there.

“Ch-champ?” A voice groaned.  Vance’s heart lifted; his father was still there with him.

“Yes Father?” Vance said forcing himself to talk.

“I’m sorry,” Jeff said looking into Vance’s eyes, “You are too much like your f-father.  You w-will always b-be my f-f-family, Vance.  D-don’t let anyone m-make y-you th-th-th-think otherwise.  I will a-always l-l-lo-” Jeff was cut off by a sharp pain that seemed to stab in everywhere in his body, he looked at Vance for one brief moment before his heavy breathing stopped and the glint of life in his eyes left him, leaving only the glossy overcoat of death. 

“Father!  Please don’t die, please Dad!” Vance said ignoring the pain turning completely towards his father and grabbing his burnt shirt shaking him, “Please Father stay with me.  I’ll get help, just hang on!”  Vance hopped up, nearly falling, but his adrenaline was pumping and he was determined to keep his father from Death’s clutches.  He ran, stumbling towards the ruins of the house thinking he could find some sort of working communication device, but before he made it there, he spotted a black book on the ground near the rubble of the house.  Vance hurried towards it to find Julius Blake’s journal, slightly burnt but overall it looked quite well under the circumstances.  Vance could feel his legs giving out, and his determination, though quite strong, wasn’t strong enough to keep him going for very long.  Vance decided he would rather be near his family when he collapsed again, so he hurried back to where his brother and father were falling to his knees. 

 “Bro,” Felix choked out, “Y-you ok?” Vance nodded unable to voice what he was thinking.

“Just promise to stay o-out of trouble, bro,” Felix said, “Don’t get h-hurt, bro.”

“I think- I think " Father is…”  Vance spit out falling all the way to the ground, but still staying conscious. 

“I-its ok, bro you d-did as m-much as you c-could,” Felix struggled trying to push himself up, but the pain was too much.  Vance simply stayed silent trying to force himself to get back up again.  It happened so suddenly, it was almost like magic.  One second he felt terrible with pain shooting through his whole body, and the next he felt strong, though the pain wasn’t completely subsided.  Vance slowly pushed himself up and looked towards his father and brother.  He closed his eyes trying to force himself to decide.   

“Felix, I’m going to go to town,” Vance said with a fast growing sense of strength and determination, “I’m gonna take you with me, just tell me if I hurt you more.”  Vance slowly placed his hands below Felix’s broken body and lifted him slowly.  Whether he grew stronger after working out most days in his room, or Felix was super small, he was easier to carry than Vance suspected especially in his weakened condition.  Vance walked slowly towards where he thought his father said the town was, and vigilantly continued to walk.

Vance marched on, falling on occasion, but determined to push forward.  He could almost guarantee as soon as he got to town, he would pass out from exhaustion, but for now, Vance’s intense determination kept him pressing forward knowing that he couldn’t break, that he couldn’t let Felix die. 

As the sun began to set, on the horizon buildings were evident, and they seemed uniform, all the same height, all the same shape, and all the same distance apart.  He looked at Felix, groaning in his arms.  Vance trekked on, hoping to get him there in time for him to survive.  He finally reached the city, zooming with only a few cars and lights from a few lighted areas.  Keeping in mind his goal, he kept walking with his brother in his hand.  Not knowing where to go, he stopped one of the people on the road, asking for directions.

“Sir,” Vance said to a man sitting on the side of the road “Sir, can you tell me where the hospital is?”  The man droopily looked up at Vance with a curious glow in his eyes, one Vance was sure was going to be burned into his face forever.  The man pointed towards the end of a nearby street.  It was almost like magic that once Vance had turned on the nearby road, he was somewhere else in the town but by the hospital.  Vance pushed himself to the limit by sprinting to the hospital.  Quickly, Vance burst through the doors.  Several heads turned to look at him.

“I need help, my brother’s hurt, please help him!” Vance shouted before anyone could say anything to him.  Immediately, women in white uniforms quickly took Felix from his arms and placed him on a stretcher.  Vance wanted to follow, but one of the women stopped him.  She almost looked familiar with the calm expression on her face and skin, which looked like she had been in the sun for hours.  Then again, that might be her natural skin color, especially since Vance had never seen anyone without white or caramel skin, given how he had grown up away from most people.

“Sorry but you can’t come in, just wait on the benches,” she said to Vance indicating the soft bench across the room.  Vance wanted to protest, but did as he was told.  The small boy didn’t understand why they weren’t insisting on treating him, but figured it was because he didn’t seem too hurt, or something was off about everything here.  He slowly walked towards the benches, and sat next to a tall man with wild brown hair who almost reminded him of the man on the street.  Vance felt like he was going to faint, but he wanted to know how Felix was doing before he allowed himself to give in.

“What are you here for?” The man said in a scratchy voice that startled Vance.

“My brother was injured, I carried him here.  What are you doing here?” Vance responded.

“Just hanging out here,” the man said, “Makes you realize how lucky you are.  Hope your brother pulls through.  What happened to him?  I mean people don’t just come bursting through those doors just for anything.”  It was curious because it was quite obvious to Vance that it was because Felix was almost dead and burnt all over the place with third degree burns, and most likely in much worse condition than just burns.

“Our house exploded,” Vance responded dully expecting a surprised reaction, but the man seemed unfazed, “My father died there.  Couldn’t you see him?  It was quite obvious… I think.”  Well maybe to him, but maybe actual people in the world didn’t know enough to see someone is hurt, even if it was as bad as Felix was.

“Nope can see.  Blind,” the man shrugged, pausing for a second before continuing the conversation, “Anyways, sorry for all of the trouble.  What about you parents?  And… well have you thought of where to go afterwards?  You know since your house exploded.”

“Both of my parents are dead,” Vance sighed looking down before answering the man’s second questions “I have no clue, didn’t worry about that, more worried about getting my brother here.  Make sure he survived.”

“Yeah, family first eh?” The man said, “By the way the name’s Bertram.  Bertram Vengence.  What’s your name?”

“Umm, father told me never to answer that to strangers,” Vance said nervously looking around wanting to know what was going on with Felix and whether his brother would survive.  Even after all of the trouble of taking his brother here, he had a feeling that Felix wouldn’t make it through it all.

“Right, well it’s nice to meet you.  I’ll just call you B.   So B, why did your house explode?” Bertram replied with a jolly tone in his voice, almost completely ignoring the fact that Vance was scared out of his mind.

“I have no clue, sir,” Vance answered beginning to feel weak in his stomach, like he usually did when he was outside of his room for any extended period of time.

“Don’t call me sir, B,” Bertram replied roughly patting Vance’s back, “Well, there’s got to be a reason, let’s just say a gas leak.  Now, how far did you travel?”

“I-I don’t know I walked all day with my brother.  That’s all I know,” Vance answered trying to remember, but in vain.  Before Bertram could ask any more questions, the same white clad nurse from before came walking towards Vance, getting a smile from Bertram.

“Felix Martin wants to see you,” the nurse said sweetly to Vance. 

“How… how is he well enough already?” Vance asked.  He could swear the nurse peered at Bertram for only a split second before shrugging.

“The magic of healing,” the nurse replied with a smile, and Vance looked worried still, “Don’t worry little one, your friend should be fine.”  Vance nodded still nervous and with a pained expression of worry printed on his face.  It was then that Vance said his good-bye to the weird man named Bertram before the nurse and Vance exited the large waiting room.  They walked down a white hallway, and entered a door that said 3A.  Inside, Felix was on a soft white bed, with his legs bandaged up.

“Vance,” Felix said feebly looking up from his bed.

“Yes I am here Felix,” Vance said walking over to his bed.

“How’s… Dad?” Felix croaked.

“Gone,” Vance answered.

“House?”

“Gone too.”

“Vance?”

“I’m fine. Get some rest please,” Vance said looking at his brother, slightly lying as he felt like he was about to faint.  Felix stiffly nodded and immediately fell asleep, with slight snores issuing from his mouth.  How Felix could fall asleep so fast had always been a mystery to Vance.  Vance sat down in a black chair near the bed, and waited awake, hoping that any second his father would come through the door.

Author's Note

Still in revising, would love to hear any feedback on how to improve it.