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Then I shrug.

“The Moon should stay.”

Something flickers across her face that looks a lot like sadness. Why is she sad? I don’t get it.

“I think so too, Stephy. She should always stay.”

Pleased with her answer, I kiss Mom’s hand, making her smile once more.

Then, like something straight out of a horror movie, a man steps out in front of us, startling her.

He’s tall. Too tall. A heavy black coat swallows his broad frame, and something dark obscures his face. A mask.

The stranger glances up and down the empty street as though searching for something frantically before stepping closer. “Don’t make a fucking noise,” he growls, his voice low and angry.

Mom’s hand tightens around mine, squeezing so hard it starts to hurt.

Why is she hurting me?

And why does she look so afraid?

“Give me your purse.”

“No! Get back!” I shout, but Mom quickly covers my mouth, trying to keep me quiet.

“Please, no,” she begs. “I have a child.”

The man doesn’t seem to care. He steps closer.

“I said fucking now.”

In a single second, the course of my life changes. One moment, I’m standing beside Mom, and the next, she pulls me behind her, wrapping her arms tightly around me.

Then comes a loud noise.

So loud it makes my ears ring.

Mom gasps in pain.

I freeze as her arms tighten around me even more before she collapses to her knees in the snow.

“Mom?” I whisper but she doesn’t answer me.

The evil man runs away with her purse without looking back.

No. No. No.

With tears in my eyes, I drop to the ground and shake her but she would’t wake up. “Mom?”

Nothing.

She doesn’t move.

She doesn’t say anything.

Her pretty eyes are closed.

After that everything feels blurry.