The room grew smaller as I felt my eyes tremble in fear. I remembered my little sister’s smile and how she always looked up to me. My older brother, even though he teased me and we argued constantly, he loved me more than anything. I clenched my teeth hard and smashed my head onto the table. Ernest watched me as Matt jumped up from the loud noise.

“Answer the question, Kenny.” Ernest said, this time with more impatience. He’s asked me that question so many times, but how can I answer it if I don’t even know the truth myself. My eyes started burning as I gripped my legs with both hands. “How did you kill them?” I clenched my eyes shut and felt tears finally fall off my face. I raised my head slowly. Ernest didn’t show any signs of sympathy, but Matt on the other hand couldn’t help but feel bad for me. Do I really have to go through all of this? I asked myself in desperation. I’m only eleven and they’re treating me like I’m some serial killer or something. I stared at both detectives and felt myself chuckle lightly. They were so different, yet they’ve been partners for years.

“How?” I said. Ernest nodded; I felt my eyes twitch and I closed them immediately. Matt raised his head and pushed his chair back. I opened my eyes and wondered why the twitching happened again. “Well, I just looked at them and then they started screaming. Right there, they collapsed.” Ernest and Matt looked at each other. Matt shuddered to himself as Ernest slammed his right hand onto the table. I noticed that he looked right into my eyes, while Matt refused to. I guess Matt had a lot more to lose than Ernest, since he stared at my eyes hoping to put it to the test.

“What the hell does that even mean? You better not be lying, Kenny!”

“I’m not Ernest. This is the truth.” He looked offended, but I was telling the truth. I don’t know why he thought I lied to him to be disrespectful, even though I could care less to be honest.

“Then, explain to me how it makes sense.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” I said wiping away my tears. Matt slowly turned his head to me and I felt sad to see how scared he was. “Matt, don’t look at me like that; I’m not a heinous murderer, you know damn well I didn’t want to murder those men.” Matt sighed and finally made eye contact with me. I turned back to Ernest. “I don’t know too much myself, but the way they died doesn’t make any sense.”

“Kenny, can you please tell me everything that you remember?” I furrowed my eyebrows and grew livid.

“Why do you keep asking me that?” I shouted in agony as I bashed my right fist onto the table.. “All you want me to do is remember that horrible memory when I’m trying to forget it! Do you think it’s easy for me to explain that to you?!” I said bashing my fist again.

“Kenny,” Ernest said. “I know it’s not easy for you to remember, but we need to know the truth.”

“I’ll repeat this one more time: can your heart relate to the cold feeling I endured at that scene?” Ernest stood up and brought his face closer to mine.

“The answer is no Kenny. None of us can relate to what you went through at that scene! Even though we can’t relate, that doesn’t mean that we don’t care. Please Kenny, help us close both these cases; I know you hate those men that killed your family, but those men had families themselves. They all have wives and kids who won’t ever see their father again. They need closure, the same way you did when you murdered them.” Ernest sighed heavily. “They can relate to the cold feeling you endured at that scene, because you took away someone precious to them.” I sighed softly. Ernest was right, I’m not the only one that’s hurt. The other families are suffering right now because of me, but I don’t regret my decision. I would kill them again if I saw them. “We’re not saying to feel bad about what happened, but take into mind what your words can do.”

“So, you fellas want to hear a story?” I said. Matt picked up his chair and brought it next to me. He sat down and gave me his full attention. “I’ll only tell this story once because I don’t want to remember it. Do I make myself clear, gentleman?” They nodded simultaneously; I cleared my throat.

I came home with my parents pretty close to midnight after having a fun night out at a restaurant. It was my eleventh birthday and I was exhausted from the long day. I went to my room to call it a night as I saw Megan and Kevin go into their room. The moment I sat on my bed, I heard a car door slam shut at least four times. I didn’t think much of it. Maybe it was the neighbors. A few short seconds passed when I heard a loud knock come from our front door. My dad answered the door; I stood up and went towards my door, where I opened it slowly. I looked down the hallway towards the living room, where I saw my mom standing towards the wall with both her hands held to her chest. My dad started to talk with a man about money or something. Something about my dad’s tone scared me though; I’ve never heard it before. I stepped out into the hallway without my mom noticing and I leaned against the wall to listen more. My dad soon raised his voice and he and the man started arguing. I moved towards the end of the hallway, where my mom walked up to my dad and roughly grabbed his shoulder. I heard her tell him to stop hollering; I peeked around the corner to see two men standing in the doorway. They dressed in normal attire, but behind them, two men stood there and their aura bothered me. They walked back to the car as the arguing continued. My dad started cursing at the two men who stood at the door, he told them to leave our house and never come back. The two men oddly surrendered and went back to the car, where my dad slammed the door shut. My mom smacked my dad in the back of the head; I heard her say, “I thought you tied your loose ends with them?” He stood there annoyed; I guess he didn’t.

As I made my way back to my room, I heard one of the men outside scream, “Open fire!” What the hell did that mean? I felt my heart drop for some strange reason, but in a split second I heard rapid gunfire outside. What I didn’t know was that one of the men was armed with an assault rifle, the other three had handguns. I watched my living room get riddled with bullets. I froze and watched my parents. My mom noticed me and she gasped in horror. She ran over towards me, but I saw my dad get shot multiple times that I lost count. It all happened so damn fast. The next thing I knew, blood splattered throughout the floor and my mom was about to reach me, but she got shot twice in her head. Her eyes closed and she slowly collapsed onto the floor before me. My little sister Megan ran out her room and saw my mom on the floor. She started crying and the gunfire grew louder. I suddenly faced my room when I heard glass shatter from my window. The bullets broke through and headed towards me, but then I saw someone jump in front of me and wrap their arms around my head. The grip around my head grew tighter and it became hard to breathe. Eventually, the gunfire stopped and there was dead silence. The person released my head; I looked up to see that it was my brother Kevin. He smiled at me and asked, “Are you okay?” I stared at him in fright, that’s when his eyes closed slowly as he fell onto the floor. I looked at his back, which was riddled with perpetual amounts of bullet holes.

There was glass everywhere in my room, and pools of blood were throughout my house. I turned around to see Megan staring at me. She was stiff as a board and her eyes looked lifeless. I looked at her body, which made me gasp in fear. I stood myself up and hurried to her. I grabbed onto her and brought her to my room, where I locked my door. I held onto her tightly and felt myself start crying. She had multiple gunshot wounds throughout her body; I knew she wasn’t going to make it. I leaned against my door and felt absolute pain swell in my chest. Then, I heard Megan whisper, “Kenny.” I looked at her, where she smiled just like my brother. Her voice cracked when she said, “I love you…” Her eyes closed slowly and her arms dropped to the floor. I whispered her name, and begged desperately for this to be a nightmare, but she was dead in my arms. My whole family was dead within seconds on my birthday. If this was meant to happen, why couldn’t it come another day? Why did it have to happen anyways? My emotion of sorrow soon transitioned to anger. I brought Megan closer to my body as I clenched my teeth to the point that I could’ve broken them. I heard people enter my house and rummage around my living room. Right there, I knew it was those monsters. I heard one of them say, “Make sure they’re all dead.” The footsteps got closer to my room. I stood up slowly while holding Megan and walked over to my bed. I laid her on it and covered her with my blanket. I whispered, “Sleep tight, Megan.”

I faced my door and felt my chest clench up. Something felt off; I didn’t get shot, but the pain was as if a bullet was stuck in my chest. I started panting for air and questioned what was wrong with me. My tears kept rolling down my face, no matter how much I wiped them away. Then, I felt something surge throughout my veins. The moment I saw my doorknob turn, my pupils grew small and my surroundings faded to black. I looked down at my arms to see my veins slowly turning black; I didn’t know what was happening, but my mind was elsewhere. My door was kicked down and I made eye contact with one of the men who fought with my dad at the front door. Effortlessly, I stared into his eyes with all the darkness I had in my heart and that’s when everything took a turn. I felt my eyes burn and I remember screaming something at him, but I couldn’t hear my own voice. His pupils grew small that they were almost gone and he grabbed onto his chest in a fit of pain. He collapsed onto the floor within seconds. I faced him and saw blood come out of his mouth and nose, but there was no wounds on him. Once I knew he was dead, I slowly walked to my door and let out a scream full of anger. I ran into the hallway to see the other men run towards me. One of them raised his arm while holding a gun and aimed it at me. I glared into his eyes, and just like the other guy, his pupils grew small. He dropped the gun and held onto his chest. He collapsed onto the floor, which made the man next to him grow afraid. He made eye contact with me and dropped to the floor like the rest of them. There was one man left and he held an assault rifle. He glared angrily at me and screamed, “What the hell are you doing?!” I realized that he was the main one who shot at our house; he’s the one who killed Megan! My eyes started burning to the point that they felt like they were on fire. He raised his gun, but before he could pull the trigger, my eyes locked onto his. He froze and that’s when I screamed, “Die, you bastard!” He gasped and collapsed face first on to the floor. I breathed heavily and turned around to see my mom and brother dead in the hallway. I slowly walked to the living room to find my dad laying breathlessly by the front door. My entire house was riddled with bullet holes and covered in blood. The pain in my eyes grew worse that I started shedding tears, and my veins were still black. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I cringed in pain as I gripped my chest roughly. My eye sight started growing blurry, which worried me. As I made my way towards the front door, I noticed a clock right before me; it read 12:01am. My birthday was over…

My eyes widened and the sound of approaching sirens filled my house. I grew agitated and turned back around to see the four men dead in the hallway. I glared at them and screamed, “I’m going to rip you apart!” The moment I took a step towards them, I felt a sharp pain in my neck. Everything became faint and my eyes started to slowly close. I collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood, where the sirens grew louder. I saw red and blue lights dance across my living room before I lost consciousness.

I sighed heavily and looked at Matt, who was speechless. I looked over towards Ernest, who finally showed sympathy in his eyes. On the table in front of him, there were endless amounts of written pages. I swallowed hard, closed my eyes and covered my mouth. It finally hit me that I wouldn’t see my family ever again. I started crying, but this time it was full of pain; I had no anger left in me at this point.

“Why’d they have to take them away?” I asked myself in a shaky voice. “Why couldn’t they have taken me instead? Why’d they have to take Megan? My little sister…” Matt brought himself closer and grabbed onto me. I regretfully accepted his hug; I didn’t need his pity right now. “It all happened so fast. Kevin you idiot, why’d you protect me?” I buried my face into Matt’s chest and started sobbing loudly. Matt looked ahead towards the wall, where he tried so hard not to cry, but he couldn’t avoid it. Ernest dropped his pen and left the room quickly; he couldn’t take it anymore. “I just lost my family on my birthday Matt, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“You’re going to live with your aunt, Kenny. She’ll take good care of you; I know she will.” Matt released me and grabbed onto both my shoulders. He smiled, but I couldn’t get passed the fact that he was crying right in front of me. He wiped away his tears and that’s when the door opened. Ernest entered the room. He grabbed his pen and papers that he left and walked back towards the door.

“Matt, come on.” Matt sighed softly and released my shoulders. He walked over to Ernest and then out the door. “Just hold on for a minute, Kenny,” Ernest said closing the door. I dropped my head onto the table and faced the wall. Ah man, now I’m screwed. They feigned sympathetic only because I’m a kid, but my life was over; I knew damn well I wasn’t going to see my aunt, but rather a prison cell.

Ernest and Matt walked over to Matt’s desk, which was surrounded by other detectives. Ernest dropped his papers onto Matt’s desk stared into his eyes.

“I closed my case already, what about you Matt? Do you want to charge Kenny with four counts of first degree murder? We have a solid confession, no witnesses though; I think he’ll be found guilty without a doubt.” Ernest said. Matt gave him a look full of disappointment, as if he was disgusted with what Ernest just said.

“You idiot, did you not hear him correctly? He’s not going to prison, he’s going home, where he belongs.” Ernest smirked and faced everyone else.

“Case closed guys, and it only took three days to close it.” Ernest raised both his hands up as if he were God and all the other detectives started clapping. Matt grabbed onto a set of keys and began to walk away from everyone, but Ernest called out to him. “Where do you think you’re going at a time like this, Matt? Let’s celebrate closing our cases.” Matt abruptly stopped. Ernest walked over towards Matt with his arms held out, but Matt refused to turn around.

“Save that hug for me later, but right now my case isn’t over yet.” Matt resumed walking away. “Finish up the paperwork for me; Kenny is found innocent of self-defense.” Ernest grabbed onto a file and stared at Matt as he approached a door. He knocked and entered the room, and that’s when I raised my head to face him. “Come on Kenny, I’m taking you home.” Involuntarily, I smiled like a child on his birthday. Moreover, I was just thankful that I could leave that room because I had been stuck in there for ages. I stood up and ran over to Matt, who led me out the building into his car. “How do your eyes feel now?” He suddenly asked. I blinked twice and felt nothing changed.

“Ever since that night, my eyes have been nothing but normal.” I looked down at the veins in my arms and saw that they were blue, which was normal. “My veins haven’t changed either. Do you think I’ll be okay?”

“I’m a detective, not a doctor, but I can tell just by looking at you that you’ve got everything under control for now. However, don’t let your emotions get the better of you the next time you face a situation. You’ve got something unique about you Kenny, but don’t let that cloud your judgement and make you think you’re invincible or something.” I said nothing to Matt until we arrived at my aunt’s house. “Come on, let’s go in.”

“Wait, why’re you coming with me? I can go in alone.”

“Well, someone has to tell her the case is solved. From there, you’ll be under her care until you’re 18.” Matt and I stepped out the car and shut the doors. He wrapped his right arm around my neck and we walked together to my aunt’s front door. After everything was said and done, Matt left me with my aunt and I never saw him or Ernest again. Days, weeks and months passed by since that night. I’ve managed to move on and continue my life, but my eyes and veins have been fine ever since that tragic night.