Jack Bryant was 10 years old at the time. He could remember everything in fine detail. It had been a warm Sunday afternoon in Ohio. The sky was a vibrant blue and the clouds were white like puffy balls of cotton floating lazily up above. A soft breeze blew in the early autumn air. His parents, Toby and Allison Bryant, had wanted to take him out to the movie theater and take a break from the world. It had to be a special movie because they wanted to take Jack to the big theater in Easton. Honestly, he didn't mind what his parents wanted to watch as long as he got to see it there.
The drive seemed to take forever but that's how it always was. He always kept himself busy with his little rocket ship. "Shoot for the stars!" his parents had always said. He held his rocket ship and willed it to float. Feeling the warmth in his belly as he always did, the ship started to lift from his hands. His father would yell if he got it too close or distracted him while he drove. Jack kept the ship to the back seat and away from the view of the rearview mirror.
He looked out the window to see the angels flying overhead. He waved at the angel, but it seemed to be distracted by whatever mission it was on. Jack liked seeing the angels. The demons however always frightened him. They were always nasty and mean looking. Not one of them the same shape or size. Smokey black ink blots on an otherwise beautiful canvas called Earth. "Why did God have to let them in this world anyways?" he often thought to himself.
Toby pulled into the parking lot and drove around looking for a good spot. Of course, there was none so he had to keep driving up each level until he got to the top. He grumbled something to himself that Jack couldn't hear but finally the car pulled into the parking spot.
"Well buddy, are you ready?!" his father said to him with overly zealous excitement.
Jack wanted to scream yes and sprint out of the car, but something felt terribly wrong. Something cold set in the pit of his stomach. A feeling he had never felt before. Not even when seeing one of those dreadful demons. Looking from his father to his mother, her face went from excited grin to alarm. They knew he was gifted and when something was wrong, it was really wrong.
Allison opened her mouth to say something, but the bullet entered from the back of her head through her mouth. Nothing but the BANG! of a gun was audible. Toby turned to his left to see the figure pointing the gun at him. He didn't have time to react before the second shot came tearing through the already shattered windshield. It smacked into his forehead and left out the back left side of his head. His head bounced off the headrest and slammed into the steering wheel.
All this happened in a matter of seconds. To Jack, time had slowed, and he saw everything as if time had slowed, so he could see it all. Even though he saw it like this, he never had time to scream. He just sat there numb. His mother had finally stopped convulsing. As one, two whit pure spirits left their bodies and ascended to the heavens in a brilliant light. Jack stared after them, willing them to come back. Not to leave him in this now cold, and lifeless world.
Looking down, the man was gone. He tried to make the bullet holes close that had formed in his parents. They didn't. He willed their spirits to come back with new desperation. They didn't. God's will was above his own.
Before he had time to be consumed by the agony, something like he had just felt returned to the pit of his stomach. The cold fingers closing in around his gut. The had come back to kill him too. No witnesses.
Instead, a woman came. Her spirit was dark. Darker than he thought should have been but when she spoke, she spoke with concern. "Let's go kid! Before that maniac comes back! Come on let's go! Go!"
Reluctantly Jack moved his legs and used his arms to push himself out of the car. He got to the side of the car almost out the door when he remembered his rocket ship. If there was one thing he wasn't going to forget, it was that rocket ship. The one that he had left of his father and mother. Tears welled up in his eyes as his fingers curled around the ship. "What will I do without you? Mommy and Daddy why did you leave me?" he thought to himself. The tears fell then. Though the moment was short lived.
The woman grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the car yelling something about getting them killed and that she was trying to help. He didn't hear her though. He stuffed his ship in his pocket and ran with her. To her car. After getting in and putting the seat belt on he looked towards his family car one last time. There he saw an angel. The one he had seen on the way there. A tear fell from it's eye. Jack sobbed quietly to himself. After feeling the woman's hand on his back, he let the sobs come full force. His parents were gone.