Broken Glass

Chapter 1

Then

The smell of ash and dying flames was like a soft rain amidst the spreading explosions and gun fire. Loud blasts came from every direction, women and children screaming, the sounds of bodies dropping dead cascading like a thunderstorm. It had been like this for so long, no one knew if it was day or night. Shouts, and lives lost, the smell of death and decay from the bodies that had lay unmoved for weeks on end. Families huddled together, deep in their houses and safety sheds, not knowing when they would be next. Mothers and fathers, kissing their wives and children frantically, not wanting to pass from each other in fear, but in love. The children took it especially difficultly when told that they had a chance to escape. Most children would rather die in the arms of their parents. But in the house at the end of the village, a child huddled in her mother's grasp, felt differently.

"Come away from the window Thomas, please." The woman reached out for her lover's hand.

"Mi amore, they mustn't find you here. You and Emilia must be kept safe, I must keep watch." Thomas beckoned his wife.

Emilia was buried into her mother's bosom, "Papa, I do not want to be found. Please do something."

Emilia's plea stirred Thomas's heart. He checked the window once more before kneeling beside his wife and daughter. He kissed Emilia on the forehead and embraced them both, planting a mournful kiss on his wife.

"Mi amore, I have failed in my duties to be honest with you."

His wife tilted her head, "I'm not sure I understand. What is it you have failed to tell me?"

Thomas gulped, taking her hand in his, "Evangeline, my dearest heart, the people who are destroying are village...t-they are looking for me."

Evangeline gasped, swearing under her breath in French, "Why would you not tell me these things? What could they possibly want from you? Do they know who you serve?"

Emilia watched intently, she didn't know much about Papa's work, but she knew that he would often be gone for days on end to deal with dangerous men.

Thomas seemed to pick up on the fact that she was listening and let out a sigh.

"Mi amore, it is time I told you the truth," he reached out for Emilia's hand, who smiled grasping it firmly like he'd always told her to.

"Butterfly," he spoke softly to Emilia more than to Evangeline, "Papa doesn't not work with very, ahem, savory characters." Emilia was wide eyed and listening. Her Papa meant everything to her.

"Papa was finally making good money with his other investment that he was going to go clean, he was going to get out of the 'family' and just be here now with you and Mama..." Thomas met Evangeline's gaze with tears in his eyes, "They didn't like that I wanted out, the last job I had done for them, left suspicious casualties and rumours that I had withheld information from the boss."

Evangeline had tears in her eyes, fearing what he was going to say next, "The timing was all very strange, and when I disappeared, they threatened violence on the village. My mistake was thinking that they would not stoop to such measures. By doing so I have endangered our entire village. They mean to wipe us out."

Evangeline let out a silent sob, clutching Thomas's hand, "My heart, you only did what you thought to be right. You provided this life we've had, you've given me the family I've always wanted."

Evangeline hugged Emilia tightly, who whimpered at her mother's grief. "What are we going to do Papa?"

Though only nine, Emilia was very intelligent. She was the top student at her primary school, and everyone had high hopes for her educational career. She understood enough of what her father was saying to know she should be doing everything she could to help.