Everything will be fine

Sunlight streamed into the living room, illuminating specks of dust floating softly in the air. A tranquility was spread over every corner of the house: the thirty bedrooms and bathrooms, the twenty foot standard gym, the Olympic-size swimming pool—everyone and everything was quiet.

It was the dangerous calm during the storm.

Bang!

Red splattered all over the pristine white walls of the master bedroom, painting them in ways that esteemed critics would define as art. No one dared to move or even scream. The children huddled closer in the bedroom closet, hands over mouths, as they stared at the cold, lifeless eyes of their father from under the crack of the door.

He was smiling though. His signature smile that let you know everything would be fine. Whether you broke all the dishes, failed every class in school, or had a cold-blooded murderer standing on the other side of the door, everything would be fine.