Chapter 05: Nightmares

—Brooklyn Heights – 1999—Age 9

“Daddy, I’m scared.”

“Shh! I know, Lyric, but you have to be very quiet, baby, can you do that?”

“I’ll try,” she shook her head and squeezed her legs tighter against her chest.

“That’s my big girl. I have to go and get your brothers. Now you stay down, and no matter what you hear, you don’t leave this closet. Understand?”

“I understand.” Sinking down to the floor, Lyric closed her eyes and tried her best to find a happy place; her 7^th birthday party on the sandy shores of Turtle Creek. Running on the beach with her brother Echo and building sandcastles with Blaze.

Prologue: Mercy is for the Weak

—Brooklyn Heights – Monday, April 8, 1996—

Shafts of morning light filtered through the thick canopy of trees as a molten sun burned above the horizon. Its tangerine rays cast shadows along the high rise apartments and office buildings of downtown, glass towers in the distance gleaming all around, igniting a new dawn in Brooklyn Heights.

It was spring, and the beaches would already be filling up as they always did, the blazing heat forcing the sun worshippers to cool off among the spring breakers by mid-afternoon. Further south, down the county road leading towards the lake, resident vendors prepared for the day, ready to hock their wares to the many tourists hoping to snag a few souvenirs.