Prologue

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1998

The thunder roared occasionally in Minneapolis, Minnesota one night in October. The flashes of light from the chaotic storm made the 7-year-old Keira gasp. She stopped playing with her doll and its crib. A toy stethoscope dawned on her neck, playing doctor all day with her doll named Chinnie. Her dark brown and curly locks swayed as she turned her attention to the window beside her bed. The curtains glided along with the wind. It made her heart pound abnormally. The tension seemed so superb that she froze in her position. She hated seeing ghosts or monsters in cartoons or movies. Seeing them in person isn't what she expected either. She didn't move nor make a sound. She was cautious of her surroundings, felt the eerie ambiance of her place. That flooded her mind over and over until she decided to move.

Three knocks on the door came that distracted Keira's deep thoughts. She quickly turned to the door and heard her mom calling her name. "Keira! Keira, honey. It's time for your bath! Come on out!" she shouted at the door.

"Okay, Mom!" she replied, relieved. She quickly left all her things at where they were without looking back, just like any other kids do at her age. She removed her stethoscope and quickly dashed out of her room.

The hallway to the living room seemed to be a lot scarier than inside her bedroom. She heard a distant sound of flowing water from the shower room where she presumed her mother had gone. There's this eerie feeling again inside her chest. She slowly stepped on the wooden floor and went past the living room to the next hallway where the shower is located.

She noticed that the shower room's door was open. The light from the room bounced to the wall next to it and a shadow of a person was also formed on the wall up to the floor. She recognized the shape abruptly. It is probably her mom and her dad, preparing her bath together. She happily jumped and suppressed her voice as much as possible to surprise them.

She was about to walk further to the shower room, tiptoeing, when suddenly, she noticed something on the floor. A sinister tension suddenly came inside her body. Gently and slowly, she turned her head to that object. She saw a dark liquid gradually spreading on the carpeted floor of the living room. Then, as she looked further and further, she saw the source of that matter. She saw a man lying down there. His forehead had a bullet hole at the center. His eyes weren't sealed shut. His clothes were full of dirt and blood. Wounds are also all over his body.

She gasped silently. Tears fell from her eyes. She recognized him. "D-Daddy...?" she whispered, almost shaking. She couldn't believe it. Her daddy is lying on the ground, bathing in blood.

Her body started to tremble. Her mind seemed too busy to think of one rational reason this thing happened. She's not a crybaby kid. She's been trained in self-defense and critical thinking, all taught by her father, Dante Vince. So, she definitely knows that there's someone inside their house. She needs to find who that intruder is.

A loud thud followed. It came from the shower room where her head automatically turned. She gasped in horror as she saw her mother's body collapse to the ground. Her blood slowly crawled on the floor of the hallway. Her eyes are also open but now lifeless. Then, another shadow overturned her figure.

Keira slowly flinched but she didn't hide. At last, the owner of the shadow finally came out of the shower. He wore tight black clothes. His head was covered in black cotton cloth, with his eyes in full black-tainted nightshades. He walked past her mother's remains and walked into the living room until Keira and he were facing each other.

Keira stood silent with vengeance and anger towards the stranger. Fists balled tightly. She was full of anger that she had forgotten to cry about her loss. She wanted to defend her parents but they were all gone. If only she had stayed at her mother's side, this wouldn't have happened. She completely blamed herself. "Who are you?" she asked him, gritting her teeth, but the stranger stood quietly. "I said, who are you?! Why did you do this to my parents?" she vehemently asked.

The stranger moved his hand in front of her. A gun was there and was aimed at her head.

Keira gulped. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. But she still looked at him with full confidence and anger raging like fire in her eyes. "Are you going to kill me, too? Is that how you marvel at your strength to a vulnerable person? Do you think you won because of killing a kid? Is that it?" she confidently asked. She made sure her voice didn't crack or lose cool. She shouldn't be. Let's see how far this coward goes... she thought to herself.

Several moments, Keira wished she didn't said those words. What if this man really kills her? How would she avenge her parents' death? As seconds passed, her lifeline started to take her away. She expected it much worse.

But it didn't happen. Instead of pulling the trigger that the stranger's finger touched, he put down the gun and returned it to his back. Without a word, he ran and fled from the house of the Vinces.

Keira tried to follow him to the front yard, but it was no use. The man had fled far enough that she couldn't run after him. She didn't realize that she was already soaked in water and in tears. The thunder continued to roar but her heart was completely shattered and a lot of anger was poured towards the stranger who killed her parents.

She just fell down to her knees and continued crying. "Mommy... Daddy..." she continued sobbing. She continued crying as she is an official orphan from that night.

As minutes passed, her body slowly felt weak. Her ears started to clog, her sight started getting blurry. Then, darkness took over for a long time...