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Description
"Sir we're calling you to let you know that Hope is still at the school and hasn't been picked up yet."

Alo frowned as he clutched the phone to his ear. "Excuse me?" he asked as he stood up and reached over for his coat upon the stand. "No, her mother was supposed to pick her up right after school. Did you call her?"

"We did, sir. Nobody answered so we left a voice mail. We also tried calling another number but nobody picked up either so this was the next on our list."

Alo shuffled himself awkwardly into his coat as he leaned forward and grabbed his car keys off his office desk. "Alright, I'll come get her. I'm leaving now so I'll be there shortly." Alo hung up the phone without waiting a response, frustrated at the idea of having to leave work so early on in the day and yet concerned as to why his wife didn't pick their daughter up as usual.

As he walked out onto the hallway, Alo pulled out his cellphone from his coat pocket and flipped it open. The words 'Missed Call' flashed up on the screen followed by the school's number below but he had switched his phone to silent during a meeting and had forgotten to put it back. Alo pushed the ignore button and ran through his contacts before finding his home phone number. As he brought the phone up to his ear he heard the dial tone began to ring. It rang a few more times before switching over to the family's voice mail.

"Hey, sorry to missed your call!" Said Sik with her usual cheerful voice.
"But if you leave a name and number after the beep..." said his own.
"We'll call you back as soon as we can!" shouted Hope, giggling towards the end.
"BEEEEEP!" They all yelled at the same time.

"Sik? You there?" Also asked as he opened the door to the outside and began walking towards the parking lot. When she didn't pick up Alo sighed, "Look someone forgot to pick up Hope today after school so I'm leaving now to go get her. Call me as soon as you get this." His tone implied that he was irritated before he hit the button ending the call.

The drive itself wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought it was going to be given the fact that he had left the office earlier than expected so there was little to no traffic. As he pulled up to the school, he watched as a school's official opened the door and walked out with Hope holding her hand. Hope's eyes lit up as she saw her father in the car and she began waving to him who in turn waved back. Alo rolled down the passenger's window and leaned towards it as the two approached the SUV. "I'm so sorry about this; I don't know what happened with my wife." he explained as the woman opened the door and Hope climbed in.

"It's alright, but we will be having our administrator calling you about the bill later on tomorrow." she said with a wary smile before turning to Hope. "You have a good day and we will see you tomorrow."

Hope smiled back, "Ok."

Alo gave a sheepish smile in return as he began rolling up the window, "Thanks again." As he pulled away from the school he reached over and grabbed his cellphone once more but replaced it back when he saw that there were no new messages. "Did mommy say anything about not coming to get you?" he asked his daughter.

"Nu-uh." She replied as she looked outside the window and stared at the scenery that passed by them.

Alo frowned again, his mind whirring with what Sik could be doing that could have made her forget to pick up Hope and just exactly how much this little incident was going to cost them; as the school charges per quarter of an hour if the child is not picked up at a specific set time.

When Alo turned down into their street, he instantly spotted Andi’s car parked just outside their house. Anger washed through him as he automatically assumed that Sik had lost track of time while spending time with her brother, but soon guilt swept through and took over as he pulled the car into the driveway and shut off the engine. “Stay with me sweetie.” He told Hope as they got out of the car and took her hand.

When he tried to open the front door he was met with resistance as the door’s lock kept it firmly in place. Alo tried to restrain himself from letting out a frustrated groan as he reached for his keys and inserted it into the keyhole.

When the door swung open and they took their first steps into their house, the smell of burning flesh hit them so hard that Alo staggered back from the shock. The hallway looked as if a tornado had blown through it; their entry table had been tossed over, the rug pushed up and crumpled a few feet away from the door, blood smeared on the hardwood floor— Wait, Blood!?

Alo crouched slightly as he gripped Hope’s hand and gently pushed her over beside the front door. “Stay here.” He commanded.
“Daddy, what happened?” Hope asked, her voice filled with terror as her eyes brimmed with tears.

“I don’t know, I’m going to find mommy. Stay put and be quiet. Not a single word, okay?” He whispered as he turned back around and walked cautiously towards the kitchen. “Sik?” he called out. “Sik are you here?”

The kitchen was in an even worse condition than the front hallway. Pills were scattered all over the floor, a knife had been stabbed into the top of their kitchen table, and their kitchen phone had been pulled from the wall completely and thrown across the room. That had to have been recently considering he had just called not too long ago and was able to reach their voice mail.

A pile of towels soaked with water sat beside the kitchen sink. Alo bent down to the towels and pulled one back. Underneath the top layer was another towel splotched with pink stains that grew into a bright crimson red the further he went inside the bundle.

Holding back the vomit that rose in the back of his throat, Alo turned around and grimaced at the thoughts flooding his mind. “Andi…” he said, gritting his teeth together. As he took a step forward the sound of glass crunching beneath his business shoes made him stop. Stooping below, he noticed little glass shards and salt littering the floor almost unseen by the naked eye. Without waiting any longer Alo reached into his suit’s pocket and pulled out his phone as he began dialing 911.

“SIK!” He shouted once more as he entered the last digit and was just about to hit the dial button when something stopped him.

A vibration of a heavy thump and a muffled cry answered back to him from upstairs.

“Sik!?” Alo cried out as he raced towards the stairs and bolted them up two by two, forgetting about the phone he had clutched into his hand.

As he rounded the corner towards the bedroom, Alo slammed the door open and stopped.

There Panic sat on the bed cross legged with a pillow clutched to the bottom of his mouth as he let out another muffled cry before pulling it away. A chesire-like grin pulled at his lips as he seemed to enjoy the reaction he was getting from the astonished Alo who could only remain standing there. Alo's eyes flickered over towards Sik’s nightstand which had been pushed over onto the floor as he was able to conclude that it was what made the loud thump he had heard earlier. Suddenly remembering the phone in his hand, Alo pulled it just slightly before Panic interjected. “Call anyone and you’ll never see her again.”

Alo froze momentarily as he seemed to ponder and consider all the options.

Panic put the pillow down and picked up a picture frame he had found earlier while Sik had been unconscious. He directed the frame to where the picture was shown to Alo as he pointed to the little girl between her two loving parents. “Call anyone and she’s next.” he threatened.

Alo lowered the phone back down.

“Drop it.” Panic demanded, his eyes flashing as he watched for any kind of movement.

Alo did as he was told and dropped the phone as it clattered to the ground; its hard case protecting the battery inside snapped off and flew a few inches from the phone itself. The damn thing was always falling apart when dropped.

“Kick it away.” Panic continued.

Although Panic looked to have no weapon on him, Alo continued doing what he was told, knowing full well what Panic was capable of with his bare hands and teeth.

“Where’s Sik?” Alo asked.

Panic rose from the bed as he tossed the picture frame aside as he closed the space between them to mere inches. “Floating face down in a creek, or maybe in the trunk of my car, or maybe, just maybe, even under this god damn bed! You don’t get to ask the fucking questions!” he screamed before going quiet again as he licked his lips. His eyes lowered towards the floor and then back up again as he cocked his head to the side and smiled. “You took her from me, my prized member, my best shiny toy. You took her! Without asking! Well, I’m taking my toy back now, and I’m going to teach you lesson for taking things that don’t belong to you.”
Panic turned sideways and began walking back when Alo moved forward to grab him. As if expecting the move all together, Panic shimmied away from the other man’s grasp as he reeled his foot back and kicked it with a strong force into Alo’s kneecap. The hit connected and Alo could hear the crunch as he crumpled down to the floor. Fiery needle-like stings grew from within his knee as he tried to cry out from the pain but was met with a pillow to his face.

“You always were so fucking predictable.” Panic said as he held the pillow down in place. “I figured you would have tried to run off when things were getting too bad for you, but didn’t see you brainwashing Sik along as well you little shit.”
Alo’s arms flailed as he tried to claw at Panic’s arms to release him but the maniac held his grip firmly. Unable to breathe and panicking, his fingers swung up and his nails managed to find skin and scratch at whatever it could get a hold of.
Panic threw his head back and groaned with pleasure as Alo left small scratches against his cheek, “Don’t even think about it you sick fuck. You gotta buy me dinner first.” He said as he pulled the pillow back and punched Alo square in the nose.

Alo gasped for air as the pillow was pulled away from his face, but just as he did so he was knocked back as Panic’s fist was smashed into his nose. Little orbs of light danced just out of reach as he laid his head back and blinked a few times.

“Daddy?”

The voice of Hope came from downstairs as she called out to her father.

“Daddy?” she shouted again.

Before Alo could cry out to her, Panic punched him in the throat to stop him.

As he choked on his own spit and threw his hands to his neck from the attack, Panic looked down the hallway to the stairs and smiled. “It’s okay sweetie, your daddy had a nasty fall. Come on up.” He said as he placed his knee onto Alo’s chest and reached over to grab something off the dresser beside them. “Not one fucking word.” Panic hissed as he pushed Alo’s hands away injected the needle with clear liquid into his neck.

The soft sounds of Hope’s feet climbing the stairs became more audible as a wave of nausea and dizziness flowed through Alo. Panic pulled himself off and pulled Alo to his feet where he learned that it had become almost impossible to stand.

Hope’s face appeared around the corner of the door as she stood and stared at the adult who was helping her father sit down on the bed.

“I must have scared your dad, he tripped and fell into this headboard right here.” Panic said as he patted the base of the wooden bed frame. “I’m Panic, one of your daddy’s friends. And who are you?” he asked as he gripped Alo’s shoulder tightly who had begun swaying from the drug kicking into effect.

The little girl clutched the side of the door as she took a single step towards him. “Hope.” She said softly as she looked to her father and back to the one named Panic. “Where’s mommy?”

Panic smirked as he looked to Alo and patted him on the cheek. “I was just telling your daddy that. She stepped out for a bit with your Uncle, but you’ll see her shortly. Should we go wait downstairs?”

Hope didn’t say anything but instead pulled back into the hallway as Panic lifted Alo back to his feet and hoisted him up by slinging Alo’s arm around his shoulders. The three made their way slowly down the stairs with Alo bumping into every single picture frame on the wall and moaning unintelligible words making Hope cringe with uncertainty.

“Is daddy going to be ok?” Hope asked as they went into the kitchen and Panic began placing Alo into a chair.

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Panic said as he pulled back Alo’s eyelid and stared into his pupil with a sinister grin. “He probably just needs a minute or two, he bonked his head really bad. Silly daddy.” He said as he flicked his fingertip against Alo’s temple. Panic stood up and looked over at the fridge and then back at Hope. “Why don’t we color until your daddy gets better, ok?”

Hope forced a small smile as she took her backpack off her shoulder and unzipped it. Carefully she pulled out a sketch book and a small box of crayons and put them on the kitchen table. “Bethany took my grey crayon so I don’t have that one.”

Panic pulled out a chair and sat down into it as he plucked the knife from the table and set it down beside him. “Well Bethany is bad, because stealing is bad right daddy?” he said as he looked to Alo who seemed fixated on the knife.

This made Hope nibble on her lower lip as she hesitantly pulled herself into the chair. “What happened?” she asked as she looked around the kitchen and then at Panic’s bare chest.

As if forgetting the wound entirely, Panic looked down to the cauterized flesh. “Oh,” he said with a short laugh. "Your mommy and I were going to make you both something very, very special and I hurt myself. Butterfingers." Panic reached over and grabbed the notebook as he tore out two sheets and set one in front of Hope and then himself. "While Sik left I cleaned myself up in your bathroom upstairs, you don't mind do you Alo?" he asked.

Alo's head bobbed up and down as he mouthed something but nothing would come out.

Panic opened the box of crayons and dumped them onto the table as he rolled some over to Hope. "Draw." he said as he watched her cautiously pick up a few colors. Hope's eyes were watery as she looked back to her dad and then down to her paper. "I want my mommy." she mumbled.

"I told you." Panic said, his voice hardening just ever so slightly. "You'll see her later. I promise."

When Hope began drawing like she was told, Panic picked up a few crayons himself and began coloring. "I'm going to ask you a few questions now, and I want you to be honest with me okay? I don't like liars, any more than I like people who steal."

Hope looked up at Panic who was staring at her, waiting for an answer from the child.

"O-okay." she said as she looked to her dad.

"Is your mommy and daddy nice?"

The question itself was odd and made Hope stop coloring for a second but when she saw Panic's frown she instantly continued on. "Y-yeah.."

"Do they love you?"

She wanted to cry. To just throw her crayons and run to her father who didn't seem to be feeling any better. "Yes.."

Panic slashed away at his picture with the orange crayon before picking up the yellow one. "They've never hurt you have they?"

Hope couldn't help it as tears rolled down her face. "No! I want my mommy! Daddy!"

Alo leaned forward his face twisted with grogginess and pain as he looked to Panic. "Don't hurt her." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Does it look like I'm FUCKING HURTING HER?!" Panic screamed as he back handed Alo who flew from his chair to the floor.

Hope let out a high pitch scream as she flew from her chair towards her dad.

"Look what you made me do. Just look!" Panic said as he stood up and grabbed the knife and paper. Panic inspected his picture and pouted his lower lip. "You made me mess up."

Hope screamed again as she clutched to her father and shook his jacket. "Daddy daddy, please!"

Panic ignored the wailing child as he walked over towards Hope's chair. "Let's see what you drew." he said as he picked it up. A child's drawing of Sik and Alo holding hands with Hope was colored in front of what looked to be the house they were in. "Oh lookie at this." he said as he leaned over and shoved the picture to Alo's face. "Fucking beautiful! A regular artist! You ought to be damned proud of your little shithead! Wanna see mine?!"

Panic removed the paper from Alo's face and held out his own drawing. Violent scribbles of red, orange and yellow were carelessly strewn about all over the paper. "Want to know what it is?"

It took all of Alo's strength just to reach up and touch Hope's wet face as he tried to shield her away from Panic.

"It's what I'm going to fucking do to this house and everything it stands for. You made a god damn mockery of everything I taught you and Sik both and now I'm going to burn it all down."

Panic walked over towards the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a drinking glass. "All going to go bye bye."

"Daddy get up .. please ... I'm scared." Hope sobbed, her face pressed into Alo's chest who could only lay there with very little motion.

Panic filled up the glass with a small amount of water before taking a sip and setting it back down. "You a fan of Johnny Cash?" he asked to them but received no response. Instead he walked out of the kitchen and into the home's office room where the family's computer has been stored. After a few moments the sound of music came drifting out.

Panic reappeared as he waltzed with a certain sway in his step, rhythmically to the beats as he began singing. "I fell in to a burning ring of FIRE!" he hummed as he opened the door to the garage and disappeared before reappearing with a gas can in each hand. "And it burns burns burns ... the ring of FIRE!"

The smell of gasoline was potent as Panic began sloshing the cans around, spilling the liquid all around the room. The voice of Johnny Cash blared from the computer's speakers as Panic sang in tune. "I went down down down and the flames went higher!"

When he was finished, Panic tossed the cans aside and began throwing the kitchen drawers open until he found a lighter. He turned and looked at Alo who stared at him with wide eyes while shaking violently.

"Do you think this song is about love or hemorrhoids?" Panic asked as he flicked the lighter on and shrugged. "Oh who fucking cares right?" he asked as he bent down and ignited the gasoline.

Description
"Sir we're calling you to let you know that Hope is still at the school and hasn't been picked up yet."

Alo frowned as he clutched the phone to his ear. "Excuse me?" he asked as he stood up and reached over for his coat upon the stand. "No, her mother was supposed to pick her up right after school. Did you call her?"

"We did, sir. Nobody answered so we left a voice mail. We also tried calling another number but nobody picked up either so this was the next on our list."

Alo shuffled himself awkwardly into his coat as he leaned forward and grabbed his car keys off his office desk. "Alright, I'll come get her. I'm leaving now so I'll be there shortly." Alo hung up the phone without waiting a response, frustrated at the idea of having to leave work so early on in the day and yet concerned as to why his wife didn't pick their daughter up as usual.

As he walked out onto the hallway, Alo pulled out his cellphone from his coat pocket and flipped it open. The words 'Missed Call' flashed up on the screen followed by the school's number below but he had switched his phone to silent during a meeting and had forgotten to put it back. Alo pushed the ignore button and ran through his contacts before finding his home phone number. As he brought the phone up to his ear he heard the dial tone began to ring. It rang a few more times before switching over to the family's voice mail.

"Hey, sorry to missed your call!" Said Sik with her usual cheerful voice.
"But if you leave a name and number after the beep..." said his own.
"We'll call you back as soon as we can!" shouted Hope, giggling towards the end.
"BEEEEEP!" They all yelled at the same time.

"Sik? You there?" Also asked as he opened the door to the outside and began walking towards the parking lot. When she didn't pick up Alo sighed, "Look someone forgot to pick up Hope today after school so I'm leaving now to go get her. Call me as soon as you get this." His tone implied that he was irritated before he hit the button ending the call.

The drive itself wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought it was going to be given the fact that he had left the office earlier than expected so there was little to no traffic. As he pulled up to the school, he watched as a school's official opened the door and walked out with Hope holding her hand. Hope's eyes lit up as she saw her father in the car and she began waving to him who in turn waved back. Alo rolled down the passenger's window and leaned towards it as the two approached the SUV. "I'm so sorry about this; I don't know what happened with my wife." he explained as the woman opened the door and Hope climbed in.

"It's alright, but we will be having our administrator calling you about the bill later on tomorrow." she said with a wary smile before turning to Hope. "You have a good day and we will see you tomorrow."

Hope smiled back, "Ok."

Alo gave a sheepish smile in return as he began rolling up the window, "Thanks again." As he pulled away from the school he reached over and grabbed his cellphone once more but replaced it back when he saw that there were no new messages. "Did mommy say anything about not coming to get you?" he asked his daughter.

"Nu-uh." She replied as she looked outside the window and stared at the scenery that passed by them.

Alo frowned again, his mind whirring with what Sik could be doing that could have made her forget to pick up Hope and just exactly how much this little incident was going to cost them; as the school charges per quarter of an hour if the child is not picked up at a specific set time.

When Alo turned down into their street, he instantly spotted Andi’s car parked just outside their house. Anger washed through him as he automatically assumed that Sik had lost track of time while spending time with her brother, but soon guilt swept through and took over as he pulled the car into the driveway and shut off the engine. “Stay with me sweetie.” He told Hope as they got out of the car and took her hand.

When he tried to open the front door he was met with resistance as the door’s lock kept it firmly in place. Alo tried to restrain himself from letting out a frustrated groan as he reached for his keys and inserted it into the keyhole.

When the door swung open and they took their first steps into their house, the smell of burning flesh hit them so hard that Alo staggered back from the shock. The hallway looked as if a tornado had blown through it; their entry table had been tossed over, the rug pushed up and crumpled a few feet away from the door, blood smeared on the hardwood floor— Wait, Blood!?

Alo crouched slightly as he gripped Hope’s hand and gently pushed her over beside the front door. “Stay here.” He commanded.
“Daddy, what happened?” Hope asked, her voice filled with terror as her eyes brimmed with tears.

“I don’t know, I’m going to find mommy. Stay put and be quiet. Not a single word, okay?” He whispered as he turned back around and walked cautiously towards the kitchen. “Sik?” he called out. “Sik are you here?”

The kitchen was in an even worse condition than the front hallway. Pills were scattered all over the floor, a knife had been stabbed into the top of their kitchen table, and their kitchen phone had been pulled from the wall completely and thrown across the room. That had to have been recently considering he had just called not too long ago and was able to reach their voice mail.

A pile of towels soaked with water sat beside the kitchen sink. Alo bent down to the towels and pulled one back. Underneath the top layer was another towel splotched with pink stains that grew into a bright crimson red the further he went inside the bundle.

Holding back the vomit that rose in the back of his throat, Alo turned around and grimaced at the thoughts flooding his mind. “Andi…” he said, gritting his teeth together. As he took a step forward the sound of glass crunching beneath his business shoes made him stop. Stooping below, he noticed little glass shards and salt littering the floor almost unseen by the naked eye. Without waiting any longer Alo reached into his suit’s pocket and pulled out his phone as he began dialing 911.

“SIK!” He shouted once more as he entered the last digit and was just about to hit the dial button when something stopped him.

A vibration of a heavy thump and a muffled cry answered back to him from upstairs.

“Sik!?” Alo cried out as he raced towards the stairs and bolted them up two by two, forgetting about the phone he had clutched into his hand.

As he rounded the corner towards the bedroom, Alo slammed the door open and stopped.

There Panic sat on the bed cross legged with a pillow clutched to the bottom of his mouth as he let out another muffled cry before pulling it away. A chesire-like grin pulled at his lips as he seemed to enjoy the reaction he was getting from the astonished Alo who could only remain standing there. Alo's eyes flickered over towards Sik’s nightstand which had been pushed over onto the floor as he was able to conclude that it was what made the loud thump he had heard earlier. Suddenly remembering the phone in his hand, Alo pulled it just slightly before Panic interjected. “Call anyone and you’ll never see her again.”

Alo froze momentarily as he seemed to ponder and consider all the options.

Panic put the pillow down and picked up a picture frame he had found earlier while Sik had been unconscious. He directed the frame to where the picture was shown to Alo as he pointed to the little girl between her two loving parents. “Call anyone and she’s next.” he threatened.

Alo lowered the phone back down.

“Drop it.” Panic demanded, his eyes flashing as he watched for any kind of movement.

Alo did as he was told and dropped the phone as it clattered to the ground; its hard case protecting the battery inside snapped off and flew a few inches from the phone itself. The damn thing was always falling apart when dropped.

“Kick it away.” Panic continued.

Although Panic looked to have no weapon on him, Alo continued doing what he was told, knowing full well what Panic was capable of with his bare hands and teeth.

“Where’s Sik?” Alo asked.

Panic rose from the bed as he tossed the picture frame aside as he closed the space between them to mere inches. “Floating face down in a creek, or maybe in the trunk of my car, or maybe, just maybe, even under this god damn bed! You don’t get to ask the fucking questions!” he screamed before going quiet again as he licked his lips. His eyes lowered towards the floor and then back up again as he cocked his head to the side and smiled. “You took her from me, my prized member, my best shiny toy. You took her! Without asking! Well, I’m taking my toy back now, and I’m going to teach you lesson for taking things that don’t belong to you.”
Panic turned sideways and began walking back when Alo moved forward to grab him. As if expecting the move all together, Panic shimmied away from the other man’s grasp as he reeled his foot back and kicked it with a strong force into Alo’s kneecap. The hit connected and Alo could hear the crunch as he crumpled down to the floor. Fiery needle-like stings grew from within his knee as he tried to cry out from the pain but was met with a pillow to his face.

“You always were so fucking predictable.” Panic said as he held the pillow down in place. “I figured you would have tried to run off when things were getting too bad for you, but didn’t see you brainwashing Sik along as well you little shit.”
Alo’s arms flailed as he tried to claw at Panic’s arms to release him but the maniac held his grip firmly. Unable to breathe and panicking, his fingers swung up and his nails managed to find skin and scratch at whatever it could get a hold of.
Panic threw his head back and groaned with pleasure as Alo left small scratches against his cheek, “Don’t even think about it you sick fuck. You gotta buy me dinner first.” He said as he pulled the pillow back and punched Alo square in the nose.

Alo gasped for air as the pillow was pulled away from his face, but just as he did so he was knocked back as Panic’s fist was smashed into his nose. Little orbs of light danced just out of reach as he laid his head back and blinked a few times.

“Daddy?”

The voice of Hope came from downstairs as she called out to her father.

“Daddy?” she shouted again.

Before Alo could cry out to her, Panic punched him in the throat to stop him.

As he choked on his own spit and threw his hands to his neck from the attack, Panic looked down the hallway to the stairs and smiled. “It’s okay sweetie, your daddy had a nasty fall. Come on up.” He said as he placed his knee onto Alo’s chest and reached over to grab something off the dresser beside them. “Not one fucking word.” Panic hissed as he pushed Alo’s hands away injected the needle with clear liquid into his neck.

The soft sounds of Hope’s feet climbing the stairs became more audible as a wave of nausea and dizziness flowed through Alo. Panic pulled himself off and pulled Alo to his feet where he learned that it had become almost impossible to stand.

Hope’s face appeared around the corner of the door as she stood and stared at the adult who was helping her father sit down on the bed.

“I must have scared your dad, he tripped and fell into this headboard right here.” Panic said as he patted the base of the wooden bed frame. “I’m Panic, one of your daddy’s friends. And who are you?” he asked as he gripped Alo’s shoulder tightly who had begun swaying from the drug kicking into effect.

The little girl clutched the side of the door as she took a single step towards him. “Hope.” She said softly as she looked to her father and back to the one named Panic. “Where’s mommy?”

Panic smirked as he looked to Alo and patted him on the cheek. “I was just telling your daddy that. She stepped out for a bit with your Uncle, but you’ll see her shortly. Should we go wait downstairs?”

Hope didn’t say anything but instead pulled back into the hallway as Panic lifted Alo back to his feet and hoisted him up by slinging Alo’s arm around his shoulders. The three made their way slowly down the stairs with Alo bumping into every single picture frame on the wall and moaning unintelligible words making Hope cringe with uncertainty.

“Is daddy going to be ok?” Hope asked as they went into the kitchen and Panic began placing Alo into a chair.

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Panic said as he pulled back Alo’s eyelid and stared into his pupil with a sinister grin. “He probably just needs a minute or two, he bonked his head really bad. Silly daddy.” He said as he flicked his fingertip against Alo’s temple. Panic stood up and looked over at the fridge and then back at Hope. “Why don’t we color until your daddy gets better, ok?”

Hope forced a small smile as she took her backpack off her shoulder and unzipped it. Carefully she pulled out a sketch book and a small box of crayons and put them on the kitchen table. “Bethany took my grey crayon so I don’t have that one.”

Panic pulled out a chair and sat down into it as he plucked the knife from the table and set it down beside him. “Well Bethany is bad, because stealing is bad right daddy?” he said as he looked to Alo who seemed fixated on the knife.

This made Hope nibble on her lower lip as she hesitantly pulled herself into the chair. “What happened?” she asked as she looked around the kitchen and then at Panic’s bare chest.

As if forgetting the wound entirely, Panic looked down to the cauterized flesh. “Oh,” he said with a short laugh. "Your mommy and I were going to make you both something very, very special and I hurt myself. Butterfingers." Panic reached over and grabbed the notebook as he tore out two sheets and set one in front of Hope and then himself. "While Sik left I cleaned myself up in your bathroom upstairs, you don't mind do you Alo?" he asked.

Alo's head bobbed up and down as he mouthed something but nothing would come out.

Panic opened the box of crayons and dumped them onto the table as he rolled some over to Hope. "Draw." he said as he watched her cautiously pick up a few colors. Hope's eyes were watery as she looked back to her dad and then down to her paper. "I want my mommy." she mumbled.

"I told you." Panic said, his voice hardening just ever so slightly. "You'll see her later. I promise."

When Hope began drawing like she was told, Panic picked up a few crayons himself and began coloring. "I'm going to ask you a few questions now, and I want you to be honest with me okay? I don't like liars, any more than I like people who steal."

Hope looked up at Panic who was staring at her, waiting for an answer from the child.

"O-okay." she said as she looked to her dad.

"Is your mommy and daddy nice?"

The question itself was odd and made Hope stop coloring for a second but when she saw Panic's frown she instantly continued on. "Y-yeah.."

"Do they love you?"

She wanted to cry. To just throw her crayons and run to her father who didn't seem to be feeling any better. "Yes.."

Panic slashed away at his picture with the orange crayon before picking up the yellow one. "They've never hurt you have they?"

Hope couldn't help it as tears rolled down her face. "No! I want my mommy! Daddy!"

Alo leaned forward his face twisted with grogginess and pain as he looked to Panic. "Don't hurt her." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Does it look like I'm FUCKING HURTING HER?!" Panic screamed as he back handed Alo who flew from his chair to the floor.

Hope let out a high pitch scream as she flew from her chair towards her dad.

"Look what you made me do. Just look!" Panic said as he stood up and grabbed the knife and paper. Panic inspected his picture and pouted his lower lip. "You made me mess up."

Hope screamed again as she clutched to her father and shook his jacket. "Daddy daddy, please!"

Panic ignored the wailing child as he walked over towards Hope's chair. "Let's see what you drew." he said as he picked it up. A child's drawing of Sik and Alo holding hands with Hope was colored in front of what looked to be the house they were in. "Oh lookie at this." he said as he leaned over and shoved the picture to Alo's face. "Fucking beautiful! A regular artist! You ought to be damned proud of your little shithead! Wanna see mine?!"

Panic removed the paper from Alo's face and held out his own drawing. Violent scribbles of red, orange and yellow were carelessly strewn about all over the paper. "Want to know what it is?"

It took all of Alo's strength just to reach up and touch Hope's wet face as he tried to shield her away from Panic.

"It's what I'm going to fucking do to this house and everything it stands for. You made a god damn mockery of everything I taught you and Sik both and now I'm going to burn it all down."

Panic walked over towards the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a drinking glass. "All going to go bye bye."

"Daddy get up .. please ... I'm scared." Hope sobbed, her face pressed into Alo's chest who could only lay there with very little motion.

Panic filled up the glass with a small amount of water before taking a sip and setting it back down. "You a fan of Johnny Cash?" he asked to them but received no response. Instead he walked out of the kitchen and into the home's office room where the family's computer has been stored. After a few moments the sound of music came drifting out.

Panic reappeared as he waltzed with a certain sway in his step, rhythmically to the beats as he began singing. "I fell in to a burning ring of FIRE!" he hummed as he opened the door to the garage and disappeared before reappearing with a gas can in each hand. "And it burns burns burns ... the ring of FIRE!"

The smell of gasoline was potent as Panic began sloshing the cans around, spilling the liquid all around the room. The voice of Johnny Cash blared from the computer's speakers as Panic sang in tune. "I went down down down and the flames went higher!"

When he was finished, Panic tossed the cans aside and began throwing the kitchen drawers open until he found a lighter. He turned and looked at Alo who stared at him with wide eyes while shaking violently.

"Do you think this song is about love or hemorrhoids?" Panic asked as he flicked the lighter on and shrugged. "Oh who fucking cares right?" he asked as he bent down and ignited the gasoline.