Prologue

"I remember… a bright light."

A chorus of cameras flashed repeatedly, their bright lights intermittently setting the world ablaze before sinking it back into endless shadows. A young boy sitting on the street curb blinks as a camera man snaps a photo of him, stunning him into silence.

"It's ok. Go on." The police officer encouraged, swatting away the nosy reporter. He was sitting beside the boy on the sidewalk, red and blue strobes painting their faces in a colorful dance of light and shadow. He was prepared to comfort the child but he seemed mostly shocked into an emotionless state of calm.

"When the truck hit our car my head hit the window, then it just looked like everything was spinning. I saw Mom's shoes fly in front of my face." He paused and gripped the orange emergency blanket tighter around his shoulders. His eyes grew wide as he stared down at his bandaged hands. The officer waited patiently for him to speak.

"And then we weren't spinning. Everything was upside-down, I was hanging from my seatbelt. Mom always made me put my seatbelt on." He swallowed thickly before continuing. "My head hurt so much and when I called for Mom and Dad they didn't answer. There was so much blood; the windows were so red I couldn't see through them."

The officer thought for a moment about what he heard. The boy had been waiting outside the car when the first dispatcher had arrived, just standing alone in the dark. He was trying to figure out, if the child had been trapped upside-down by his seatbelt, then how had he freed himself.

"Darwin, how did you get out of the car?" The officer asked gently.

Darwin blinked a few times, struggling to think beyond the haze in his battered head.

"I remember a girl."

"A girl?" The cop questioned.

"Yes. She helped me."

The officer scratched the stubble on his chin, furrowing his eyebrows. "Did you know who she was?"

Darwin shook his head and lifted his eyes from the glass littered asphalt, meeting the man's gaze straight on.

"She said her name was… Carrie."