“Sweetheart, I need you to tell me your name,” he asked gently. “Can you tell me where the snake is now?”
There was a brief silence, followed by a muffled sob that made Anna feel a chill run down her spine.
“I don’t know…” the little girl whispered. “Daddy says it’s a secret… but it hurts so much…”
Anna felt that something didn’t fit in that sentence, but before she could formulate another question, the call was abruptly cut off.
At the power plant, the silence that followed was heavy, as if even the fluorescent lights had dimmed.
The system confirmed the address of the call: a small house on the outskirts of the village of Brookfield, surrounded by fields and dirt roads.
Anna sent the alert to the nearest patrol, which was occupied at that time by officers David Ross and Michael Jensen.
“Possible snake attack,” he reported over the radio. “Young girl requesting help, potentially dangerous situation.”
The two officers exchanged a quick glance before turning on the patrol car’s lights and heading in the indicated direction.
As they drove along the country road, the light rain that was beginning to fall turned the windshield into a blurry screen of reflections and shadows.
“Snake attack?” Jensen murmured. “It’s not something we hear about every day.”
Ross nodded seriously while keeping his hands firmly on the steering wheel.
“Whatever it was, that girl was terrified,” he replied. “Let’s get there quickly.”
The house finally appeared at the end of a gravel road, partially hidden by overgrown trees and a rusty fence.
The patrol car’s lights illuminated the dilapidated facade, where the paint peeled off in long strips as if the house itself were tired of standing.
The front door was ajar, moving slowly with the wind that accompanied the rain.
Ross raised his hand to signal silence as they both cautiously moved toward the entrance.
The inside of the house smelled of stale beer, rotten food, and dampness that had accumulated for too long.
The living room was full of dirty dishes, empty beer cans, and broken furniture that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks.
From somewhere deep inside the house came soft sobs that broke the silence of the place.
“Police?” Ross called out in a firm voice. “Is anyone here?”
