//------------------------------// // Sacrifice // Story: My daughter // by SingingSeaSerpent //------------------------------// It was nine o' clock, I was finally going to catch the bastard who kidnapped my daughter. I stepped out of the vehicle, on to the crunchy snow, to view the building before me, I knew he was hiding in there. I had my gun ready and armed, preparing for the worst. I climbed the front steps, and swiftly kicked open the door. The smell didn't help, it smelled of decaying corpses. I turned to my left to climb the stairs, then heard the voice, the voice that fueled me with hatred, it was the man who took my daughter. "My my, you could've knocked, It's very rude to barge in uninvited." the voice echoed through the empty building. With that, I remembered how I worked with this man, called him a friend, and how we worked together perfectly. We were both police officers, and were both good friends, always worked side by side. I then had to come to the hardest decision of my life. I had to save his wife from a burning building. I had gotten the call from my friend to help him since we lived in the same neighborhood, when I arrived he friend explained that the fire department couldn't come by, due to the fact that there just so happened to be another burning building and couldn't come. Both of us ran in to look for her but to no avail, but that didn't stop him, he wasn't leaving. He was going to die if I didn't save him, he fought me, shoving me cursing at me. I had to grab him out, or else he wasn't going to make it. He never forgave me. Days went by as he ignored me, and never looked at me. Eventually, he quit, and slowly started to lose his mind. He wanted to get back at me, and wanted to take away, what he thought I took away from him. "You're getting warmer", the voice whispered. "Dad!?", I heard a voice squeak. I reached the final step on to the last floor of the building and opened the door, gun aimed. I saw her, she was strapped to the chair, blind folded and hands tied. She was in the center of the room, two windows behind her, showing the dark night with the snow blowing about. I silently closed the door behind me. I heard footsteps running downstairs, the smell of smoke started to fill my nostrils. Is he trying to burn down the building!? I thought to myself. My adrenaline kicked in, I had to get my daughter to safety FAST. I ran to untie her, only to hear the sound of a bullet fly by, I slammed to the ground hitting my face causing my nose to bleed, my gun flew to the corner of a room. My right shoulder was hit and was leaking blood. "Dad!" she screamed in tears. "He'll be fine" The voice said, that's when something out of the corner caught my eye. It was him, the one I called, "friend". He lurked out of the shadows of a corner in the room "Get up. I want you to do something.", the shadowy figure said. I slowly rose up, covering my right shoulder with my left arm, noticing the smoke getting stronger behind me. "I want you to make a decision for me." The man said as he tossed a gun at me, which dropped in front of me. "It has one bullet, I want you to decide. You can either kill your daughter, or... You can kill me". Now I knew he was crazy, but not this crazy, I know he has a back up plan, he simply wouldn't make it that easy. I pointed the gun at him and came up with theories as to what the possible outcomes there can be if I pulled the trigger. I thought that if he was bluffing and if I shot him, he would attack back. That's when I remembered, I didn't have my gun on me. He has it! "Make your choice" He snarled. The smoke started to fill the room. I knew what to do, I had to stall him just a bit longer. The only way either of us were going to possibly get out of this alive is if I use the smoke to my advantage, the problem is... How will escape even if I do stop him?.. "enough of this!" He started to pull something out of his jacket, this was my time to strike. I immediately side sweeped him with my leg, causing him to trip, gun still in hand. He aimed his gun, but couldn't see in the smoke. I was behind and knocked the back of his head with the back of my gun, knocking him out. I quickly went to untie my daughter, she had passed out from the smoke. I picked her up with my left arm, and tried to find a way out. I ran downstairs only to find that the fire had caught up to us, I ran back into the room, and closed the door and opened the windows to get the smoke out. There was no way out, we were to high up. I looked outside to see there were people outside, pointing at the building, yet not a single fire truck or rescue has come by to help us. I sat there, looked at my daughter. She was only twelve, I am not giving her up. But what could I do? The building started to shake, it was about to come down. I sat there looking back at our lives, realizing our fate. The fire was just outside the door. I looked outside one last time, looked out at the stars, remembering how we used to look out on our backyard and would try to find the star patterns. She mentioned about how Princess Luna controlled the moon and the night, she was a huge fan of my little pony, I watched a few episodes with her, but was never really into the show. It was time, I heard the building rumble, and the ground was no more. We started to fall down, I closed my eyes, holding my daughter tight. Everything crashing around us, hearing everything fall apart, the sound of the building falling in on itself was terrifying, but there was one particular noise I didn't recognize though, it sounded like an explosion elsewhere. Then, we finally hit the ground. I lay there, as the roof slams on to me. I had lost my daughter in the fall, and braced for the impact. Suddenly... It was silent.. No noise, no fire, nothing... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What? Hey come over here for a sec! We got something!" A voice shouted. "Where am I..?", I thought to myself. I couldn't focus on anything, there were bubbles and water everywhere. I breathed in and out. Was I in a water tank? Then my eyes shot open. I noticed, that I wasn't dead, but where was my daughter? Where am I? Who is out there? "What do you think sir?", The voice came back, I couldn't focus on who it was. Another hazy figure showed up. "It looks burned, I need it to be in perfect condition. It is useless, dispose of it.", The new figure said, and walked away. "Yes sir". The other voice responded. Blacked out again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -squee- What.. What is that..? I thought to myself. I slowly opened my eyes, only to be greeted by a pair of green eyes. I jumped up, "WHAT THE?", The object yelped and flew behind a tree as fast as it could. I heard another -squee- behind the tree. I looked around, surrounded by trees, it was day out but I couldn't still see far within many of the trees. "Hello, I'm sorry if I scared you, hello?", I said, trying to figure out what I just saw. "H-Hello?", I heard behind the tree. "Eeyeaah.. Can you tell me where I am? I have no clue where I am, I just woke up and..", before I could finish, the object flew out behind the tree. I recognized it from the show my daughter used to watch, It had yellow fur, wings, and pink hair. I couldn't remember the name, but I knew it wasn't too good with social interaction, besides animals. "I'm.. I'm sorry If I scared you." The creature said slowly walking out behind the tree. I was mind blown, I just stood there, speechless. "I'm Fluttershy..", she whispered quietly. "And I'm losing my mind, what the hell is going on? Am I asleep?", I said. I tried pinching myself, I looked down, and jumped again. "WHAT?? Oh no. No. nonononono.", I started running around, trying to find a puddle of water until I found one. When I did, I looked into it and saw me.. But... not me.. A different me. I saw a Black horse with black, red, and white hair. I stared into it, "This is a dream, WHAT IS HAPPENING??", I screamed. A felt a nudge behind me, It was Fluttershy. "Are you okay?", She asked looking at me confused. I looked at her, touched her hair with my hands, erm.. well hoofs now. She flinched a little, but yeah.. She was real alright.. confirming my suspicions. "He-hey, you shouldn't be here, it's dangerous out here." She said. I then remembered.. The building, the fire, my daughter... "Where.. Where is she?!", I looked around panicky. "Where is who?", Fluttershy asked confused. I turn my glare at her. "My daughter. Where is SHE?", I demanded. Fluttershy backed away and whimpered and before I knew it, she turned ran and flew away. "Wait! I'm sorry!" I chased after her. But she flew away, and was long gone. I was stuck, lost, confused, and without my daughter...