Tw for child death, corpses, blood and gore
A child was found dead on the side of the road, one Tuesday morning.
The sun is set low, the air chilly with winter rolling around – clouds cover the sky in grey, sun parting through if only to highlight some areas in a gentle, yellow glow. The road which he was found by is empty at this time of day – only some cars passing every once in a while, but not enough to disrupt the icy air.
His head is crushed into itself, a small bit of brain peeking out of the blond hair slicked to his head with sweat and grim. Dried blood along the edges of the boy's mouth, his lips a slight tint of blue from the cold — his skin pale as a ghost, the loss of blood making the veins in his arms even more prominent. His form was buried into itself as his arm lays outwards at an unnatural angle. His clothes slightly ripped from his body, the parts of cloth strewn about the area. The patch of grass drenched in the crimson colour surrounding the boy seems thick and smells foul, the smell almost overwhelming as flies and bugs buzzed in the air.
No one had seen it happen. Not even one single person – for all the cars passed by over the last few weeks, no one had seen what had happened. The grass had simply been empty one moment and occupied the next.
The two men that had come to look at the body were silent, unable to drag their eyes away from the rotting corpse. One of the men, who was crouching down in the grass, switched his gaze towards his partner.
"Any idea what could've happened?" he asked, breaking the silence. "You think it was a hit and run?"
The other man, who had been looking closely at the corpse, snapped his gaze towards him. "What?" he asked, perplexed by the sudden question.
"The kid—" the man waved his hand towards the boy— "What do you think happened to him?"
"Why would I care about that?"
The man shrugged. "Don't know. You're the police officer here. Isn't this your job?"
'isn't it your job, too?" the other man snapped, voice raised a bit. "Why aren't you doing anything?"
"Because," the man pulled himself to his feet, popping his back as he did so, "I'm asking what you think. Personally, I think he was left for dead – maybe by some people he knew, or his parents, or whoever kept him under their roof while he was still alive."
"Jeff, come on—"
"What? We got sent out on here for a job, and I'm giving a exploration to what could've happened." The man, Jeff, explained, looking towards the boy.
