The day dawned early and bright, the typical Thursday morning. Neither twin was awake, nor the
parents. But something stirred in the Jones house. A german shepherd puppy lifted his head, and
sniffed the air. Perhaps sensing something wrong, he nudged one of his owners' hands. 
"Go away, Dobby," moaned the boy on the bed, and he rolled over again.
The dog, obviously miffed at the rejection, barked. The boy's sister woke, and she was slightly
more prone to getting up in the morning. 
"Are you hungry?" she asked, swinging her legs off the bed.
Dobby barked again, and trotted over to the door. Jaynela turned the nob, and came face to face
with her father. She jumped, and then giggled a little. 
"You scared me!"
"Sorry, Jay, but Dobby woke us up. You promised to make sure he wouldn't bark through the night
any more."
"I know, he's just being weird. Probably needs outside or something." JJ explained, still
smiling a little.

-

She slid out past her father, and quietly shut the door. 
"I'll make you a pancake to make up for it," she offered.
"I don't know..." The middle-aged Robert Jones grinned slyly at his young daughter. "Two?"
"Dad!" JJ whined, but it was the usual between the two of them. JJ made the best pancakes in
the house, rivaling even Mrs Jones' cooking skills. "Just one, but with extra chocolate
chips."
"You are officially forgiven for waking me up at this ungodly hour."
The pair laughed, and JJ reached and opened the door for the german shepherd. But when she
turned, he had disappeared. 
"Where did that rascal get to? Dobby!" she called, disappearing around the corner to the living
room.
At that moment, things happened very, very fast. Even if you had been there, they wouldn't have
made sense until much later like they did for the young Jaynela Jones.

-

The sound of glass shattering filled the house, and JJ turned around fast, but almost too fast.
Her head hit the side of the doorframe with an awful 'thunk' and blackness filled her vision as
she collapsed. Men filled the house. Some had guns, others had kn!ves or nightsticks. 
"Where is it?" One demanded to Mr Jones, who had fallen to the floor. "Where?"
"Where is what?" The fallen man asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion. 
"The file, of course! If you're going to play dumb... Marv, go grab that girl who was there a
minute ago. Maybe a gun to her head will solve things."
"No! Leave her out of this!" Robert Jones exclaimed.
The man we must presume was Marv re-entered the room, dragging a limp JJ. He let her fall to
the ground. 
"Knocked 'erself out, she did."
His statement was not thoroughly true. JJ had collapsed, but she never went under. She has very
much awake with a pounding head and ringing ears.

-

"The file, it isn't here! I left it at work!"
"Lies!"
"No, it's the tru- Argh!"
JJ's vision cleared. One voice was clearly her father's, but the other... She had no idea. 
"That was not the truth. Just give us the file and we'll be gone."
"The Dark Gods leave no witnesses, no survivors."
A laugh echoed off the ceiling. "Perhaps you'll be an exception."
"I doubt it," the endangered Robert Jones muttered.
There was a silence, and then JJ could see you of the corner of her eye a knife to her father's
throat. She stifled a scream, not knowing whether or not to reveal herself.

-

JJ made a split second decision. She rolled over. Every eye was drawn to the girl they thought
was out for the count.
"Someone grab her!" the leader ordered, and JJ dove underneath the table.
A gunshot broke through the wood and impaled itself in the middle of the floor a foot away. Her
pace quickened. 
Sprinting away, in a zigzag pattern to minimize target, she heard another gunshot. This one,
however, came nowhere close to her. She shouldn't have glanced back, but that's of course the
first thing she did. Blood pooled in the kitchen, right around her father's head.
Tears ran down JJ's face as she pulled open her bedroom door to find her brother restraining
Dobby. His face was a mask of pure terror, and grew even more scared at the sight of his
sister.
"Dad," she managed to say before grabbing the phone. She dialed 911, but the only thing they
found when they arrived was the body in the kitchen.

-

Things changed in the Jones house in the following week. 
JJ barely spoke, her mother barely cooked, her sister returned home miserably and tried to keep
everyone in the slightest bit optimistic, but none were as bad as Westley. The delinquent was
no longer pulling pranks, not getting into trouble, not tormenting either sister or disobeying
his mom. While JJ had always found her twin extremely annoying, she missed him. He didn't sleep
at night, barely ate, and didn't touch the guitar. The usually bright and cheerful teen was
extremely irritable and grouchy. 
The truth of the matter was that Westley knew what they were talking about when they mentioned
the file. JJ had relayed everything to him, and the realization had struck him like a ton of
bricks; that file lay in his desk drawer. He had asked his father if he could see it, because
he was doing a project in school on various criminals and their motives. He avoided the desk
like the plague. 
Neither twin attended school that week, nor did their older sister Anna. Their Mom took the
week off work. Even so, that house was just filled him sadness and grief.
After a few days, their mom assembled the family.
"I can't live in this house any more. It reminds me too much of Robert," she announced.
JJ nodded. She hadn't been able to eat at the table, because every time she went near it all
she could hear was the gunshots and she always ended up staring at the hole the bullet shot at
her had made. Nobody had told the police much yet. Too grief-stricken, they reasoned.
"Will we stay in the city?" Anna asked.
"No, I was thinking we might move closer to my work, I could be home more often."
"But my university is in the other direction."
"You have your apartment and room mate, honey. We'll come see you every holiday and just as
often. That won't change."
Anna nodded, appeased. The only person who hadn't really agreed to anything yet was Westley.
"Wes? You good for it?" Anna asked softly.
"I'm overruled anyway, so it doesn't matter." He sounded really grouchy, but the family was
used to his foul mood these past days. No one could really blame him.
"It /does/ matter. Are you okay with moving?" Their mom asked gently.
"Yeah, sure." 
And so, before two weeks were out, the family had packed up. Their mom had found a house closer
to her work, and they were leaving home for the last time.