Parker Villa

This day holds a lot of memories, especially dark ones, for the Parkers. The Parker villa, was shining under the dark early moonlight showcasing it's magnificent beauty. But even beneath all the light, a heavy dark storm was coming in their lives which was going to change them all.

The squealing of a small boy and girl running around in the house, was making Mr. And Mrs. Parker laugh as they watched both of their children playing. The eve of their son's birthday was the reason for their over-happiness but on top of that another good news was the cause of the parents knowing smile. Mrs. Parker looked down at her now growing womb and smiled. Mr. Parker also smiled at her knowingly.

"Wait for it honey." He said.

They both looked at each other and conveyed each other's excitement and happiness.

"Mom! When are you getting my birthday presents? You haven't done the shopping yet, why? Don't you remember that tomorrow is my birthday?" The small boy came to Mrs. Parker and asked innocently.

"Hey! It's my birthday too. I will also get the presents. And I will get one extra present because I am one minute older than you." Jennifer said trying to look superior than her brother Ace.

"Of course I remember Ace. And yes Jennifer, we know it's your birthday too. Me and your dad are going for the shopping only right now. And as we had discussed Ace would stay with Jennifer and you would let her take care of your sick self okay Ace?" She said with strictness at last. She didn't want her son to be ill on his birthday too, she wanted him to take as much rest as he can.

Ace nodded at his mother and then went again to continue playing with his sister Jennifer.

Mall parking lot

Mrs. and Mr. Parker were getting into their car after loads of shopping. They had brought all types of clothes, toys and gifts for their son and daughter. They wanted to see them happy. They were becoming 13 years old aka official teenagers and thus they wanted to throw an extravagant party.

"Will Jennifer like the gift we got for her? And will Ace like the video game we got for him?" Lydia asked her husband, Andrew.

Andrew smiled at her and said "Of course they will like it sweetheart."

"Okay let's get home quickly. Your brother might get tired of our children's troubles if we leave them alone for more time." Lydia said chuckling.

"Oh yeah. But at least the kids are not alone at home. John is there for his nephew and niece." Andrew responded and Lydia nodded.

They talked about the plans for the next day party as they drove towards their home, not knowing what the roads had in store for them.

Parker Villa

Ace muffled his mouth as he hid beside the door of his father's study room. The room was filled with all sorts of files and books and papers which he was not supposed to touch, as he was directed by his father.

Else where Jennifer was trying to look for Ace in the big house. She knew that her parents had told her to take care of Ace but he was too stubborn to listen. So they both made a deal that whoever wins in hide-and-seek, will be the one to decide what they will do while their parents were gone. But the small game was becoming fun as they began to remember how they played this games in their childhood also. So they started enjoying it as time flew by.

Back in the study room, Ace was about to get up and leave the room to see where Jennifer was but before he could do that a series of muffled talking caught his attention. He stayed at his hiding place as he leaned towards the voices coming.

"You can't do that." A loud yet muffled voice said.

"No, no. I know they are on road 6. I just got off the phone with them. They are returning home. Be ready." The voice said and Ace knew that it sounded familiar. He had heard this voice.

"No the children are with me only. Complete the work. I am sure you will get what you deserve today." And that is when Ace recognized it as his uncle John's voice.

Ace was a smart child, he was starting to form his theories. But he needed some more confirmation. He tried to get closer to the voice so as to see if it really was his uncle. He shifted towards the other side of the door from where everything became clear. There was his uncle John, talking on the phone with somebody in hushed voices.

"Yes, I am certain. Wait there for another 10 minutes and you will see the red Mercedes Benz coming with Parker driving it. No driver is there so it would be easy." John said as he cut the phone and looked at a distance hoping that the plan works out.

Looking and hearing all this, Ace started freaking out as he tried to decide what to do. It was clear from the conversation that John was helping someone to harm his parents. He had to stop it. But the young mind was not sure what to do. His first thoughts were to tell Jennifer but then he thought better of it. Telling her first would be more time taking, so he decided to think calmly. He watched his uncle leave and he cryptically went to the nearest phone and dialed his parents. After few rings, his heart started racing as he thought about what would happen he is late. And finally, after what seemed like eternity, they picked the call.

"Hello?" His father's voice echoed into his ears and for a second he was relieved that he was okay.

"Hey dad? Is mom okay? Are you two okay-" He started asking panicking.

"Slow down Ace. We are okay what happened?" Andrew asked but he knew that something was wrong.

"Dad, you have to do something. Someone is trying to hurt..hurt you.-I heard..I heard it...uncle -" But before the worried son could explain any further, a loud thud made him stop.

"Dad? What happened? Dad? Are you still there? Dad? Da-" He stopped shouting as he heard the voice on the other side.

"What are you doing? Get away." Andrew's voice came through the phone to which Ace was clung.

At this moment, Jennifer came into the room hearing all the voices. She was shocked to see her brother crying with the phone in his hands.

"What happened Ace? Why are you cry-" Ace cut her sister off and said -

"Call the police from the other phone, go now! Mom and dad are in danger on the road from mall to home. Tell them. Go run!"

Jennifer knew that Ace wouldn't cry or say things like this if it wasn't true so she ran to do what she was told. Ace turned his attention towards the phone to understand the situation.

"Dad? What is happening?" Ace tried to understand but it was better if he didn't. The cries of his mother reached his ears as tears rolled down his eyes. He was frozen at his place not able to say anything, or call anyone or inform the police. The cries of help deafened him as a silence of pain crumbled around him. He couldn't help them, he could only hear what was happening.

"Please leave him. Please spare my husband. Take me." Lydia begged. But with the sounds, Ace could decipher that whoever she was begging to, didn't listen listen her. But that was not just from her cries that he understood that -

The deafening and terrifying sound of a gunshot came which resulted in a dead silence on the other side. Ace's breath hitched at this as he found himself unable to breathe. He was in so much of shock that he didn't realize when his sister came back and started shaking him, asking what happened.

Ace stood there not choosing to believe what might have just happened with his parents. Just when he thought everything was over, a high pitched scream ran through his ears which was coming from the other side of the phone.

"Andrew!" Lydia screamed in agony.

Lydia watched in horror as the worst nightmare of her life unfolded in front of her eyes. The sudden crash of their car was where it all started. After the crash when they thought that the worst part over, the shooting started. A man dressed in black who was holding a gun, came out of nowhere and started coming towards them.

Lydia knew that her son was on the other side of the phone and as much as she wanted to cut the call so that he could stay from all this horror, she couldn't move even a single muscle of her body. She was fixated at her place seeing the man come and shoot her husband cold blooded. The sapphire eyes of the man held nothing but cruelty. She loathed the man and was not hesitant in thinking about killing him for killing her husband. But before the man could lunge on Lydia or she could kill him - the sirens blared as the arrival of the police was marked.

Lydia couldn't help but stare at the lifeless body of her husband, her love, her life.

That day the storm that hit the Parker family, engraved scars on them which never healed even after passage of years and never-stopping time.

------------

"So this is what happened that night." Ace said breathing in the air. I found answers to a lot of questions that I have been looking for. I finally know what happened. What made him the way he is today.

"So this is why you hate John...you think he..that he is involved in your father's accident...or rather murder." I said trying to join pieces of his life.

"Yes. That is partially why I hate him. But he is guiltier than he looks. He was involved in my father's murder." He said and I didn't understand it.

"What do you mean? What else has he done? Why didn't you hand him over to the police if that was the case? Why wait for so long? And if was you uncle, meaning your father's brother then how come he is your stepfather? I mean that doesn't fit....does that...mean...." I asked the growing questions. He is still leaving some parts out.

"Yeah, it means that my mother and John were married." He completed.

"Why did she do it? How can you be okay with all this?" I asked confused.

"After my dad's..after he left us, mom was devastated. She had survived the attack but she never recovered from it. I didn't tell anyone about the phone call I heard and told Jennifer to keep quiet. She didn't know much, she kept asking me how I knew what was about to happen and all but I never told her. I couldn't tell her. I was so scared and shocked with what happened that I couldn't gather the courage to tell her that time. I thought I will tell her everything I heard about John, when the right time comes. I wanted her to heal but she never healed. And when I thought that she was actually moving on and finding happiness in other things, I again couldn't bring myself to tell her things about the past which would have affected her present and future. So I kept it to myself. But I couldn't just let go of the people who made my father's murder look like an accident so I had to do something. So after I joined the company and had the allies, I finally started hunting down every person who was involved that night. I hunted them down and took my revenge in every possible way. I just have two murderers left. One of them is John, and I am planning to take dad's company from him first, and then my revenge." He said with fire in his eyes.

"But why do you want to take the company? " I asked him.

"After dad, my mother wasn't herself. Her independent and strong self was long gone after the loss of her love of life. She loved us but the pain and devastation was too much. She was pregnant, and she couldn't risk the child's future by having no plans just because she was a wreck. I tried to make her understand that I would take care of her but she said that she loved me as much as she loved the unborn baby. She couldn't let me have a rough life just because of her misery. So she and John decided to marry because apparently he was our only supporter after dad's death. But I knew better. This was all his plan to take over my dad's company. He murdered my dad, he made mom weak, he influenced her to marry him, and then he took over the company. He thinks that he is fucking smart but he is not. I am not going to let him get over with this. I am so going to kill that bastard-" I stopped Ace by touching his face from the sides trying to calm him down.

"hey, hey. Calm down. You need to stop being so cruel with yourself. You have too much hatred within yourself to live. You need to stop and take a look of yourself. You are driven by so much of anger and hatred that it affects you so much. It's not right Ace. I think-" I was cut off as Ace jerked himself off me and stood up. He pulled away and backed himself away from me.

"You think I should let it go? Huh? You fucking think that? Seriously? You know what? I don't fucking care about what you think. Hear that? I don't give a fuck.-" He shouted scaring the hell out of me.

"Ace just listen-" I tried to reason but was again cut off by him.

"No you listen. He is a fucking murderer and he is so going to pay for it. I am not going to stop and hell you can't stop me. I am-"

I cut him off and shouted back- "But you can't think rationally if you are angry for god's sake. You need to calm down-"

This got him real bad as he cut me off and yelled like a madman-

"My mother died with an unborn child inside of her because of that fucking bastard. You are insane if you think I am not going to kill that man for that. He is the reason why I lost my family. He is the reason why I lost someone who wasn't even born! He is the fucking reason why I didn't get what I needed from life. He is the fucking reason that I married you for r-" He suddenly stopped realizing something but I caught it.

"What were you saying?" I questioned.

"Nothing." He said looking away.

"What the hell were you saying Ace? Complete your sentence." I asked because I had a feeling that it was not good.

"Just forget it. Okay? Just forget it and leave me alone. Don't you dare follow me or come after me. Just stay away from me. I need you to stay away from me. Just fucking go." He said and before I could stop him and ask my million questions - he left.

Just like that.