Chapter - 023 I hope you all are doing fine. Just a few more days and everything will be back to normal again. "In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plough your anger and your energy into something positive." – Lee Iacocca Outside a room, a man was pacing around with a worried look all over his face. He would glance restlessly towards the door every now and then. Only after what felt like an eternity to him did he hear the cries of a child from inside. After some time, the door opened, and a lady walked out of the room, followed by another couple of ladies. "Congratulations Arthur, they are twins, a boy and a girl". The lady said as she handed over the boy to the man. While the other lady went up to him and showed him the girl. "Ahh... so beautiful, look at their little fingers, how adorable. They will be the pride of our family. Oh.. right doctor, how's my wife? She is fine right?" Man almost forgot about his fine in the happiness of becoming a father. "She is fine just unconscious due to exhaustion. She will wake up soon after that you can meet her. Now hand me the kids I will take them, for a checkup". The doctor said and took the boy from Arthur's embrace. Arthur reluctantly handed over the boy to the doctor and watched the group of ladies carry his children out of his sight. After handing over the kids to the doctor, Arthur entered the room and sat beside his unconscious wife holding her hands. "Uhmm..." the lady woke up after some time. "Melinda, how are you feeling?" Arthur asked as he helped her sit. "I am fine Arthur, how's the baby?" the lady asked. "Not baby, but babies. We are the parents of twins now, a boy and a girl and they are completely fine. The girl is as beautiful as you". Arthur said not able to hide the happiness on his face and he gently stroked Melinda's hair. "Where are they?" Melinda asked. She wanted to see her children as soon as possible. Before Arthur could reply, the doctor came with the kids. "They are here, why don't you hold them". the doctor said as she handed both of the kids to Melinda carefully. "Have you thought of the names?" the nurse alongside the doctor asked. "Yeah, we thought that if it was a boy, we will name him Alexander and if it were a girl we would name her Nicole. But who would have thought we could get a chance to use both the names". Melinda said as she replied to the nurse. "Hahaha... I am very happy today". Arthur finally could not help and broke into laughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . "Alex, listen to mother, take your sister and run". Melinda said as she handed the unconscious Nicole to Alex. "But mother..." Alex wanted to say something, but he could not bring out the words. He did not want to run away leaving his father and mother. "Listen to me Alex, whatever happens, don't come for revenge, leave for as far as possible, live a happy and content life, and try to keep your sister safe". Melinda said trying to hold her tears back. Her husband was already outside single-handedly fighting against their enemies. She needed to make sure that at least her kids were safe. Alex continued to sob looking at his mother with the unconscious Nicole on his back. "I know I am asking a lot from you, I wish I could erase your memory like your sister, but these memories will help you survive, and help you stay on your guard all the time". Melinda said as she stroked Alex's face and wiped his tears. "But I am also happy that I won't have to erase your memory at least one of my children will be able to remember me". Melinda tenderly looked at Alex, why was the god so cruel, how can she leave her children so soon. "I hope in the next life I can be a good mother to both of you. Now run and don't look back no matter what. Remember your father and mother loved you both" Melinda said as she pushed them through the back door, she could not hold on to them any longer. She needed to let them go. "Mother...mother..." Alex stood there and watched the door close and finally his mother was out of sight. He wanted to run back and if possible fight alongside his parents but his mother asked him to protect Nicole, he must keep the promise at all costs. Alex carried the unconscious Nicole on his back and ran through the woods on the snowy path. He tripped multiple times, got cut by thorns, left his shoes behind but he didn't stop. Tears were continuously flowing through his eyes. God knows how long he walked carrying Nicole. Finally, he saw lights in the distance, he tried to follow the light but there was no energy left within him, he fell unconscious in the middle of nowhere. "Uhh..." Alex groaned with pain. He opened his eyes but it was too bright so it pained him to keep them open. It took him a while to get adjusted to the surroundings. Alex found that he was in something that looked like a cottage, his ankles were tied with chains. Nicole was next to him, still unconscious. She was also chained. Alex looked around only to find like a dozen more children like him tied with chains. Alex turned towards the boy next to him, "where are we?". But the boy kept silent. "Hey answer me, where are we?". Alex asked impatiently. "Don't be so loud if they hear us we will be in trouble". the boy said as he looked terrified. "Who will hear us?"Alex was agitated, he could not think straight. His mother asked him to keep Nicole safe but it looks like he got them into some trouble. He was blaming himself for falling unconscious. "Who is making a ruckus" two men entered the room. All the children looked horrified and tried to shrunk more into each other. "Where are we? Why have you chained us?" Alex asked as he tried to free himself from chains. "Oh... this the new one, quite feisty I presume. Well, they all are like this in the beginning, wait till I tame you. Take him out". One of the men said and ordered the one beside him. "Where are you taking me? Leave me" Alex wriggled around to free himself from their grasp. Alex was brought to a dark room, the room was filled with a thick stench. The men tied Alex to a chair. Another man was already in the room fiddling through things. "Doctor here is anew one who needs to be disciplined". "Well... well... who have we here? A nice little mouse. Now, where should we start?" The doctor asked with a creepy smile. Alex was terrified now, he wanted to escape from here. The doctor fiddled through some tools before settling on one. Soon cries could be heard all through the corridor. The children in the room covered their ears and were shaking in fear. After god knows how long the cries finally stopped. The men entered the room and saw the doctor cleaning his tools. Even though they have seen this seen quite a lot of times but each time they got goosebumps. "He is quite a tough one, took more than an hour to pass out from pain". The doctor said. "We will take him back" "Wait he is a special one I need to mark him, "The doctor said and walked up to the only source of light in the room, the fireplace and took out a long rod. He walked back with the rod and placed it on Alex's back. "Ahhh..." Alex woke up from the pain but soon passed out again. The men took Alex with them and threw him in the room along with others and chained him again. "Brother, wake up. Brother are you alright?" Alex could hear Nicole's voice. "Ahh..." Alex woke up with a jolt and grabbed something. "Brother, you are hurting me...ummm.." Alex finally came to his senses, he was on the train and right now his hand was grabbing Nicole by her neck, seeing this he withdrew his hand. "Cough...cough... uhh...uhh..." Nicole was short on breath. "Are you alright?" Both Daphne and Hermione caught hold of Nicole and asked. "Nicole, I am sorry". "Brother what happened you were sweating a lot just now there were tears in your eyes. Look at your eyes they are as red as blood. What happened? tell me" Nicole asked worried about her brother. There were tears in her eyes too. Alex didn't say anything, just sat there looking out of the window. ' I MUST NOT FORGET, NO I CAN'T FORGET, I WILL BE BACK, JUST YOU WAIT '... Soon there was an announcement on the train, "We will be reaching London in five minutes". Christmas holidays begin... * * * * *