The darkness was consuming. It gathered and took, it smothered and swallowed anything less of humane. It shaped and molded the mind, with the power to deteriorate even the brightest of intentions.
The night was scarce, the rain from earlier that day had scared anyone from venturing outside for too long and vacuumed and sense of cheerfulness. The rain hadn't let up; it seemed to sense a certain dread in the air and refused to let it suffer alone.
Silently making his way towards the small apartment complex, the figure, purposefully remained in the shadows. The resident had turned off most of the lights just over half an hour ago, but the light in the master bedroom had yet to turn off. It was a lovely home, meant for a family with a mother and a father and their children. The owner was the mother of a six month old newborn, just learning its new surroundings. The mother had recently been widowed, this could be seen by the nonexistent indents on the mattress in the master bedroom and the somber mood heavy with the widows movements. While the newborn slept on in it's crib, the mother curled in a corner on the bed in a shocked state. This made no difference, really. Once she finally succumbs to the need to sleep the figure would finally make his was in.
In was seemed like another hour, the light in the master bedroom clicked off and the figure made his way to the house, keeping to the shadows and avoiding any CCTV cameras. Silently picking the lock, he crept his way through the hallway, knowing that the mother could well enough end his life with a bullet between his eyes in a matter of seconds. The rooms were in a state of mourning, suffering the loss of the father of the household. But the grieving fog did little to deter the figure who carefully made his way towards the infants room.
Opening the door to dull yellows and greens and filled with stuffed animals in their baby forms. The crib was stationed in the corner away from the window with the rocking chair facing both the window and the door, obviously a tactical arrangement meant to identify any intruders. The camera monitoring the infants movements luckily wasn't of high enough quality to clearly identify someone, noted the figure, as he walked up to the crib.
Bright, wide blue eyes stared up at him. A babe with a dusting of light blond hair, a button nose and the roundness of newborn. The figure reached in, gently picking up the now cooing infant, he cradled the babe. Simply staring at the new fresh eyes already beaming up at him. He stayed that way for a few minutes; enjoying the feeling of holding such a precious little life. Reaching down to plant a kiss on the babes forehead, lips lingering on the forehead; he gave the infant one last hug before regretfully placing the infant back on the crib. The infant reaching out with an almost mournful face, tears welling at the edges for another hug. The figure, with one last look, turned and walked away into the darkened room, leaving behind the infants wailing cries.