“In their bedroom,” Sofia said. “I tried shaking them… but they don’t move.”
The operator felt a chill run through her chest. She signaled silently to dispatch while keeping the child on the line.
“Sofia, listen to me carefully,” she said. “I need you to go outside right now. Can you do that for me? Take your jacket if you can and go into the garden. Stay away from the house.”
There was a pause.
“Okay,” the girl said softly.
Within seconds, a patrol unit was sent to the address.
When officers arrived at the small wooden chalet on the edge of town, the scene felt wrong from the start.
Sofia was sitting barefoot on the cold ground, her knees pulled to her chest. She clutched a worn stuffed animal so tightly its ear was bent out of shape. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she wasn’t crying.
That stillness unsettled the officers more than tears would have.
As they approached the front door, the smell hit them.
