Chapter 1: The Cold Bedroom
The beam of Officer Reyes’s flashlight cut through the dim shadows of seven-year-old Avery’s bedroom, illuminating the pale scales of the white corn snake coiled atop her lavender comforter. In the doorway, two officers pinned David against the doorframe, his green t-shirt twisted as he strained forward, shouting protests that dissolved into desperate breath. Avery stood near the foot of the bed, her long brown hair tangled around her damp face, clutching her worn brown teddy bear so tightly her knuckles had turned white.
Officer Reyes lowered his beam slightly, casting a harsh glow across the cluttered floorboards. He glanced back toward the doorway, his tone flat and dismissive as he addressed the chaos.
“She’s overreacting again,” Reyes muttered, shaking his head.
Avery’s lower lip quivered. She raised a trembling hand, pointing a shaky finger directly at the man struggling in the doorway. Tears tracked hot and fast down her flushed cheeks, though she made no sound beyond a ragged intake of air.
“He puts it in here when I cry!” Avery cried out, her small voice cracking with absolute terror. “He says I scare it when I scream!”
David thrashed harder against the heavy grip of the second officer, his face darkening with a mix of fury and disbelief. His eyes bulged as he stared at Reyes, then flicked wildly to his daughter.
“You put that animal in her bed?” David roared, his voice echoing off the drywall, thick with a desperation that sounded entirely genuine to anyone paying close attention.
Reyes sighed, stepping closer to the mattress. He reached out a gloved hand toward the dormant reptile, keeping his movements slow and deliberate to calm the child.
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“Avery, sweetheart, keep holding your bear, I’ve got you,” Reyes said, his voice softening into an artificial professional warmth.
The officers in the doorway exchanged a brief, heavy look. They had been called to this house on Elm Street three times in the past six months, each time for domestic disturbances involving David’s erratic temper and Avery’s midnight panic attacks. But this was the first time an exotic reptile had been found tucked beneath a child’s blankets. David continued to struggle, his boots scraping loudly against the baseboards, while Reyes carefully scooped the heavy white snake into a plastic pillowcase brought in from the hall. The air in the room grew thick with unspoken accusations and the heavy scent of old laundry and fear.
