Chapter 6 - The Blue Flashes
Red and blue light suddenly sliced through the darkness.
The strobing flashes bounced off the snow-covered pine trees.
Two police cruisers sat silently at the end of the long, winding driveway.
Two officers in dark blue uniforms marched up the path.
Their heavy boots broke the pristine snow.
The woman was still kneeling by the door, huddled into a tight, trembling ball.
Her face was swollen, vicious red welts forming on her cheeks from the biting frost.
The front door clicked open.
The old man stood in the doorway, perfectly composed.
He looked past the woman, directly at the officers.
"She locked a barefoot child outside," he stated.
His voice was devoid of emotion.
It was simply a statement of fact.
The officers reached down.
They grabbed the woman by her freezing arms and hoisted her up.
She couldn't stand on her own.
Her knees dragged through the snow.
"Please, I'm freezing," she sobbed.
Her tears froze on her swollen cheeks before they could fall.
Upstairs, looking down from the landing window, the boy watched the red and blue lights paint the snow.
He wore a thick, wool blanket over his shoulders.
He watched the woman in red being put into the back of the car.
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Her batteries are dead now, the boy thought.
He pulled the blanket tighter and walked back to his warm room.
