Ethan- The Rise Of A Villain Or A Hero?

“Brooooo….save me.” I laughed while looking at my 13-year-old little brother running for his life while my 15-year-old sister was chasing her with a broom in her hand.

“I just finished washing them. You ruined them all, the washed clothes. I am going to teach you a lesson for life.” Iris, my sister, screamed while swinging the broom to hit Walter, my brother.

I was working on my assignment, but it seems that I needed to finish a rescue mission first.

I put my pen down and looked at them helplessly. They were now running round and round around the worn sofa that we had in our one-room home.

“Hey, Iris,” I called her teasingly, but she didn’t listen to me. She continued screaming at Walter, who was now trying to dodge all her attacks with every trick that he had learned all these years.

I ran behind her and grabbed her by her waist from behind, lifting her high.

“Let me go, Ethan. I will kill him.” Iris screamed while thrashing her body in my embrace.

“Calm down, kiddo. Calm down. Don’t spend your energy on him. He is not going to learn his lesson, even if you beat him to death.” I coaxed her while dragging her towards the single sofa.

“It took me two hours to clean all those clothes, Ethan. He jumped on the rope and dragged all the wet clothes into the wet mud.” She screamed while telling me what Walter did.

“Then let him wash all the clothes again, okay? And you will watch him wash all the clothes.” I suggested moving her face towards me.

“No, I will beat him to death today,” she continued screaming, and now her screaming was giving me a headache.

Walter was hiding behind the long sofa, peeking at us fearfully.

Walter was a mischievous boy with immense energy. He can’t sit still for long. He always does something, giving Iris a big headache and infuriating her to death sometimes.

Just like this time, his actual favorite time pass was getting on Iris’ nerves by doing anything mischievous.

My parents were killed in a street shooting two years ago, leaving me with my younger siblings.

We weren’t dirt-poor, but this was our home. The area has always been a war zone for the small or big gangs to start fighting at any time, and using weapons was just a common thing here.

Iris took over the household work after my parents’ death so that I could concentrate on my studies. I am in my final year of school, and about to graduate in three months. I wanted to take my siblings away from this cruelty and gang war.

“I will wash them. I will wash them.” Walter stammered fearfully.

I glared at him but put Iris down. She was fuming but threw the broom down and stomped her foot on the ground before marching towards the door.

I laughed a little but walked back to my study desk. I needed to finish for the final exam assessment.

“Come out. There is no way that I will let you go with this today.” Iris yelled at Walter while going out.

I still smiled and took my pen from the desk again. I have only two hours left before I need to leave for my part-time job in a small tech company.

I always had a knack for coding. I learned coding from a very young age of 10. My father was a factory worker, and my mother worked in a boutique to take care of us.

They still bought an old laptop for me so that I could learn things that I wanted to.

Suddenly, I heard a very faint gunshot. I threw my pen and abruptly stood up in panic.

“Iris, Walter. Get inside.” I screamed at the top of my lungs while dashing towards the door. Our house had a small backyard where Iris washed clothes and had tied ropes to dry them.

I didn’t hear their voices, but the sounds of gunshots increased. Then came people yelling, shouting, screaming.

My heart almost leaped out of my chest when I didn’t see them in the backyard. The dirty clothes were now in the bucket, but my siblings were nowhere to be found.

“Iris…. Walter.” I screamed at the top of my lungs while looking everywhere frantically.

People were now running to save their lives. The angry shouts and roaring gunshots were coming to my direction now.

Every vein in my body was now pulsating in fear. I ran outside while shouting their names.

Everyone was huddling towards their homes, closing the windows and doors frantically to save themselves and their families.

“Iris… Walter.” I screamed at the top of my lungs while stopping at the corner of the road.

My eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets in horror when I saw them standing right in the middle of both gangs.

The goons were now hiding outside or inside their cars while firing bullets blindly.

Walter was holding Iris tightly in his embrace, both of them squatting on the ground, moving their neck in every direction.

Dread filled my heart. Without thinking, I ran in their direction.

“Crawl to me, Walter,” I yelled at the top of my lungs again while running in their direction. They didn’t hear me because of the deafening sounds of gunshots.

They were shouting and cursing each other aloud while shooting. I didn’t care what was happening or how many bullets were now approaching me.

All I could see was my siblings, crying hard in fear, looking at me helplessly.

“Crawl, Iris… Crawl.” I still continued yelling at them, but suddenly, the whole world around me stopped.

My eyes were stoned now, and my heart stopped beating.

Instead of getting down on the ground, Walter stood up, and in front of my eyes, his temple was hit by a bullet, and he came out through another side in very slow motion.

At the same time, another bullet was approaching Iris from the other side. I could see the bullet slowly moving towards my sister.

My brother’s eyes widened in horror, and then went still, his head jerked harshly, but his eyes were still on me.

Everything was going in very slow motion.

Then suddenly, the chaos came back like a tornado. Iris was also hit, and so was I.

Iris and I were hit at the same time.

The bullet went through her neck, piercing Walter’s body again in the process, and I was hit in the middle of my chest, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

I couldn’t feel the pain, though. I wanted to scream….

I wanted to run to my siblings to save them…

But I couldn’t even move a muscle….

The world around me turned upside down when my body hit the ground.

I watched both Walter and Iris fall to the ground – their bodies still, blood thrown out of their bodies like a fountain.

They were still screaming…. The firing was still going on…. But my world became silent…

All I could see was my siblings' bodies lying there in the pool of their own blood, still holding each other as if they were still scared that something would happen to them if they let go of each other.

All I could hear was the shrill ringing in my ears….

All I could feel was a sharp pain in my chest, and my heartbeat slowly fading…..

Then I heard a faint voice asking me

“Do you want to save them?”