A-Z: F is for Frozen

Frozen:  rigid; immobilized:

The child was frozen with fear.

Dictionary.com

 “Run! Run!”

I swiveled in time to see a young boy that looked to be my sister’s age trotting toward me, indigo gunk running off his face in rivulets. Behind him a tall young man waved a rifle. He yelled again.  “Run.”

I stood frozen in place. Run from what? Run where?

The child neared, almost on me. In slow motion, the man raised his rifle…and fired. The boy staggered and fell, blood spurting from his chest. His tail between his legs, the pup scampered away. Someone screamed. It took me a moment to realize it was me.

The young man came running toward me. “Are you all right? Did you get splattered with any rain?”

Did I get splattered with any rain?

I shook so badly I could barely move, my teeth clicking like castanets. Maybe the child survived. I forced my feet in the direction of the body. Blank eyes stared at the sky. Indigo mucus rolled out of them washed away almost immediately by the deluge.

I stiffened my spine and bent down to feel for a pulse.

The pyscho grabbed me by the collar and pulled me roughly away. I should have run when I had the chance, but I couldn’t have lived with myself if there was any way I could have saved the child.  I flailed at the monster who’d killed a young boy.

He ducked easily. “What are you doing, you idiot? That’s a Rainer.”