Chapter I
I

Little Phillip Blanchard tugged on his father’s sleeve insistently, tired and confused.  His father Niles had awoken him and his mother was nowhere to be found.  He had, in fact, searched all over the house for her.  At five, Phillip was easy to scare, and even easier to confound.  Niles Blanchard looked down at him for a moment, his face drawn and sickly, and said nothing.  This scared the poor boy to tears, and still saying nothing, his father drew his arm around him.
They sat there like that for a long while, both silent except for the boy’s sobs.  Outside, it rained, and the clouds cast a gloomy shadow over everything.  The room was lit only by a single lamp in the corner and the alternating blue and red lights coming from the police cars outside.
     Hours later, the rain finally stopped and the clouds parted, considerably brightening an otherwise miserable day.  The police cars were still there, casting their alternating lights upon the Blanchard house; eventually they began to leave until there were only a couple left.  The little boy listened to them as he sat with his father in his room.
     Phillip Blanchard was now doubly confused.


II

Phillip waited timidly outside of his father’s study as he listened to his father talk to some stranger in a policeman’s uniform. Phillip didn’t particularly like this man; he had a very stony face, and he never smiled, always cold and stern. He seemed relatively young, perhaps mid-twenties by the eyes, but there was something in his voice tat made him seem much older. Phillip also noticed that the man kept touching the gun at his hip. He did not like that, but he especially did not like the way he was questioning his father. No, Phillip did not like this man at all.
     "…and you were doing what at this time?" the officer asked Niles.
     "I was just…drinking coffee," Niles replied. After a moment, he added, "On the front porch."
     "So, you were able to see her?"
     "Yes, yes…clearly."
     The hateful man sneered at the boy’s father, and the boy began to hate him even more.
     "And yet you did nothing--" the officer began.
     "What the hell could I have done?" Niles shouted.
     "--to stop her?" the officer finished. "Not even to try to get her attention?"
     Niles put the glass of coffee he was holding down on his desk. He closed his eyes and started rubbing his temples. He could feel a headache coming on and that was the last thing he needed. A few moments later, when the headache hit full force, he opened his eyes and looked grimly at the officer.
     "Look, officer, if I could have done anything, anything at all, to save her, I would have. My throat still hurts from yelling!" To emphasize this, he rubbed his throat. "But right after I yelled--no, screamed at her..." He snapped his fingers. "It was over like that." Niles snuffled a bit and a tear made its way down his scruffy cheek. Phillip watched it with anguished surprise. He had never seen his father cry and he burst into tears.  Niles glared at the officer, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
     Niles ran to Phillip and picked him up.  Phillip’s tears were flowing freely, and the officer neither showed nor offered any sympathy whatsoever.  Niles wanted, with burning hate, to kick the officer as hard as he could--and not in a nice place, either--but knew what could result and kept his foot down.  After a few moments, Phillip was able to lift his head to look at the officer, and was dismayed to find that the officer was walking over.  He even dared to speak to him.
     "Well, sonny, it seems someone misses his mommy, huh?"  The laugh that followed sounded more like a bark, and was devoid of humor.  He reached out his hand to Phillip, but Phillip whimpered and thrust his face into the crook of his father’s neck.  Niles quickly turned away from the officer to keep him from laying his hands on his son, and the officer put his hand down.
     "Well, Officer Tennbrook," Niles said, lifting his head, "if you have no further questions, I believe it may be time for you to leave."  Phillip hugged his father tighter, and Niles rubbed his back.  "I also believe my son and I have things to discuss."
     For a moment, Tennbrook’s smile faltered, and he lowered his hand.  He then smiled arrogantly, and saying nothing, he left.  Niles breathed a sigh of relief and put his son down, taking him by the hand.  Phillip was still crying as he was lead to his room.


III

Phillip sat on his bed with his father again, and for the longest while neither of them said anything, Phillip too confused and tired too, and his father too unsure of what to do.  A great tragedy had fallen upon them that day, and Phillip didn’t even know what had happened.  He still cried; he was getting over Officer Tennbrook bit by bit--he didn’t know if he would ever stop hating him, that horrible man!--but he still didn’t know where his mother was.  He felt something drop on his shoulder, and felt a couple more.  He looked up, and his father was crying even harder, the tears in a steady stream down his cheeks, with one of his hands covering his eyes.  Phillip flung his arms around his father.
     "Daddy!  Daddy!  What’s wrong?  Where’s Mommy?" Phillip asked.
     "Liz--Mommy...well, Mommy’s gone, Phillip," Niles replied, rubbing Phillip’s back.  Phillip pulled back from his father a little bit and looked up at him, confused.
     "When will she be back?  Where did she--"
     "She’s not coming back, Phillip," Niles interrupted him.
     "B-But...but why not?"  Phillip shook his head.  "Where did she go, Daddy?  Where did she go?"
     At first Niles tried to answer him, but he just couldn’t; his sobs shook his body too much.  This set Phillip off again, and he threw himself at his father.  Niles drew his arms around his son, and he was finally able to speak.
     "Heaven, Phillip.  Heaven."