It stopped. A cloak covered him completely. But I could see his hands. No, they weren't hands but claws. The skin was dark, as if it had long since rotten, and the bones and tendons protruded unnaturally. My knees started shaking and I shuddered, all the hairs on my neck standing up. For the first time I learned what fear really meant. One of those hands reached under the cloak and took out a whip. What was he going to do with it? We hadn't done anything to him! I quickly realized that he didn't want anything from the others, he wanted me. They just stood in the way and he would do anything to get to me.
He swung out. Shane, the fool, always had to stand in the way. Always! There was a terrible sound. Wailing cry of pain. He fell to the ground. This something took off again. I jumped over Shane and spread my arms so that he wouldn't get hit again. A sharp pain shot into my left cheek. At least not the eye. Hell, I always have to be so optimistic. I grabbed my cheek and fell to my knees, trying not to fall over. It burned and throbbed, I could already feel the strap getting thick and saw the edge of my field of vision blurred, and also many, infinite points of light flashing that made it even more difficult to see. He strikes and I tried not to fight back, how stupid. Instead, I stretch out my leg and yank his feet off the floor. At least it didn't go wrong. He lost the whip, I wanted to get up and grab her when the pain came back sharp. I froze and tried to concentrate, but too late. He got up and tried to grab the whip. Mike already had it in his hand and took a few steps backwards. He looked at Jake and Nick, who were approaching him, and his hand flicked out. My air was cut off. He had grabbed me by the neck and was lifting me up like I was a sack full of feathers. I desperately tried to loosen my iron grip, but he didn't even seem to notice my efforts.
He looked me in the eye and I only saw two ugly, pitch-black pupils that were deep in the eye sockets. Some laugh lines formed in his equally ugly skin around his eyes and he said:
"The time will come. You will soon have to make up your mind and your little friends will no longer be able to help you. Better make up your mind now, little ones!"
His veiled face became blurry, I tried in vain to catch my breath. He had a terrible voice, as if he had been smoking non-stop all day. It was rough and deep and scratchy and just creepy.
He let go of me, I fell to the ground and still noticed how I didn't fall into the dirt, but into warm, soft arms. Desperately I sucked in air, lifted my head exhausted and just saw Jake's face before everything went black."Hey, get another ice pack for her."
I recognized the voice and laboriously opened my eyes. Beautiful brown eyes looked at me pityingly. It was Jake. I tried to smile at him, but only managed to grimace. He put something cold on my cheek and I let out a sigh of relief. It was like half of my face was on fire. I grabbed the bag and sat up, looking for Shane and found him on a chair in front of me. A thick bandage was wrapped around his left upper arm and he was also holding an ice pack there.
"Yes, tell me, I was the stupid one again and, firstly, I didn't have to listen to you, secondly, I absolutely had to interfere, and thirdly, I didn't have to try to run away."
"Hey, if you weren't there I would look like a cut piece of meat now." Shane tried to cheer me up and smiled at me.
"No, we were the stupid ones and just watched.", Nick said, sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders.
I looked at her and everyone was silent.
"Hey, get a mirror quickly," Shane said to Mike. Jake looked questioningly and he nodded to him.
He got up and went to my bathroom. It was the mirror that always leaned against the sink, it was about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. At first he looked at the others skeptically and then slowly walked over to me. Reluctantly, he handed me the mirror.
Before I looked inside I said:
"I know I look like someone who's just got into a fight."
I was right about that, it looked bad, my cheek was red and really swollen, my eye was gradually turning blue and it was watering like crazy, but none of that would have bothered me if something was wrong. I didn't think of it.
"Your eyes aren't brown anymore," Shane said.
Long silence.
"How so?"
"You remember."
"What should I remember?"
"You are not Kate Chucki, you are Kate Conner."
"Now I don't understand anything anymore."
"You lost your memory in a fight and your uncle adopted you."
I got up slowly. The mirror in one hand, the ice pack in the other. It was already dripping full of the floor.

Jake gently took my face in his large hands.
"Hey, don't cry."
Horrified, I grabbed my uninjured cheek and felt that it was wet. I also realized that I had already dropped the things in my hands. I hadn't even heard it. Nick picked up the broken pieces and took them away. I looked Jake in the eye and saw my reflection in the mirror. My brown, normal eyes were gone. Instead they were green now, a beautiful, brilliant green. But they were blue around the pupil. I didn't recognize my face. Then came the headache, biting, stabbing headache. A flood of images rushed through my head, and I could hear fragments of conversation. And many familiar faces that I had long forgotten by then kept reappearing.I only recognized one of them. It was my brother's face.

I threw Jake around the neck, hugged him for the last time, walked over to Mike, stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, then ran to Nick, who was sitting on the sofa, and gave him one too. Then I sat down next to Shane. I hugged him without a word and slowly stood up. As I rushed to the door, Mike grabbed my arm and asked with a panicked look in his eyes:
"Where are you going ?! No matter where, we're going with you, sure? Besides, you shouldn't rush anything now ..."
"Shut up, I have to go to my brother's mine and you will definitely not come along."
"But ..."
"Nothing but, I'm going now, not later, not tomorrow, or in a week. I. Have to. Now. Go."
"Well, we'll all pack our things and come with you, we promised to take care of you." Nick interjected quickly.

Everyone looked at Jake, who stood frowning. I couldn't walk, Mike held my arm tightly. Then he went into the next room and got a box. He put it down in front of me and I looked at him. I opened it hesitantly. They were pictures of me and my family. You were murdered. Now I knew it again. I went to find the killer and kill him.

Tears dripped onto a beautifully framed photo. It shows my parents, my brother and me.

The anger rose again. What kind of monster could simply tear a family apart and then cowardly piss off ?!
"It's yours. We wanted to give it to you if you remember."

I got ready to go again.
"Are you sure?" Nick asked softly.
"I have to."
"Sure little one," he said with a smile and put a hand on my head.

I was about to go when I felt a hard knock in the neck and saw the ground coming towards me. I felt arms preventing me from hitting the floor with my face.

When I woke up I jumped up and was about to run to the door when Jake grabbed my wrist and held me.
"Why did you do that?" I yelled at him and tried to tear myself away. I pulled and pulled, but there was no point. Unfortunately, I also started crying because I was so angry and couldn't do anything. I just felt totally useless. He made a pained face and pulled me close. I tried to push him away, pushed against him with all my might, but he held me. Exhausted and resigned, I leaned against his chest and just cried. He gently stroked my back and talked to me soothingly, but I didn't hear it, I couldn't think clearly. Images whirled aimlessly through my head and I tried to organize them, but I couldn't.

I woke up with a pounding headache and rubbed my sore neck. I was lying next to Jake, who was still holding me.
"Are you okay?"
"Nah, everything hurts me!My throat hurts, I have a headache and my eyes are all swollen. "I moaned and crawled into his arms. A slight sting could be felt in my arm, but I didn't care.
We lay there for a long time and I listened to his slow breathing and tried to calm myself down with it. Only when I saw the first rays of sun did I get up and go to my bathroom. My caramel brown hair was sticking out in all directions and I decided to take a shower.
With my hair wet, I went into the kitchen and ate with Jake. He looked at me worried and asked several times how I was doing.
We ate quietly and then he pulled me behind him.

It was an empty room, like everyone else in this house, but there was a beautiful old grand piano on the completely glazed wall. He let go of me and leaned against the door behind me. *

I liked to play on it, the notes were clear and it sounded like there were thousands of stories in each note. I played my song softly. My brother taught me.
When I finished he leaned down and whispered softly in my ear:
"Wow."
I turned around, got up and let myself fall into his arms.
"Why don't you want to let me go?" I mumbled against his neck.
"Nick would kill me if something happened to you," he said with a smile on his face.
I had to smile and left him standing in the room, puzzled.
"Nick!" I called and fell on his neck as he turned around. He picked me up and held me so tightly it took my breath away.
"You stay," he said quietly and it wasn't a question. My toes barely touched the ground and my smile faded:
"Well, but yes. Until I can get away from you." I added jokingly.

And so part of the vacation passed. They showed me the city, we did this and that, always cooked and ate together, and began to make some plans about how we should design the rest of the rooms. But there was always one thought that didn't let go of me even in my sleep. I had to know how the others were doing. Maybe they had long since forgotten me, maybe