Chapter 11

Instead of preparing to celebrate Christmas the very next morning with their freshly-chopped tree that was ripe for the picking, Caleb leaned against the back of a police car as a swarm of his friends crowded through his once peaceful home. These were people he had known all his life because of his father, and yet he could not place these officers at the scene of his wife's murder. It was simply too surreal to process. His training as a crime scene investigator was starting to kick in, but he resisted the impulse. He was not experienced enough, and more than likely he would be banned from helping.

His wife was dead. His unborn child was dead. Some depraved mind had broken into his home, and killed them as though they were nothing more than objects. Worse in his mind was that he was unable to be there to perform his duty as a husband and protect them. Broken sobs punctured the frenzied night air, and left him breathless as he cried into his hands. Christmas Eve, and his wife and child were both dead.

"Caleb?" Looking up through eyes blurred with tears, he met the concerned gaze of his friend. Nathan was trained to perform this job, but yet his eyes had never seemed heavier than that moment. "We're going to find out who did this. It's not an empty promise."

Caleb nodded, even though the effort took somewhat of an inhuman effort. "Thank-thank you." Having the backing of the entire police force was a relief that he sorely needed at a time like that. "I appreciate-"

"Don't even say that crap to me," Nathan interjected. "You know this is personal for all of us."

He did know that. Turning away from Nathan, he was about to do something to occupy his mind, when he noticed the strange figure standing across the street. This person, a man from the shadow, was simply staring at the devastation in his neighborhood. His hands folded almost precisely in front of him.


A little longer than usual, but I felt it was necessary to appropriately capture the devastation and drama of the moment instead of trying to chop it up.

Merry Christmas!