"Jace, baby once you hear my scream I want you to run as far as you can, got it?" The said man's mother whispered as they hid behind a big boulder.
After being followed by his so-called father, they ran to where the tracks will take them and ended up stuck on a mountain peak.
"I'm scared mom," Jace's tears rolled down his purple-ish cheeks, a sign that he was slapped or hit on the face that causes a big bruise.
"Don't be, your father is just drunk." Her mom pulled the best reassuring smile before a voice interrupted her curved lips.
"Cecilia bring me my child back!" A deep voice that sounded very familiar yet too scary to be true.
"Dad's here..." Jace started to hyperventilate while his mom tried to hush his heavy breaths.
A click sound stopped both Jace and Cecilia's movements; they felt a strong presence of evil above the rock where they are hiding.
When Cecilia lifted her gaze, she saw a dark shadow pointing a gun at her. The moonlight from the night sky shines a little to the side of his husband's place. "Lucas..."
"I said give me back my child." His voice was deeper than it was before.
"N-no, take me instead. Spare his life." She cried both of her hands helplessly reached for the man's boot above them. But he heartlessly shoves her hands away.
No other words were heard, only silence.
When Cecilia thought everything was cooled down, a sudden movement that jerked Jace up was his dad, who grabbed him by his hair and then pointed the gun to his right temple.
"Mom!" Jace cried as he felt the pain traveling across his head. And the cold gun resting impatiently on his temple.
"No! I-I'm sorry for breaking your rules." She cried hard with a hint of begging from her voice.
"I want this family over." And with his words that started to engrave on Jace's head, that made it all crystal clear.
"He wants us dead mom."
"Bingo." He laughed in a strange evil way.
After having enough of the drama unfolding under him, he tossed Jace with a force that made him hit his head on a rock.
When she knew her pleadings wouldn't do something, she stared at his son's almost lifeless body. She lost all hope as a mom, a person, and a wife. "Kill me, Lucas."
From Jace's perspective, his vision is blurred, but that didn't stop him from seeing a man just about his age shows up. "M-Mark..."
"Dad, Mom said don't kill Cecilia." Mark voiced with no emotion heard.
Jace saw how Mark stared at his almost lifeless body and how he saved his mom.
That time he knew his dad Lucas and Mark are working together.
After he closed his eyes, his voice for justice was never heard again.
───────
"You think he'll be okay?" A foreign voice was heard, but Jace can't point where it came from.
He is stuck in a dark place, but the voice he is hearing is so near yet too far to reach. "Save me."
"The doctor said he is dead-alive." A deep voice that frightened Jace, but also soothed him to the bones.
"Kevin, we can't leave this boy here. I don't know why, but did you saw how the police ignored him?"
"I know Honey, but we are barely a resident to this country. We are just tourists who randomly discovered a dying boy."
Jace can't point on what kind of conversation are the strangers are having. Everything sounded so clear, but the darkness won't leave him alone.
Days would pass, but it felt like a decade for Jace. He would hear Kevin and Honey or what he thought their name is, take turns to read children's books to him.
"Once upon a time there was a boy named Oliver who loves to venture everywhere to escape all the people who hurt him..."
"Once upon a time there was a lonely emperor named Hwangju who sought everypart of the world to find his other half..."
"Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Daniel who loves to play on dirt, but suddenly he became very sick, so his mom brought him to the doctor. The doctor needed to inject a fluid that is said to cure Daniel, but it scares him. Instead of being pricked by a needle, his doctor gave him a medicine and warned that if he ever gets sick again, he'll have to inject him a needle 3x bigger. Ever since then, Daniel stopped playing on the dirty ground and started washing his hands before eating...
Every day, full of stories, either Kevin made it up or from a children's book. There was no time where he felt so alone and sad.
A familiar voice echoed around the hospital room that made Jace furrowed his brows while staring at the dark.
"My name is Leo McLinster and I am here to help you verify your residency here on US." A silent cheer from the two still unknown people made Jace smile a little.
"I'll fight my way out of this darkness to meet Honey and Kevin."
He closed his eyes, hoping that he'll see what Kevin and Honey looked like.
"What are you doing?" A voice similar to Jace made him open his eyes around the darkness.
There he saw a copy of him but with a different accent and expression. "Who are you?"
"Well, my name is Ace and I am you." He said nonchalantly.
A foreign voice behind Jace stated, "Julien is my name," He turned around and saw a man holding a loaf of bread and a map.
Jace is so confused about why there are so many copies of him inside the infinite darkness.
"Starting today we'll be living here with you, brother." The other copy of him smirked.
Jace closed his eyes and covered his ears wishing they would fade away, but it didn't happen. "Everytime you close your eyes or sleep, you will see and hear us."
Ace tapped Jace's lost senses, "Looks like having multiple people inside you is going ti be fun."