Beep, beep, beep, beep. An alarm rang out in a medium-sized room, which was mildly messy, with clothes scattered across the floor. In the room were a bed, a desk, and a nightstand with an alarm.

  Lying on the bed was a man with purple hair. The man was about six feet four inches tall, well above average. This man was Shane Night, a 17-year-old high school senior. “Ugh. What time is it?” Shane said as he got out of bed.

  He put his arm to the side to get his phone to stop the alarm. The time was 6:00 am.

  At the shock of the time, he fell out of bed, saying, “It’s this late, I still have to take a shower and make breakfast for Mona.”

  After getting up, he panicked and quickly showered to avoid wasting time, making sure not to wake Mona in the next room. Over the next 10 minutes in the hallway, you would hear humming from the bathroom.

  Getting out of the bathroom, wearing black jeans along with a plain grey t-shirt, Shane headed for the kitchen to make breakfast for himself and Mona. The floors felt cold beneath his bare feet.

  Until a year ago, Shane and Mona lived with their father, a strong and caring man who always made sure that his children were safe and prepared for the world. He had the same blue hair as Mona and would always wear a suit, ready for work. He disappeared on April 10, 2018, just four days after Mona's 7th birthday. His disappearance went unnoticed at first because Shane and Mona knew he hadn’t been home for a couple of days because of work. However, after the fifth day, they knew something was wrong.

  Their father never even left anything behind for them, not even a single clue that could tell them what happened to him.

  Now it had been over a year since their father's disappearance, and Shane had taken over most of the responsibilities that his father would have taken care of. Shane would have to cook food for himself and his younger sister and make sure they both arrived at school on time. They were fortunate enough that their father had left them with enough money to live on for a couple of years.

  Of course, there was trouble at first for them to adapt to their father's disappearance, with Shane having to become a father figure for his sister at the age of sixteen. It was also hard for Shane when he and Mona almost got separated because they had no adults in their lives. Luckily, their neighbors, who were close to their family, took them in on paper and allowed them to still live in the house where their father had raised them.

  Currently, Shane was still making breakfast for himself and his younger sister, wondering if the omelet he was cooking was good enough for Mona. Throughout the kitchen and living room, the smell of eggs and bacon lingered in the air.

  Where did you go, Dad? What has happened to always being here for us? What the hell was the training with two swords that you always forced me to do to protect our family? It was like you were always planning to leave us alone. Shane thought as he made the final preparation for breakfast.

  Looking at the time, it was almost seven a.m. Shane panicked, realising he had to hurry to have breakfast ready before Mona woke, so they would have enough time to eat and get ready for school.

  Shane then ran to his room to get changed into his school clothes, running past his family photos; all of them were just him, Mona, and their father. There was not a single photo of their mother, and their father wouldn’t tell them about her. They didn’t even know if they had the same mother because when Shane was 8, his father brought Mona home, saying, “This is your younger sister Mona; she is now a part of our family. So I expect you to protect her as much as you can. Nothing is more important than family.”

  Shane didn’t care if they didn’t share the same mother; Mona was his sister, no matter what anyone said. Even people said they might not be related at all, since their father was never seen with another woman, and they didn’t share his hair color: Shane had purple hair, and Mona had navy blue hair.

  The age gap between Shane and Mona didn’t help prove they shared a mother, given the 9-year age difference between them.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  When Shane got to his room, he opened his window to let in some fresh air and to watch the morning light from the Sun. Outside the window, he can see some of his sword training equipment. His father said it was to ensure he could protect their family when the time came.

  Shane always wondered what his father meant by that, whether it was for when his father disappeared, leaving Shane alone with his younger sister, or if it was for some other reason that he couldn’t tell Shane at the time.

  Even after his father's disappearance, Shane continued to train with swords. He was most efficient with two swords, and his father made sure he practiced with them.

  As Shane continued to look at the training equipment, he thought back to the time when he and his dad used to spar. His father would always push Shane as if he thought he would need this for his future.

  When Shane looked at the equipment, he was brought back to a day that happened four years ago, when he was thirteen. It was a memory of when Shane and his father were sparring.

  “How many times will you fall. I told you to block all my attacks and counter them with an attack of your own,” Shane's father said as he struck him with a wooden sword.

  “Sorry, Dad. But, I don’t even know why you keep training me with two swords when you only use one.” Shane said as he rose, blocking his father's next attack with the sword in his left hand and countering with the one in his right.

  As their blades collide, the sound of wood clashing rings out to anyone nearby. Mona, who was four years old at the time, was inside coloring and was able to hear Shane and her father fighting.

  “Shane, trust me, at one point, you will need these skills. I don’t know when, but it will definitely come in handy at one point. So for now, try to hold out. I will go even harder now,” Shane's father said, as he started striking with one attack after the other, with each attack being faster and stronger than the last.

  Shane continues to block his father's attacks with his left and counters them with the right. Though Shane wasn’t as strong as his father, he made up for it with tactical knowledge. Whenever Shane sparred with his father, he would look for an opening and study his opponent's movements to find a weakness.

  “If you keep doing the same move, it will be easy to read it,” said Shane’s father as he swung to the right this time.

  Shane used the momentum of his father's attack to launch himself into the air, creating an opening to strike his father in the back. As Shane's father looked up into the air, he saw his son in the air, preparing to strike him, but since he was still recovering from the last attack, he couldn’t block Shane’s attack.

  “See, old man, I knew you would use another attack, thinking I wouldn’t be able to counter it. I just had to wait until the right moment to make my move,” Shane said as he struck his dad back.

  “That was good thinking, but your swordsmanship is still too weak. You need to get stronger if you want to beat me fully. Plus, we never know how much time we have left, so if something ever happened to me, you're the only one who could protect Mona,” Shane’s father said as he put his hand on Shane's right shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, Dad, no matter what happens, I will always protect Mona. As her older brother, it’s my job to keep her safe. I won’t let anything happen to my annoying but precious little sister,” Shane said as he looked up at his father.

  “That's good to hear. We're the only family we got, so we have to stay together.”

  As Shane's father finished speaking, they both heard the back door open. As they looked to see who it was, they saw Mona holding her drawing.

  “Shane, Dad, look at my drawing. I think I did a good job!” Mona screamed as she ran toward them.

  “Hey Mona, let's see what you have there,” Shane said as he looked at the drawing in Mona's hand.

  “Did you draw a dinosaur again?” their father said as he grabbed the drawing in Mona's hand.

  “Yes. I love dinosaurs, and this is my best drawing yet.”

  Unlike Shane, Mona was highly artistic. Whenever she had time, she enjoyed drawing.

  “It is very good, Mona. All your drawings are the best,” Shane said as he got a closer look at the drawing.

  “Yeah, this is very good. How about I put this one on the fridge so we can all see it.”

  Mona looked overjoyed at how much her brother and father liked her drawing, so much that she wore a big smile and jumped for joy.

  “Yes, please, I want my drawing up so that both of you can see it.”

  Outside, they watched the sunset and knew it was getting late. It even began to get colder outside, and none of them were wearing jackets.

  “Alright, Alright. I’ll put it up. And it’s getting late, so I think I should start cooking dinner. So Mona, you go inside and pick up your color pencils, and Shane, you clean out here, make sure everything is where it's supposed to be,” their father said as he began to walk towards the back door.

  “Alright,” Mona and Shane said simultaneously.

  Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep. Shane was pulled back from a memory of his father, four years ago, by an alarm from Mona’s room.