Despair

In a large four-bedroom complex in the upper-class region of Sienna Metropolis, a large city at the shores of the Pacific Ocean, a family prepared to go out.

"Honey, we're going to be late. The movie premiere starts at 7pm. It's almost 6:30pm", Rebecca Michelson shouted to her husband, as she hurriedly powdered her face in front of her dressing mirror.

"I know; I'm almost done", he replied as he walked out of his closet, buttoning his shirt.

He walked to the intercom and connected to his son's room. "Elijah! Are you ready?" he asked through the intercom.

"Yeah, Dad; I'm just waiting on you and mom", his son responded responded.

Dr. Emmanuel Michelson is a world-renowned scientist who works and serves as the director of the Sienna Institute for Genetic Research and Analysis.

He was the first scientist in the Institute to obtain his doctorate at the age of seventeen; going further to acquire a couple more before the age of twenty-three.

He was considered a true genius among geniuses, recognized in all fields of science, technology, mathematics and liberal arts.

Due to this, even though he was the director, he was younger than almost all the high-ranking scientists in the Institute including his very own elder brother who was six years older than him.

His elder brother, Hezekiah Michelson, is a genius in his own right, standing side by side with his brother atop the scientific community and serving as his deputy director.

The first release of 'Extraterrestrial Maiden' was being premiered in major Cinemas all over the country and as one of these prominent Cinemas, the Golden Falcon Cinema also held the premiere as well. 

As one of the prominent members in the country, Emmanuel had a special VIP invite and he had decided to take his wife, Rebecca and eight-year-old son, Elijah to see it. The movie was as thrilling as expected.

After the two hour movie, he took his family for ice cream at the city mall. Being an exciting night, Dr. Michelson decided to let loose and allowed Elijah to have seconds.

As they rode back home in their four seater convertible, Elijah laid back in his seat and gazed at the stars.

"Dad, do you think there's truly life outside our planet?" he asked stunning his father.

"Hmm! I do believe there is. I find it quite difficult to think that we are alone in this wide universe", his father replied.

"I wonder if I'll ever be able to meet an alien?" Elijah mumbled loudly to himself.

"You may meet one, or you may not. Fate is such a fickle thing. We do not choose what comes next in our lives, we just have to go with the flow", his father said as he sped along the road.

As the car left the densely populated part of the city, a chain of spikes suddenly rolled onto the road, shredding all four tires, and in the process, causing the car to skid off-road.

The car plowed through a guardrail, somersaulting a few times before it crashed into the side of a nearby, closed convenience store.

Dr. Michelson, lifted his head off the steering wheel's air bag, blood oozing from a cut on his forehead.

He immediately turned to his son, "Elijah, are you alright?" His compulsive habit of always having his family wear their seat belts had paid off.

From the position Elijah was in, he could have, very well flown out of the car, when it somersaulted.

Elijah stirred a little before he opened his eyes. "Yeah dad, I'm okay, I just bumped my head. What happened?", Elijah asked. "I don't know", Emmanuel said as he turned to his wife.

"Rebecca...are you alright?" he asked as he shook her slightly, but there was no response. He called her name twice more but received no responses.

He lifted her head off the dashboard air bag and leaned it back on her seat. He drew his hands closer to her nose to check for breath but couldn't feel any respiratory activity.

He got scared for a moment and quickly checked her pulse. There was a small response, proving that she was still alive at the very least, although, she could be in danger if she doesn't receive help soon.

With his mind engulfed in fear, he struggled to locate his phone to call the paramedics.

Before he could press 'call', a gun was placed on the side of his bleeding head.

"Get out of the car," the gunman commanded as the door opened and the injured doctor was forced out of the car.

Emmanuel raised his hands and slowly slumped down onto the side of the car trying to aid Elijah out.

They were surrounded by a group of five masked men armed with desert eagles and Uzzis.

Elijah was then pried out of the car as well, along with his comatose mother.

"M...mom! Mommy!" Elijah shouted as he crawled to her and shook her. He cried louder as he got no response from her.

"Both of you, get over here", the leader commanded with his gun trained on them. Emmanuel held on to his son as they approached the men. Still dizzy from the accident, he managed to pull Elijah behind him.

"Please, I don't know what you want from me but I need to get my wife to the hospital. She's in critical condition", he begged them.

"Don't bother; the bitch is already dead", one of the masked men said after checking her pulse personally.

Elijah burst into a loud cry after hearing the masked man's observation. All Emmanuel could do was to bite his lip and hold on tight to his son.

"I'm sorry for your loss but you need to forget about that. Now...do we have the honor of addressing the famous Dr. Emmanuel Michelson?" the one who appeared to be the leader asked.

"Who wants to know?" Emmanuel asked trying to keep his nerves.

"Just answer the question damn it", another one of them yelled, cocking his gun and aiming it at Elijah's head.

"Yes, I am. Who are you and what do you want from me?" Emmanuel asked clutching Elijah firmly behind him.

"I don't have any money so leave us alone", Emmanuel added but the leader responded with a shake of his head amidst a snicker. "Don't worry, rich guy, we don't want your money", he informed.

"Then, what do you want from me?", Emmanuel asked with a puzzled look.

"Our sources tell us that you the key to all the classified information from the Institute on you at all times. That sort of information will sell at a high price on the black market", the leader said with a grin.

"I don't know what you are talking about", Emmanuel said feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb with me you bastard, we know you've got the device on you so hand it over, or else your son follows his mom into the after life", he said in a threatening manner.

"Okay...fine, just follow me", Emmanuel said as he led them to the convertible's trunk.

"When I tell you to run, run away as fast as possible", he whispered to his son who nodded in response. They approached the car and he pretended to open the trunk.

"Run!!" he shouted and Elijah turned and bolted as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Taking advantage of their surprise, Emmanuel swung a blow towards the closest masked man, rendering him unconscious instantly, and followed up with a chop to the neck of another, breaking his trachea, and causing the man to fall down in suffocation pain.

Before he could pick up a dropped weapon to level the playing field, he heard two gunshots followed by a piercing pain running through his chest and stomach.

He looked down to see a bullet hole running straight through the left side of his chest and is stomach. The bullet had probably gone through his heart.

He puked up blood and he fell to his knees. He turned to the direction his son took expecting that he was at a safe distance only to see his son running back to him with tears in his eyes. "Elijah, no!" he mumbled and crushed unto the ground.

"Tch! What a hassle. Find the device", the masked leader shouted as he and the remaining two masked men turned to the car and tore it apart, searching for the coveted device.

Elijah got to his father, knelt beside him and sobbed bitterly, "Dad please don't leave me! Waah!!".

"Don't worry son...I won't leave you", Emmanuel said, struggling to breathe and spurting out blood in the process.

The masked men then returned with a small locked case with the Institute's logo on it. The leader pried it open only to reveal it to be empty.

Before he could shout out in anger, he noticed the coveted device was attached to a necklace around Emmanuel's neck. He snickered loudly as he walked up to the blleding scientist and swiped the device off his neck.

"I'm going to overlook the fact that you tried to deceive us before. I would have killed you all, but I think your kid deserves to live and suffer for your mistakes", the leader said condenscendingly.

"Boss, what do we do about our guys?" one of his remaining two guys asked.

"It looks like they're not going to wake up any time soon. The cops will be here soon. We can't afford anymore hiccups. Besides, we already got what we came for", the leader said as he pulled out his gun and shot his unconscious men in the head, completely startling Elijah.

"Farewell kid", the leader said as they turned to leave.

The currently irrational Elijah crawled to one of the dead masked men, picked up his gun and with all the strength he could muster in his little arms, fired off consecutive shots at the leader and his men.

The first bullet hit a bull'seye, flying right through the leader's head, killing him on the spot and causing him to drop the device.

Due to their shock, the other two couldn't react on time as one of them also took a bullet to the neck severing his coronary artery.

As the last bullet left the chamber and shot towards the third masked man, Elijah could no longer muster the strength to hold the gun and it buckled, falling to the ground.

The third masked man managed to fire a shot of his own just as the bullet struck his chest. Before Elijah could respond, a bullet flew through his own head killing him instantly.

"No!!" Emmanuel shouted faintly as his son fell, face first onto the ground, his eyes wide open due to shock.

"Shit!", the last man yelled as he also fell to the ground, bleeding out but very much alive.

The bullet had passed through his chest but, nowhere near any vital organ, although, late treatment could very well still result in his death.

The scene then grew quiet as sirens could be heard in the distance approaching.

"Rebecca! Elijah!" Emmanuel shouted in agony and he coughed out a mouthful of blood as his vision finally darkened.

....

A month quickly passed and Emmanuel finally awoke from his coma. His eyes opened to the brightness of a hospital ward.

He looked around to see several bouquets and get-well cards from his friends and loved ones all around his room. He tried to get up but was quickly restrained by the attending nurse.

"Please take your time sir, you just awoke from your coma and are not well enough to move yet. The doctor will be right with you", she said as she fluffed his pillow and laid him back down on the bed.

"Where am I?" Emmanuel asked. His memories were kind of fuzzy at the moment.

"You are in a private ward at the Sienna Metropolis General Hospital", she replied.

"How long have I been in the coma?" he asked finally getting his bearings.

"You were rushed in here about a month ago. You were involved in an attempted armed robbery. You were shot in the chest and stomach but luckily the bullets missed your vitals. But the excessive loss of blood almost killed you. You were lucky enough that the paramedics got to you on time" she answered.

"What about my wife and my son? Are they...still alive?" he asked with a hopeful tone.

"I'm sorry sir, by the time the paramedics arrived, they'd been dead for a while", she responded.

He lay back quietly to digest the news as small streams of tears leaked from his eyes.

There was a sudden knock as the doctor, along with Dr. Hezekiah Michelson, Emmanuel's elder brother walked in.

"It's good to finally see you awake. You won't believe how scared and anxious I was", Hezekiah said as he gently hugged his brother.

"I'm sorry about Rebecca and Elijah. They'll be missed", he gave his condolences as he stepped back for the doctor to do his work.

"What happened to the guys who robbed us?" Emmanuel asked his brother.

"Only one survived. He has already been prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison at the maximum security prison and the one who leaked the information has been captured. We'll talk more when you are discharged", Hezekiah responded.

Emmanuel took a deep breath as he tried to quell the murderous rage bubbling in his heart.

"When will I be discharged, Doctor?" he turned and asked the doctor.

"Your surgery wounds have healed but we'll have to run a few more tests so we need to keep you for further observation, but I'm pretty sure within two to three weeks' time, you should be discharged", the doctor answered.

Emmanuel sighed and fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Hezekiah walked up and placed a necklace in his palm. "This belongs to you", he said as Emmanuel held it up.

"I though I lost this to them", he inquired. "It was recorvered at the scene. The police chief had it quickly delivered when it was discovered. Get some rest for now. I'll be back to see you later", Hezekiah said as he left the room.

Emmanuel soon fell back asleep as the IV drip and quiet atmosphere did their work.