Chapter 1: Tragedy

My name is Josh O'Ryan and I live in Los Angeles, California. I live with my mother, father, and my two brothers and I am the youngest out of us three. I am 13 years old with my middle brother, Jack O'Ryan, being 16 and my oldest brother, Daniel O'Ryan, being 19. We have always been super close with each other because our mother and father are super busy running one of the biggest companies in the world, O'Ryan Inc.

Our mother and father never did look after us a lot. Our mother was the co-owner of the company and always busy making business trades with other companies and our father was the head of the company and what the general public saw and talked about so they were too busy with their job and didn't give us a second glance. Still me and my brothers never let that bother us because we thought that as long as we have each other we will be ok and we will be happy.

One day Debbie, one of our families maids, was driving me to school when I saw my closest friend, Amanda Stuckle. Amanda and I have been friends since I was little because Amanda's family also runs a multi-million dollar company like my family and the two of our families did business multiple times so I get to play with her a lot. I asked Debbie, "Debbie I want to walk with Amanda."

"Hehe, OK but be careful for strangers got it." Debbie said playfully.

"Don't worry Debbie I'll be fine." I said as I smiled. As the car was pulling to the sidewalk I stuck my head out the window and yelled, "Amanda, wait for me!" Amanda turned her head towards me and smiled and yelled back, "Hurry up slowpoke or I'll be late for my test in my math class!" I jumped out of the car and ran up to her and said, "Slowpoke? You're the slow one I can prove it." Amanda said, "Oh really? How?" I laughed and said the last one to get to the gate of the school is considered the slowest and has to do something the winner says. Deal?" Amanda smirked and said, "Deal."

Just like that we were off in a full blown sprint towards our school. As we were running, I thought to myself, 'Ha, I know a shortcut through the alley that is about to come up.' I then purposely slowed down and got behind Amanda so that when I turn she won't see me and say I cheated, 'I can't wait to see her face when I beat her, haha.' I inwardly laughed at the thought of seeing Amanda get mad and complain about me beating her.

The alley soon came up and I took a hard left without Amanda noticing and starting sprinting as fast as I can. I ran and ran and I soon saw the end of the alley and in the distance I saw the school gates. But at that moment I suddenly ran into someone and with a grunt I fell on my butt. I looked up and I saw a pale-skinned man with a thin but muscular build. The man had an army style haircut and was wearing a large trench coat that was hard to see through. The man looked at me and said, "What do you think your doing kid. It's dangerous you know to be alone in an alley where there are lots of creeps." I was so scared that I couldn't respond and I just stared at him with a scared look.

"Hahaha, what's wrong, too scared to say anything? Humph, I shouldn't have expected anything more from a little brat that looks like he still pees his bed." At this point I got mad and blurted out, "I'm not scared of you. I'm an O'Ryan and O'Ryans don't get scared of anybody." When the man heard this his ears perked up and said, "Oh, your an O'Ryan you say. As in the O'Ryans that run a multi-million dollar company?" I replied rather smugly, "Yep, that's right. I bet your impressed aren't you?" I then heard the strange man laughing and I got further enraged, "What's so funny?" As soon as I said this the man looked at me and opened his trench coat in it made me pale in fright. There were two handguns and an arsenal of knives which were meant for god knows what.

"Hehe, what's wrong, cat got your tongue. You may be an O'Ryan but I'm in an organization far more impressive," he leans in and whispers in my ear, "and far more deadly." It was at this moment that I saw in his coat an emblem that read, 'The Pale Shadows'. As soon as I saw this the strange man hit me in the back of the head and I blacked out.

Back at the school Amanda reached the gate and was waiting for Josh. She thought to herself, 'Did that idiot go inside without me?' She then stormed off into the school grumbling, "That good for nothing, stupid Josh."

"Ughh, my head." It was at this time I woke up and as I looked around the room I found myself strapped to a chair with rope around my arms, stomach, and legs. I looked around a little more and all I saw was a dark room with one window and an overhead light. As I looked outside I realised It was evening now.

I then heard a familiar voice behind me, " You're finally awake. Now we can start." The owner of the voice started walking towards me from my left and when he past me I saw that it was the strange man I found in the alley and I instantly got scared for my life.

"Don't be afraid this is just business, hehe." said the man

It was then that when I looked around more closely I saw the rest of my family in the same situation as me, tied to a chair and scared out of their minds. In a corner of the room I saw two other people staring at us. One was a tall woman that looked to be in her 30's with long black hair and a very pretty face with a perfect body. The other was a tall, muscular man with tattoos all over his arms and neck. The woman said to the man next to me, "Ghost, enough playing around it's time to start."

"Yeah yeah, whatever Snake." said the man apparently named Ghost. "So, who wants to go first." said Ghost menacingly. We all looked at each other not knowing what to do until finally my father said something,"Who are you and what do you want." It was then that the muscular man came over and punched my father in his stomach and said, "We will ask the questions, not you."

"Hehe, Tiny don't kill him just yet." said Ghost.

It was then that I laughed involuntarily and said, "Your name is Tiny?" The man then got in front of me and grabbed me by the throat and came in close and said, "What's so funny brat." I started gasping for air and barely managed to say, "I'm ...sorry" He let me go and I started sucking in big gulps of air. Ghost then said, "You should be careful of what you say around Tiny because he has a short temper, but you won't live long enough to see that, hehe."

The lady named Snake started walking towards my father and said, "Now then, we are going to ask you questions and if we don't like the answer we get, we will kill one of your family members. Got it?" My father said nothing and then Snake said, "Tiny." The muscular man than started punching my father in the face until he was coughing up blood and my mother was screaming and crying beside them saying, "Stop, please we'll talk. Snake asked my father again, "Got it?" My father started nodding his head up and down. "Good, that's what I like to see. Now who are the people you are in an agreement with against our employer?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any agreements of that sort."

"Wrong answer. Ghost." Snake turned towards Ghost and motioned with her head. "Hehe, this is where the fun begins" Ghost took a gun out of his coat, aimed it at my mother and cocked the gun and said, "Want to repeat that?" My father started to plead and cry saying he doesn't know what they are talking about and that he is innocent. My mother was frozen in fear and couldn't say a word. "Last try O'Ryan." said Snake. "Please! I'm begging you, I don't know anything!"

"BANG"

A loud sound rang out in the room and my mother's body fell to the floor along with the chair she was restrained in. She hit the floor with a loud thud and blood started leaking out from a small hole on the side of her head and also on the other side of her head where the bullet flew out from.

"NOOOOO!!" My father screamed at the top of his lungs, "YOU BASTARDS, I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Ghost started laughing as he made his way to me and my brothers frozen in shock and fear. I then realized he was heading towards my oldest brother, Daniel. "Stop, don't kill Daniel, please, we didn't do anything, please I beg you!" I screamed at Ghost pleading with him at the bottom of my heart. For some reason my heart didn't ache when my mother died. This was probably because I never saw her much, but this was my brother who I've loved and looked up to my whole life.

Jack was also screaming to let him go and to fight him, he called them cowards and could only resort to torture. This caught Ghosts attention and he said, "Oh, you think you can kill me huh, hehe. Very well, let's see if you can." He then untied him and handed him a knife and said, "If you can kill me we'll let you and your brothers go." Jack looked at Tiny and Snake to see if they would intervene or go back on their promise, but they just looked at him like he was a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. This sent a chill down Jack's back but he didn't retreat because he was always the bravest out of the three brothers and he had to protect his brothers.

"Hehe, start." said Ghost.

"AAAHHHH!!" Jack screamed at the top of his lungs and charged at Ghost. Jack swung the knife at Ghost's face intending to cut his eye out. Ghost only laughed and grabbed Jack's arm and tossed him over his shoulder. Jack landed on his back and Ghost took hold of the knife and held it to his throat. He then turned toward our father and said, "Now do you want to tell us who you are working with, hehe."

But our father wasn't paying attention because he was crying and whispering, "Oh Wendy, oh Wendy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Ghost got frustrated and yelled, "Hey! Pay attention or I'm going to kill him!" Daniel and I were screaming at the top of our lungs to not kill him and yelling at our father to give them what they want but our father wasn't paying attention.

Snake then went to our father and forcefully turned his head towards Jack and said, "Tell us what we want and nothing will happen to your precious children." Me and Daniel will still screaming to our father to tell them what they want. The only words our father said will forever ring in my mind, "I don't care anymore."

Ghost then said, "Very well." He started moving the knife towards Jack's throat and the tip of the blade was starting to pierce his throat. I was screaming and crying to Ghost telling him to stop and not to take away the people closest to me. Jack was silent and crying, and in his eyes I can see the terror and sadness that was eating at him. Then the blade slit his throat and he fell to the floor gasping and coughing blood. Then he died on the floor clutching his throat and I felt something inside me break. It felt like a glass window broke and the shards were falling inside my body tearing up my insides and I felt the hot tears stream down my cheek.

My father still had that blank stare and seemed to be staring off into a distant place and I yelled at him, "WHY! YOU MONSTER, TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT!" But all I got was a blank stare with no remorse once so ever in his eyes. Tiny started walking towards Daniel and said, "I wonder if his son is in his face will he tell us what we want to know?" Ghost sneered and said, "What a wonderful idea, hehe."

"NO, PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" screamed Daniel. Tiny only untied him and grabbed him by the throat and carried him towards our father. "So, how about now?" said Tiny. Our father still had that blank stare and didn't say anything.

"Suit yourself." Then Tiny started squeezing Daniel's neck and Daniel was scratching and kicking at Tiny with all his strength but Tiny was like a mountain that wouldn't move no matter how much strength you use. I started crying and said, "Please! He's my only family, please don't kill him!"

"CRACK"

Daniels body went limp and he was tossed in front of my father but he still had that damn blank expression. "Well what do you know, we broke him before we were able to have fun with him, hehe." said Ghost

"Since he's broken we might as well kill him and search around the house for clues." said Snake. "What about this brat? Should I gut him and feed him to the fishes, hehe." said Ghost. "No, just knock him out and toss him in the slums where he'll die eventually." Ghost and Tiny were confused and asked, "Why? That sounds like a really bad idea." Snake looked at me and said, "I don't like the idea of killing someone so young with my own hands on my conscience. Besides, he doesn't know who we are and is too weak to even look for us or try and get revenge."

"Fine." Said Ghost grumbling. This whole time I was spaced out and couldn't see or hear what was happening because my whole world shattered into a million pieces and all I could see were the memories of me and my brothers when we were younger playing and promising each other that when we grew up we would still love each other and be with each other no matter what. But now this was a bittersweet memory because everything I held dear in my heart was forcefully and violently taken from me. I looked up intending to say I'll have my revenge but I saw Ghost putting a rag over my face that had a weird smell and I started dozing off. The last thing I saw was Snake holding a gun to my father's head and a loud bang being sounded, then I fell asleep.