" my hands are cold
my body's numb
i'm still in shock "

-exit wounds / the script

Death had followed Bianca North since the day she was born.

Sometimes, she could swear that she felt the cold breath of Death running down her neck, and that she could see Death's ominous shadow following her wherever she went. It's presence had been there for as long as she could remember.

But right now, Death was standing in her living room.

Bianca forced down a whimper, and hugged her legs closer to her chest. But even from the small closet, she could hear the low voices of her parents as they spoke to whoever they had brought home.

Her parents. Magnus and Natalia North were both Half-Bloods, but they came from money. On her father's side, it was money earned from assassinations. And Natalia North didn't need any persuasion to join her husband as one of the infamous Midnight Assassins.

Magnus and Natalia had told Bianca to stay in here until they were done. Before they had returned home, she had been reading in the window seat of the living room, the fire inside the fireplace providing the only night while the new moon was hidden in the sky. The house had been empty, and she was the happiest that she had been in years. But of course, happiness only led to downfall.

For only a few minutes later, Bianca's blood-stained parents stumbled into the house, both of them dragging a bleeding woman, and shouting at Bianca to go. And her mum had shoved her into the small closet, and told her to stay there.

"I will tell you nothing," the woman growled from outside the closet. Bianca buried her head between her knees. "I won't reveal the secrets of the Order to two pathetic Death Eaters."

Bianca's mother laughed. "We're assassins, darling, not Death Eaters."

"Still pathetic," the woman said, her voice strong and sure.

"Pathetic, hmm?" Natalia said, her voice growing lower. "Who's the one screaming on the ground?"

"I'm not scr-"

"Crucio," her father's voice hissed, cutting off the woman. A voice cried out in agony. Bianca dug her nails into her skin, and tightly closed her eyes.

It would all be over soon, and Bianca would return to pretending that they were a normal, safe family. Even though there was nothing normal nor safe in this manor.

And then, the screaming stopped. Bianca released a shaky breath, and covered her face with her hands. The woman was dead, and a sickening part of her was relieved.

The closet door swung open, and Bianca jumped. Natalia was smiling down at her, holding out a hand. "It's okay, Bianca," she said softly.

Shakily, Bianca accepted the extended hand, and stood up, her legs sore and aching. Her mother led her out of the closet, and into the living room.

The woman was sprawled on the ground, her limbs bent at awkward angles. But her chest was still rising. Slowly, but it was moving. The woman was still alive.

Bianca gasped, but she couldn't look away. It was like watching a disaster unfold, her feet cemented to the ground.

"This is the family business," her mother said to Bianca gently, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder, "it looks cruel, but this is how we survive."

There was no blood, no indication towards a murder. But that was death with magic, and that was the only death Bianca knew.

Then, Magnus was beside her, slipping his wand into her hand. "Finish it, Bianca," he whispered.

Terror thundered through her heart as her parents looked at her expectantly. Then, as if in a dream, Bianca raised the wand, and pointed it at the woman.

"You know the words," Natalia murmured from Bianca's side, "you know the curse. Avada Kedavra."

Bianca inhaled a shaky breath. The woman's eyes met the girl's. Her eyes were a flaming brown. She was young, no more than twenty years old. And she was going to die to protect secrets that her parents wanted. 

The brown of the woman's eyes were all Bianca could see when she opened her mouth, and the words poured out: "Avada Kedavra."

A green light ignited the room, and the woman stopped moving. Her brown eyes were empty and vacant, staring at nothing for eternity.

Silent tears rolled down Bianca's face as Natalia squeezed her shoulder. "The first kill is always the hardest," the woman told her daughter, "but it gets easier."

Bianca swallowed hard. This was to be her future. Nothing but curses and death and secrets.

And as her dark future yawned before her, Bianca felt as if she was falling into the darkness with nothing to catch her. No light, no person, no hope. Nothing but eternal darkness.