Within the Dark Forest
A laugh burst from across the room as Rusty sat in one of the many chairs in the murder room waiting for Sharon. He watched as the squad gathered around Provenza's desk, laughing about how ridiculous their suspect had been today.
To everyone else it probably looked like Sharon was just indulging her team but Rusty could tell that she thought the teams banter was funny as well.
Rusty just wished that he was in the mood to see the humor.
The day had been normal enough until he arrived at the police station after school today to find another letter waiting for him.
It was written in the same way as the others but this letter…..
Finally Sharon noticed that Rusty seemed to be lost in his own little world. She came over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder, the concern obvious on her face.
"Are you ok, Rusty? You've been very quiet today." Sharon gave him a small smile that would normally have made him feel better but today he couldn't help the pang of sadness it brought him.
"Yeah. I'm fine, Sharon. It's just been a long day and I'm kinda tired."
"Then let's go home so you can rest for school tomorrow."
At that, Sharon headed to get her purse and say goodbye to the squad.
Rusty didn't have the heart to tell her that there might not be a tomorrow for their family anymore.
After they got home Rusty decided to make dinner for Sharon.
Half an hour later they sat at the dinner table eating while Rusty kept the conversation going. Normally he would have been worried that Sharon would know that something was wrong but after the day she had she was too tired to notice much.
It didn't take long for the two of them to clean up after dinner but Rusty was reluctant to let Sharon go to her room.
But eventually she told him that it was time for bed and headed to her room. Rusty watched her go, feeling like he was about to cry.
"Goodnight, Sharon. Sleep well."
"Wake up, Rusty. It's time to get ready for school!" Sharon called through the door to Rusty as she headed to the kitchen.
But after ten minutes she headed back to Rusty's room. It didn't usually take him so long to get up anymore.
Knocking on the door, Sharon called to Rusty again but she still didn't hear anything from inside the room.
Looking at the door, Sharon knew that Rusty hated when she came in without his permission but the concern that he might be sick won over the desire to not cause problems.
As soon as Sharon opened the door and saw the letter she knew that the unthinkable had happened.