Oct 29 writing prompt - "The sun shone through the winter air..."

819 words, 16 minutes, 51 wpm - I definitely felt slow today!

The sun shone through the winter air and glistened off the freshly-fallen snow. A child walked slowly but steadily through it, his coat closed tightly around him to keep in what warmth he had. Behind him, a long line of boot prints tracked him back to where he got off the school bus, which let him off at the corner after school.

As he walked, he thought about the chores that would greet him when he got home. Strangely, he looked forward to them since it meant he would be where it is warm, even if it meant he had to take out the garbage. He didn’t have any homework today, and could enjoy the cup of hot chocolate he knew would be ready for him when he arrived.

When he got near the house, he stopped, stunned that the front door to the house was open. Snow had blown and drifted at the front door all the way inside to the tiled floor, presently just a little too dark to see. No footprints lead in or out of the house that he could see.

He approached the door cautiously, wondering what may have happened to his mother, who stays at home during the day. Everything was quiet, and the house was dark – no lights were on. He stepped over the drift and into his home, straining to hear even the slightest sound. As his foot made contact with the tile beyond the door, it squeaked loudly, and he cringed at the noise. If something bad happened here, he didn’t want it to find him!

Rounding the corner and walking into the living room, he noticed as he peered further towards the dining room that the dishes from this morning’s breakfast were still on the table. “That never happens,” he thought. He wanted to cry. He wanted to run away. But most of all, he wanted to find his mother. There was nobody here, though.

He walked down the short hallway and looked into the bathroom. Nothing here, either. He continued down the hall and around the corner, where his mom’s room was. The door was closed, but as he found, not locked. He turned the handle slowly, still listening intently. The door squeaked open as he pushed it forward, and revealed a shocking sight beyond. His mother was lying on the floor next to the bed!

He ran to her side, calling, “Mamma!” She did not respond. He noticed that her lips were starting to turn blue, possibly from the freezing cold that pervaded the house. But then she moved! Her chest rose slightly as she drew in a breath!

Elated, the child did what he was taught, and called 9-1-1 on the phone in the bedroom. He answered the dispatcher’s questions as best he could, and they sent an ambulance to the house to pick his mother up. As the police and paramedics arrived, they told him what a good job he had done in calling and answering the questions the way he did. They took him down to the hospital where his mother was taken, and an officer waited there for his grandmother to arrive. When she did, the adults began to talk about what happened.

The policeman said, “We don’t know exactly what happened here, ma’am, but we suspect she had some kind of allergic reaction. That’s all we know now.”

“But why would the door have been open all day?” asked his grandmother.

“We suspect it wasn’t quite closed all the way and the wind blew it open some time this morning. It was pretty gusty.”

“I see,” said his grandmother skeptically. “I suppose that would have been when Billy went to school. But no, my daughter usually walks with him down to the bus stop. I still don’t see it.” Her voice trailed off as she tried to envision a scenario where her daughter would have left the front door open. She struggled to find it.

Once the commotion had died down, Larry climbed his way down from the attic where he had been hiding. He heard the boy come home and watched through the hole by the light fixture as the boy discovered his mother, whom he had poisoned. He loved to hear the fear and pain in the boy’s voice as he talked to his mother, and then to the dispatcher. He enjoyed seeing the paramedics work on her, knowing that they may think she is going to make it, and reassure the boy all the way to the hospital, and wished he could be there when they eventually had to tell him that his mother had died, and they didn’t know why. Things were going well - his latest concoction was working very effectively.

He walked to the front door and out, over the many tracks made by police and paramedics, leaving evidence behind, but none that anyone would find. Yet.