“Let’s get out of here, Mick,” the man holding my grandmother said.
As I heard my mom fight against the man called Mick, it was a quick movement that changed my entire life. A slashing sound came from the room where my mom was fighting. Soon after, her lightweight frame fell to the floor. Small gasping sounds were coming from my mom.
“No!” Grandma called out just as a snap echoed through the bathroom, and she fell to the floor.
The men that had taken everything from me in less than ten minutes ran from the hotel room. I stretched out my hearing and only heard a slight beating from my mom. They had murdered my grandmother as my mom fought for her last breath. I crawled out of the bathtub and tiptoed around my grandmother’s body. My mom was lying on the floor with tears running down her face. I put my face in front of hers, and more tears came from her eyes.
“William…”
“Mom?” I needed her to get up. There was nothing else to it. I needed her.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered, “promise me something…”
“Anything,” I said.
“Never be anything but you.” And with those last words, my mom’s chest stopped moving, and she took her last breath.
Everything else happened in slow motion as a handful of men wearing police uniforms filled the room with guns drawn. Tears running down my face. One of them looked at me strangely and sniffed the air like I do. His eyes glowed a soft sapphire blue and then went back to normal. They searched the room and pulled me away from my mom.
“No! Mom!” I called out, reaching for her.
“Come on. We’ve got to get you checked out.” The man with the blue glowing eyes held me tight to his chest and moved me to an ambulance that had just pulled up. He sat with me while police car after police car pulled into the parking lot. “Hey, little man, what’s your name?” He tried to give me an easy smile.
“William.” I whispered so quietly that no one with normal hearing could have heard me.
“Nice to meet you, William. My name is Kurt Pearson. Can you tell me who was in the motel?” he said as his eyes glowed blue for a moment.
“Two guys.”
“Okay, what did these guys look like?”
“They work for my father. One of them was named Mick.”
“Do you know them?”
“No,” I whispered.
“How do you know they work for your father?”
“Because they said his name,” I said.
“What’s your father’s name?”
“Franco.”
“Franco what?” he asked.
“Franco Fabrizio.”
➣ Chapter 3
Kindness In the World
The officer held my hand in the ambulance all the way to the hospital. The bright lights stung my eyes as we walked through the sliding doors. People moved quickly from place to place. They were all dressed similarly, matching shirts and pants that were like pajamas. They all had plastic badges clipped onto their clothes with their pictures. I watched as one woman walked up toward me, looking concerned, but then smiled at the officer still holding my hand.
“Officer Pearson, what can I help you with?” The woman approached, looking between the two of us. I looked up to see the officer smiling at the woman. He must have liked her.
“Well, Miss Linda, this little man was at the scene,” he said.
The woman looked back at me with more concern. “Is there someone to call?”
“No, not at this time. There will be guards coming soon.”
“Guards?” she questioned.
“He’s a potential target.”
She gasped, “Oh my God. Poor thing.”
“We need to have Melanie discreetly admit him. Okay?” the officer said.
“I’ll have her get on it. Let’s get him in a private room,” the woman said and walked us back through several halls and through two different doors that needed her to put a card up to the door to walk through, and there was another officer at each of the doors.
“Where are we going?” I asked, feeling scared.
“We’re going to a room where we can make sure you’re all right and keep you safe,” the woman said.
Tears started to fall down my face. I wanted Captain America, and I wanted my mom. The woman noticed and stopped to pick me up. She cradled me against her and tucked my head against her neck, hushing me. It was comforting, and I felt an immediate release of emotions.
“The room at the end of the hall,” the woman said, pointing. The officer opened the door, and the woman walked through with me in her arms. She sat down on the bed and held me tighter. She held me for a few more minutes before she pulled back from me and said, “I’ve got to go get my friend to take a look at you. I’m going to leave Officer Pearson with you, and I will be right back. Okay?” I nodded and climbed off her lap and onto the bed toward the pillow. “I’m just going to step out and talk to Officer Pearson for a moment, and he’ll be right back.” She got up and walked out of the door with the officer, where they had started to whisper. I figured they would have been quiet since he knew what I was.
“What the heck happened to him?” the woman whispered.
“His mother and grandmother were killed at the motel. He’s definitely mac tire, but there’s something else.” The police officer put his nose closer to me and sniffed a couple times.
“Oh-no… that poor baby… what about him being a target? Who’s after him?”
“Franco Fabrizio.” The officer growled.
“Wh…what does he want with the little boy?”
“He’s his son.”
The woman gasped and held onto the officer. Their clothes rubbed together as they embraced.
“He can’t be.”
“That’s what he said. His name is William. We think he witnessed the murders.”
“No,” she whispered in a gasp.
“I’ve got to
