[Sarah]

“My village was very uneducated, but from a very young age everyone was taught how to survive, and my parents waited a long time until they told me proper manners. Anyway, I went out and took a cute baby boy from another village, I was gone for weeks and when I came back, I had found that my parents where frantic, they had looked for me everywhere. Spent countless hours searching for me instead of working, they had gotten pretty poor, and I am ashamed now that I did that to them. When I came home, their eyes had a new light that I had never seen before. They took the baby boy from my arms and they loved him instantly, he was the one thing they had always wanted.”

[Sarah]

“Now my brother was favored over me, honestly I was ok with that. It made me happy to think that I was the one who brought them all the happiness. Over time me and my parents worked endlessly, until we were out of the debt I had caused. The village at this time was not very populated. It was my family alongside two other families the same size as mine. I was the only girl in the village however. I grew up as a girl should though; I washed clothes and prepared meals alongside other things with my mom.”

[Sarah]

“I was a good girl; I did nothing wrong after I brought my brother to our family; so when I turned fifteen and wanted to go into special training for the army, my parents were shocked, and rightly so. I had seen nasty things in my childhood, things my parents could not even dream of. I had seen in the forests; men, tall and muscular change in the light of the moon. Their bones would rip from their sockets and grow, long black hair would grow within seconds all over their bodies. I had come across them by accident, when they all had turned into this beast form, similar to a Werecain but much larger, they found me. I was only maybe seven at the time, I can’t really remember.” Red let out a shaky breath, her palms sweating and her body shook.

[Sarah]

“They hunted me for many weeks; I had to be careful when I went to the market, or into the farmers’ fields. They knew my face, and I knew theirs. I will always know what they look like.” Tears threatened Red’s eyes, but she was able to hold them back with the help of Marrisio. The fire had gotten substantially lower compared to when she started. Marrisio moved himself gently, grabbing two logs and setting them on the fire. The moon was at its height, the perfect time it seemed to tell her story.

[Sarah]

Marrisio moved back into place, the snow had not subsided; it only seemed to be getting heavier. He knew they should sleep now so that when the sun came up they would be able to think straight. Red needed this though, he would not deprive her of telling her story especially when so little knew it. He had to help her; he had sworn he would help her, no matter what the cost. The trees held the snow out nicely, and the branches made a sort of circular den to the water ran down the length of the needles and never landed on them, or made the floor wet. There was a small hole where no snow had stuck; this was where the dark grey smoke escaped.

[Sarah]

“I say weeks, because it only took two months until they…” Red’s throat closed, it didn’t want to share the story, and neither did she. “They...” she tried again, tears welled in her eyes, “They came for me, the moon was high in the sky, it had been all night and hadn’t gone down so that the sun could come up. It just stayed at the top of the sky, a silver disk at the top of the world mocking me.”  Her voice bitter and she spat out the words. “Everyone in the village knew what was coming, everyone but me. Apparently there where legends about the day the sun didn’t rise; it told of a 'girl as pure as the heavens, she would much joy to the people around her, but she would also carry a dark shadow to those she loved.'” Tears spilled from red’s eyes, she could barely hold back sobs. “That shadow would kill all of the people dear to me, when the wolves came…”

[Sarah]

Red shifted her position slightly; her legs had started to fall asleep. “When the wolves came, the whole village burned, and I was the only one who survived, my parents my brother…” Red cried out, pain pierced her heart worse than any physical blow.  “I was the only one who survived, and I will always be the only one to survive, that is how the legend went.” Red knew she was leaving things out, but her memory was fuzzy around the edges, and she knew she would not be able to get through the whole story and still have her sanity afterwards.

[Sarah]

Red looked up, her eyes felt heavy. She must have dozed off, she felt Marrisio below her, his soft snoring had woken her up, that and the fact that she was freezing cold… she smiled, prying herself from his grip. She crouched over the small fire pit and examined it carefully; small coals still glowed underneath a thick layer of ash. Red grabbed a few small branches off of the pile, tentatively trying to wake the fire from its sleep. Yawning, she whipped the sleep from her eyes, rubbing her hands over the waking fire hoping to warm up a little. She felt Marrisio’s consciousness reach towards her, seeking the comfort of their connection. She reached out to meet him, feeling safe in the fact that they had each other, though he was technically a part of her, their connection was different than she had expected.

[Sarah]

“Are you ok?” Marrisio asked, making her blush slightly, she had poured her heart to him last night, and she wasn’t sure what she expected of him. “It’s ok you know, you had to let go of that stuff.” She tried to reassure her, but Red was still groggy from the uncomfortable night sleep she had gotten, and was still feeling a slight bit guilty. “I-I’m ok.” She promised him, her voice rough like she hadn’t spoken in years. He gave her a skeptical look, but in the end he just nodded, and sat down next to her and tended to the fire; the fire which had woken up much faster than either of them.

[Sarah]

“Do you have any food?” Red asked, holding her stomach as it rumbled loudly. Marrisio smiled and reached into his pack, pulling out two energy bars. “Sorry, I only packed these.” He explained, his eyes flashing with an emotion that looked similar to guilt. “Better than nothing.” She grumbled, snatching one of the bars from his hand and tearing the package with her teeth. She looked at the granola bar and sighed; it smelt gross and probably would not fill her up for very long. She took a small nibble out of the bar, it was covered with chocolate, and had a center of weird oat things, and coconut shreds. She gagged, fake coconut was one of the worst tastes to her. She shoved the bar in her mouth and chewed it as quickly as she could. Knowing the taste would not leave her for a long while; she gulped it down and tried to keep it down. “Water?” she gasped, clutching at her throat.

[Sarah]

Marrisio laughed, and tossed her a water bottle, it was almost frozen solid but red could squeeze enough water out to wash down the worst of the coconut taste. “Blegh.” She complained, reaching into her own small pack for a comb. Reaching around her hair she brushed it softly, getting the worst of the tangles out and putting her hair up into a very sloppy half-bun. Marrisio wrapped his arm around her waist, so much had changed for the; some of it Red had to admit she was very ashamed of. “We should see what the weather is like outside.” He whispered in her ear. They moved towards their makeshift tree-branch door and moved the branches aside. From the inside of the tree shelter no outside elements besides snow are apparent.

[Sarah]

Using both of their weight to shove the snow out of the way, they were enveloped in a dazzling light. The sun, who sat upon its golden thrown at the top of the sky, having replaced the silvery moon, reflected brilliantly on the thick snow. Squinting Red’s eyes burned as they adjusted to the strong light. The snow was piled thick, it did not look like they would make their way to the tree-line today either, they would be stuck in their snow tree igloo another day. How dull, Red turned back inside, closing the opening and letting her eyes rest in the shadow that enclosed them in their small space.

[Sarah]

“… yep, I’m going to crazy.” She sighed, wiping the dirt smooth again to draw yet another picture; she had been doing this all day long. She laughed amused. “What’s up?” Marrisio asked looking back at her from the place he stood halfway outside of the camp and halfway in. “Well, if I keep this up, I bet I could be a master artist by the end of the day.” She joked, shaking her head. Marrisio flashed a smile before focusing back on the outside world. Red didn’t know why but he had been standing there all day long. At least it let air circulate in the totally unventilated camp, getting rid of the stench of their sweat.

[Sarah]

Red shifted from her crossed legs to standing up, she could understand now why people wanted to live in the south, snow sucked. It was about noon and the sky was getting grayer, casting a gloomy shadow on the plain. Marrisio was still standing at the entrance, his eyes burning into the distance. “You ok?” Red asked quietly. She didn’t want things to be awkward between them now. “You know they can’t get you here. They aren’t that powerful.” His eyes snapped to her. “You don’t know that, and I’m not saying I regret you telling me, I am glad that you did, more than you will ever know. Besides, I’m not standing here looking for them.”  She nodded, walking up to him slowly. He wrapped his arm around her. “We need to get home soon.” She mumbled to him, her eyes casting across the sky. Discouraged by the overcast sky.

[Sarah]

Marrisio sighed, his gaze laid gently on Red. His doubts where starting to over whelm him. “I know, we should be able to get out soon.” Despite his trying to sound hopeful his words came out hollow. He took a deep breath, “what will we do if we can’t get out of the snow before our rations are gone. We don’t have much wood left, and we cannot even think to stay here without warmth." Red smiled knowing that he was trying his hardest to comfort her. She giggled a little, “I might go crazy before we can even get out of here.” she said giggling harder. Marrisio looked at her worried, “you may already be crazy.” He said softly, sending her into an even deeper fit of laughing.