There was a green-skinned, the height of an adult's chest goblin outside Jack's house. Its body stood behind the door connecting the house to the garden. The goblin put its hand on the door handle. The handle could be turned. It tried to push the door, but the door was not opening. It hissed at the door.

Its dark green lips pursed, hissing at the door. It does not have to look away or upward to find a way inside. Because right beside the door, literally on the right side of the door, there was a window. It pressed its face near the glass. Its sight could see through the dark tinted glass. There was a human woman inside. 'Plus 2 more.' It thought.

The goblin's lips curved upwards. Its yellowed-stained, sharp teeth were shown to the world as a chuckle escaped. It turned its gaze behind its shoulder, specifically at some neatly arranged rocks in the garden. The corner of its lips stretched upwards even further.

*Crash! *

The sound of glass being broken by a rock pierces the air. The flying shrapnel flew inside the house. The rock managed to hit Dad’s temple. His right hand was still holding the cloth on his left hand's bleeding wound when the windows were broken. He felt something collide with his head. He only could hear his wife and Emily's scream.

Mom and Emily were lucky that the flying shrapnel did not hit them. They stood up while screaming, only Emily failed to do so. Their eyes fall onto the broken window and Jack's dad who laid motionlessly on Emily's lap.

"Dad, Dad!" Emily's hands trembled as she watched red blood started to gush out from her dad's head.

The goblin outside was cheering and laughing loudly as it relished victory. It was even jumping and smiling as it saw and heard its prey's reactions. But as it jumped too excitedly a rock fell out of its hand. It did not mind though as it was too happy for the current situation. It picked the rock again, no big deal.

Emily saw in horror as it saw the green child outside was throwing something again. Emily felt as if time slowed down. She could see it bent down, locked eyes at her with its sadistic smile. It gripped the rock tightly before it took a stance, wound up, and threw the stone at her. She raised her hands instinctively and close her eyes.

*Thud *

Mom saw what was happening and Emily seems to be unable to move away from the sofa with her dad's head and upper body lying on her lap. She quickly moved to cover Emily with her body. She yelped as the rock impacted her right shoulder blade before it collided with the cream-painted wall.

She mustered the power she did not know that she had. She hurried Emily to get up and help moved her concussed husband deeper into the house, away from the windows. Her husband was heavy, but she did not think about it. She put one of his hands on her shoulder, while Emily took the other.

She knew the fastest path is through the sofa, so with her left foot she pushed the heavy wood sofa out of the way. She did not even look down to see where the glass shrapnel was. Her mind focused on getting far away from the broken window as soon as possible.

Emily still looked down. She realized that her mom never looked downward. She moved in such a way that she and her dad avoid stepping on shrapnel. Even then she had to move quickly, otherwise, the mad person outside might hit them with a rock again.

Emily and her mom made it safe towards the dining room, and luckily made it with no injury on their foot. Her mom wanted to lay down her dad on a dining chair. But Emily rejected it. She knew her dad was unconscious. What if her dad fell out of the chair? The bed inside her parents’ room was a safer option.

Finally, they managed to lay him down on the bed. Emily assessed the extent of her father's injury. Blood stained her parents' bed sheet, coming from a deep cut on Dad’s left hand. She could see how deep it was and she almost peed her pants when she saw it. Her dad's white hair on his left temple was stained by red blood. His eyes opened slowly and he let out tired breath as he saw Emily's face.

Her mom came to her husband's side, with a clean towel she took from her wardrobe. She gently pressed it on her husband's wound. Her husband screamed as he felt his opened deep wound pressed by somebody else. He jerked his left hand away from his wife.

His wife told him she needed to stop the bleeding. But he was confused. His body reacted to not letting his wife press on it.

Blood spread on the sheets. Emily took charge. She told her dad in a loud voice. She reminded him that his left hand was injured and they need to stop it from bleeding. Her dad accepted and let his left hand be pressed by cloth. He hissed in pain and his right hand clenched the bed sheet tightly. His face contorted in anguish. He let out some cries to plead for relief.

The wound on his left hand was pressed by Emily, while his left temple was pressed by his wife. Both his wound hurt, more so the one on his left hand. He jerked his head to the right when his wife pressed on it with a cloth. A hiss of agony escaped his lips.

Emily felt her dad trembling as she pressed his wound. Tears began to form in the corner of Emily's eyes as she saw her dad in this condition. He never saw him with this much injury. She wiped her tear with her shoulder. But she noticed her face was in pain.

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Could her wound be so bad that it might leave a scar on her face? There was a mirror in her parent's bedroom. She turned her gaze away from it.

At this moment, Jack was in front of Emily’s bedroom. He sat on the floor, taking a short rest. His left hand grabbed the upper part of his right hand. Jack’s face contorted in pain. He closed his but a tear fell out as he held himself from screaming. He could imagine that when he arrived at the hospital, the doctor was going to amputate his lower right hand. It was the consequence of fighting the goblin.

He opened his eyes. He gazed upon the broken decor and glass shrapnel on the floor. A sofa was turned over, and many drops of blood lead deeper inside the house. Jack remembered his family. His parents and Emily. Jack stood. His left hand still holding the upper part of his right hand gripped tighter to constrict the blood flow. Jack clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. His hand felt like it had been bitten by a lot of animals.

Jack took a few steps and his eyes followed the direction of the pieces of glass’s source. The window was broken. ‘Who did it?’ Asked Jack in his mind. He did not know.

Jack’s gaze turned back to the trail of blood drips. His blood was falling on the floor. But he followed this trail of blood, which likely fell from his dad or Emily. Jack's steps were cautious and he tried to sweep the broken pieces away with his feet. It was so he could step on the floor safely. But Jack did not do it perfectly. There was a little piece of glass that Jack missed. When his foot stepped on it, Jack felt pain in his sole. A hiss came out of Jack’s lips. Jack’s eyes widened and he cursed. He wanted to check on his sole feet, but he could lose balance for checking it. ‘Not here’, Jack thought. Every step could potentially make another wound. He walked again, slowly. This time, his right step left a trail of red blood on the white floor that he stepped on.

Finally, Jack reached the dining room. He used his heel on the right foot so that the piece of glass on his sole would not go deeper. He heard his mother sobbing inside her bedroom. Jack saw the door was opened. He stepped inside and saw Emily and his mother sitting beside his father who lay on the bed. Her mother's sobbing chilled Jack to the core, his gut felt wrenched, as he imagined the worst happened to his dad. He stepped quickly, only realizing that he stepped with his right foot. He winced in pain, but he continued walking. Only when he saw his father was still breathing heavily that Jack let out a huge breath of relief. But the emotional rollercoaster made Jack feel his legs gave up. He lost his balance and hit a vanity on his back. Then he leaned on it. Uncaring that in normal times, his mother would have scolded him for doing so.

Jack then saw blood on his father’s feet. Jack hissed. Coupled with his injury on the head and left hand, his father must have lost a lot of blood. ‘This is bad’, Jack thought.

"We need to get Dad to the hospital," Jack said. Emily turned her face towards Jack. Her eyes widened as she saw Jack's right arm injury made her heart feel like it dropped. Meanwhile Jack’s eyes widened when he saw the 3 deep long lines of bloody wounds on his sister's face. Jack's eyes darted left and right, he ignored his wound. He grabbed the closest cloth with his left hand and cleaned Emily’s face wound. But Emily flinched and jerked his head away when Jack did it.

“Jack, your hand.” Jack’s mom commented. “What is happening? Who is that thug? Why is he doing this to us? Why?” Jack watched as his mom’s face contorted and she grabbed her own face.

"No idea," Jack replied. Since Emily refused his help, he used the cloth to press on his right hand instead. Jack felt like he wanted to fall on the floor and cursed loudly. His eyes wide opened, he held his breath, and his feet trembling. He gritted his teeth so bad that he was sure he could bite wood and it would break from him holding the pain. Jack removed the cloth. He could not continue to do it. His mind forbade him to repeat it.

"Dad,” Jack started talking, “me, and Emily need to go to the hospital. Mom, can you ride us to the hospital?" Jack knew her mother could drive. However, it had been years since she last drove by herself. In this urgent situation, he could only rely on his mom to drive the car. His dad seemed unconscious, Jack’s right hand was destroyed, and Emily could not drive. His mom was the only hope.

Mom looked at her daughter, then at her husband, and she nodded. She said to her son, this time her gaze met his dark brown eyes. "But there is still a thug outside who threw rocks at us." Her gaze turned to her white-haired husband again. "He threw a rock at your dad’s head.”

Emily joined the conversation, "Jack, we need to make that person go away."

Jack nodded. He wanted to comment that the person Emily talked about might not be a real person. But how would Jack explain it? Jack could only say, "No matter who that person is and why he attacked us, our priority is to get Dad to a hospital quickly. Emily, do you think that person will go away if we ask him to?".

“I… I don’t think so. We don’t even know why he attacked us. And what happened to the guy in my bedroom, Jack?”.

Jack's eyes disengaged from Emily. He looked left and right. He wanted to say something good. He wanted to say that he killed it in self-defense. But Emily and his mother still think they were real people, right? Jack's mind could imagine what would happen if he said that he had just killed a human, even if that criminal hurt Emily. They would condemn him.

Jack shook his head. "He," he continued, "will no longer be a threat to use. I locked him in your bedroom, Emily. I also took his knife. It should be on the outside of your bedroom."

Emily looked into Jack's eyes while Jack avoid hers. Emily's gaze squinted. She then continued, "What do you suppose we do then? To get that person outside to leave?”

Jack shrugged his shoulder. As he did that, he remembered any movement on his arm send him migraine-inducing pain. Jack's forehead was sweaty and he felt weak.

Dad tried to follow and chimed in. “Crackhead, drug user.” Unfortunately, his voice was too weak for Jack and Emily to hear. Only her wife who saw his lips moved perceived that her husband was saying something. She asked whether her husband was feeling okay, and encouraged him to be okay.

"Scream? Throw something?" Jack mumbled random options. He continued conversing with Emily. Not that he believed the one outside would be scared of mere screams or rocks.

Emily felt Jack was toying with her. She furrowed her eyebrows as she heard her brother's tone. Was he mocking her? Did he think she was not smart enough to notice that even Jack did not believe that those options were viable? She knew what Jack wanted to say, but for some reason Jack avoided it. "We need to protect ourselves." Jack looked at her as she said this. "We will bring knives from the kitchen. We will use it only for our protection."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise. His heart felt good as he heard Emily say it. The corners of his lips curled upwards. “Let’s prepare then.” But before he managed to step outside the parents' bedroom, his legs suddenly felt and he hit the floor.

"Jack!" Emily and Mom shouted.