The sun outside was shining brightly, but the woman who hadn’t left the house in almost two years no longer felt its warmth.
Sitting on the steps bathed in sunlight, Leland held the woman tightly in his arms, but he felt cold all over, despite the warmth of the sun.
His mom’s body was cold too.
Two people who were always cold, in the coldest of days, as long as they hugged each other tightly, they wouldn’t feel the cold.
Leland held her tightly like that, but his mom was dead. No matter how hard he hugged her, he couldn’t warm her up, even if they stood by a fireplace.
An embrace between a dead person and a living person, no matter how it looked, was filled with cruelty.
“Mama, I was too weak. I couldn’t protect you. If only I could have killed him earlier…” Leland murmured to himself, his voice hoarse.
Sirens could be heard outside, and a sense of terror quickly enveloped the surroundings.
He knew that someone was coming to separate him from his mom.
Police officers and doctors rushed over, and as soon as they climbed the stairs, they saw a child holding a weak woman on the steps, their faces close together, blood all over.
As a police officer, alertness rose in their hearts, and people scattered. Some stood in front of Leland asking questions, while others went inside.
The police officer in front asked Leland many questions, but Leland didn’t hear a word, as if he was in a different world, stiff and sluggish, barely blinking.
He didn’t know how long he had been holding his mom here, until the sunlight faded, and the cold wind blew, until his mom’s body became completely cold.
The police officers who went to inspect the house immediately saw a corpse as soon as they entered. The smell of blood permeated the air, and the seriousness of the situation exceeded their imagination. After examining the body, they came out and shook their heads, “The person inside the house is dead, stabbed four times… the blood in the wounds still retains some warmth, the time of death should be around half an hour ago.”
It had just happened, if they had come earlier, maybe this outcome could have been avoided.
Several police officers instinctively focused their gaze on Leland. Without a doubt, this child was the murderer.
The woman in his arms seemed to be dead as well.
Unable to linger here, the bodies of the woman and the child had to be taken away. The incident needed to be investigated, and the minor offender wouldn’t be sent to prison. They needed to see if there were any relatives around. Besides, the child who had killed someone would need to undergo a psychiatric examination at the hospital, in case he had a mental illness.
Now, the two bodies had to be dealt with first.
A female police officer stood in front of Leland, her voice gentle, “Little one, your mom is dead. We need to take her to be cremated now.”
Leland, who had been silent all this time, finally reacted when he heard this. He was agitated, “My mom isn’t dead!”
With a fierce face stained with blood, Leland looked like an enraged little wolf.
The female police officer in front of him was taken aback.
Leland hugged the body in his arms even tighter, whispering, “She promised to watch me grow up. She’s not dead… we had an agreement. I was supposed to get perfect grades in school for her. I was supposed to get into the best university, to make a name for myself, to take her out of this place. None of that has come true. My mom won’t die… You can’t say she’s dead. She’s just sleeping. When I used to nap, it was like this too. My mom would hold me and sing to me… Now she’s sleeping, and it’s my turn to sing to her. Don’t disturb her.”
Leland sang with all his might, his voice hoarse and choked with emotion, “In this world, only mother is good… A child with a mother is like a treasure, thrown into… mother’s embrace… Unable to enjoy happiness… The most distressed child without a mother… is like a piece of grass…”
As he sang, Leland’s voice became more choked up, as if there was a fishbone stuck in his throat, causing pain. Tears started to flow again, more intensely than before, mingling with the blood on his face and entering his mouth, tasting like leftover medicine, bitter enough to choke on.
“Leaving… leaving mother’s embrace… where to find happiness…”
He sang this nursery rhyme with all his strength, trying to make it sound beautiful, but when he cried, even the simplest nursery rhyme sounded harsh.
He heard someone crying, besides him, who else was crying?
He looked up blankly at the police officer in front of him, realizing that it was her who was crying. Leland couldn’t understand; why was she crying here, why?
The female police officer turned her head, silently wiping away the tears on her face.
Why was she crying? Was she crying for his mom? But his mom was alright… she was just sleeping. She wouldn’t abandon him, because without his mom, he was like a blade of grass, without hugs, without love, without happiness. How could his mom bear to leave him lonely and in pain?
“Separate them, take the two bodies together, and take this child to the car, bring him back to the police station first,” the police chief ordered, seeing that there was no other way.
Leland, like a wolf, glared fiercely and vigilantly at the people around him, as he heard they were going to separate him from his mom.
Some people grabbed his arms, others controlled his kicking feet, and someone took his mom away from his arms, forcibly separating them.
“No, don’t take my mom away from me. Don’t take her away!” Leland sobbed, his eyes bloodshot, as if he was bloodthirsty, tears falling like broken beads, washing away the blood on his face.
Being forcefully separated, Leland’s hands were still outstretched, arms slightly bent, still in the position of hugging his mom just now. He bit the police officer holding his arm with all his might, a fierce bite.
“Ouch… this kid’s bite hurts! Let go quickly, your mom is already dead! Can’t you understand human words? She’s already dead! She has to be taken to be cremated. A child like you can’t handle her well, can you?” The person pinched his cheek, almost dislocating his jaw. Leland had to open his mouth, his teeth loosening the grip of the person’s hand. He struggled, but was gagged with a steel pipe in his mouth to prevent him from biting wildly. The steel pipe cut his gums, making his mouth bleed along with his sobs, tears flowing out like blood.
All his struggles, all his cries and screams, his hoarse voice… to these “adults,” it seemed like a child being unreasonable and throwing a tantrum.
He was held by people, like a criminal being crucified, unable to move.
“Boss, are the two bodies going to be cremated together at the crematorium?”
“First check if this house has any other relatives. If not, we’ll have to take care of the cremation. At the crematorium, they can only be cremated together. We’ll see then whether to scatter the ashes together, or bury them in the nearest place…”
Cremated together, ashes scattered together, buried together.
No, they couldn’t be together.
Leland, who had been struggling, suddenly quieted down, surprising the police officers who were holding him.
With the steel pipe in his mouth, it was difficult for him to speak. He tried hard to move his tongue and mouth, “Don’t let them be together, they can’t be together. Please… they can’t be together…”