Her heart jumps into her throat as his hand grabs her arm and her face flushes and pales in the same instant. She sees the look in his eyes turn from kindness to anger and at that moment she realized she should have taken the long way home.

As he leads her to the passengers seat she looks to the window where the little boy and his mother were moments ago and sees only the colored, twinkling lights. She tries to yell out but nothing comes from her throat and she lets him sit her inside the warm car.

He closes the door and starts for the drivers side. Her mind flashes in an instant and as he begins to lower himself into his seat, she quickly opens the door and runs toward the end of the alley, kicking off her heels so that she wouldn't fall. But in doing so she didn't see the slick ice just ahead of her at all.

As she laid on the cold ground she saw a form coming at her and knew it was him. She tried to get up but things went fuzzy and then dark.