Second Sons

Wind and rain pelted the house as the storm raged on till just past midnight.  As if on cue, Mason jumped up from his fitful sleep as a thunderclap roared.  Covered in sweat and panting heavily, Mason gathered his surroundings and sat on the edge of the bed.  Then, cradling his head in his cupped hands, he let out a large, heavy sigh.  Just then a hand gently touched his shoulder from behind.
    “Nightmare again hun?” a concerned female voice said.
    He turned slightly and nodded as he spoke.
    “I’m fine sweetie, go back to sleep.” He replied in a half sigh.
    Patting her hand softly, he stood up and walked into the nearby bathroom, flipping the light switch as he entered.  Running the faucet and repeatedly rinsing his face with cold water, he paused looking at his reflection in the mirror.  Staring at himself in a half-daze, Mason replayed the memory that had become such a horrible, reoccurring nightmare.
The night it happened wasn’t all that different from tonight, he thought to himself.  A heavy storm had rolled in making the tree branches sway in the front yard, and pelting the glass heavily with large drops of rain.  Of course the day hadn’t started out that way.  Earlier that morning, his father had taken him and his older brother, Jason, to the park to fly kites.  The wind was good, and they had had no problems getting their kites to fly.  Mason remembered it had taken all his strength to keep the kite from dragging him across the field; after all, he was only five.  It had been a good day and the last day he would spend with his family.  He often thought of what he would have done differently, had he known what was going to happen.  Later that evening, just after midnight, Mason woke up with a strong urge to use the bathroom.  He got up from his bed, half glancing at his older brother across the room, who was in a deep sleep.  Walking down the hall towards the bathroom, he paused, thinking he heard a muffled noise coming from his parent’s room, but continued on, assuming the noise was from the storm.  Just before entering the bathroom he noticed the floor was wet and at the other end of the hallway, the window was open.  Not only that, but it appeared that part of the glass had been broken.  As he approached the window, he moved the blowing curtains out of the way to look out the window.  A cat soaked to the bone, looked up and meowed at him.  Their cat was strictly an indoor cat, but never missed an opportunity to sneak outside, if given the opportunity.  Unfortunately, his curiosity got the better of him this time.  Leaning out the window to climb outside, Mason scolded the cat.
    “Jasper, you know you’re not supposed to go outside!” He yelled, nearly closing his eyes to protect them from the downpour.
    Using the drain pipe that was right next to the window, he shimmied down the three or so feet it took to get to the ground.  Cradling the cat in his arms and looking back through the window; he saw what would haunt him for the rest of his life.  The door to his parent’s room swung open as if kicked and his mother flew out, hitting the wall with such force, blood began to run from her nose.  Mason was about to scream, but was silenced by fear as he saw what followed behind her.  Three figures, dressed in black, came out after her as she scrambled to a crawl on the slippery, wet floor.  As they approached her, she wiped her hand across her face in an effort to clear it of the blood now gushing from her nose.
    “Please!  Don’t hurt my children”, she pleaded, glancing up at her closest attacker.
    One of the figures reached down, and to Mason’s horror, took a knife and with one swift motion, slit her throat.  A look of shock filled her face as she grabbed the wound and slowly slid to the floor.  As if signaled by the act, the other two men went into Mason’s room and moments later came out with his older brother.  Hands and feet bound, with duct tape around his mouth, the two figures carried him down the hallway towards him, and then turned to go out the front door.  Mason didn’t even realize until then that it was still raining, squinting his eyes and looking down the side of the house; he could see the two figures loading his brother into a van.  Mason was shaking, he was wet, cold, scared and had no idea what to do.  The cat squealed and squirmed in his arms, begging to be let free of his grasp.  He had been gripping the cat so tightly; claw marks were left on his arms where the cat had desperately tried to flee from Mason’s tight grip.  Letting him go, Mason looked up to see the two men returning to the house.  Carefully he glanced up through the window to see what would happen next.  The one that had killed his mother was barking orders at the other two, after which they started to knock things over, breaking things and disheveling the whole house into disarray.  One of the men went back into his parent’s room and came out with his mother’s jewelry box and a VCR.  Another grabbed a CD player off of an entertainment unit, then kicked it over sending everything on it crashing to the ground.  Then one approached the window, Mason thought for a terrifying second that he had been spotted, but the figure stopped short of the window to pick up a wallet that was on an end table next to the window. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt and gloves, but when he stretched down to pick up the wallet, the top of his wrist became visible.  There Mason saw a small tattoo, perhaps one inch by one inch.  It consisted of a red pyramid with a black snake coiled around it.  Motioning to the other two, the man grabbed the wallet and all of them headed back out to the van.
    Lips shivering from the rain and pale with fear, Mason slowly got up from his spot in front of the window to check if the assailants had gone.  Creeping to the front of the house, he could see no trace of the van his brother had been loaded into.  Mason then turned and ran as fast as he could through the front door, which was left wide open by the intruders.  There on the floor in front of him was the limp figure of his mother.
    “Mom…?” Mason asked despairingly.
    “Mom?” he shouted louder with tears in his eyes.
    Then as he got to her body, and the pool of blood that surrounded her, he realized she was dead.
    “MOMMMY!!!” he shouted in uncontrollable grief.