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The fire crackles as I slowly wake up. I blearily open my eyes, blankets slightly falling off. mmm, is cold. I sloppily wrap them around me again. Hmm, the fire is kind of low. just glowing embers. That's not right … I sit up. Surveying the room from my position on the carpet in front of the fire. The small cabin is illuminated lightly by the glow. chair, bookshelf, door. Empty, it feels empty. … ‘Eric’ nothing, only creaking of old house. ….. Something is wrong. I get up on weak legs. ‘ERIC’ wobbly steps through the room. He's not here… Where is he? … hunting. He said he went hunting. I check by the door; his gear is not there. Of course he went hunting; I need to get him… I don't know why, but I have to. It's important.
As I open the door, I get hit by the cold. It's really cold; I immediately start shaking. I don't know why. Don't like it. ….. I have to find Eric. The first step in the snow is terrible; it stings. The second is even worse somehow. I step… and step. My blankets drag behind me with a soft whoosh. ‘Eric', I stop in front of the trees; they're daunting… They have never been like that before. Maybe it is the cold. … the cold makes everything slow. I'm so cold and so sleepy. Hmmm, Eric, yes, I need to get Eric. I step into the trees. ‘ERIC!’
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Just one bony rabbit; it's not much, but it has to do. It's a stern winter; it has snowed for a week straight. It's hard, but I have survived stronger winters; I will be fine. Puck, on the other hand, it was his first time seeing snow. But as soon as the cold set in. He became sleepier and sleepier, like a bear going into hibernation. Apparently fairies do that. I guess it made sense with them being kind of insect-like. He's kind of cute when he sleeps. All curled up like that in front of the fire. The cabin slowly becomes visible through the trees. Can't wait to get back inside; my fingers are slowly losing feeling.
The door is wide open. Fuck. I run inside; the room is completely empty. No Puck, no blankets, the fire is just barely embers. Fuck. Panic is actually setting in. okay okay. Nothing has been thrown around or displaced; no fight. Why would there be a fight? We're in the middle of the woods. Okay. He has gone outside for some reason. some weird idea he concocted in his sleep-addled brain. I see my tracks through the snow coming from the woods and a smaller set of footsteps from the cabin. I sigh deeply. We're fine; I just have to track him. Easy, I have tracked thousands of weird small creatures through the woods. I follow. It slowly starts snowing again.
I follow the tracks; they are winding and don't make a lot of sense. I had to duck and got smacked in the face by branches enough times that I lost count. Courtesy of that small bastard. It progressively gets harder to follow the tracks as the snowfall gets worse. It begins filling in the footsteps. God, he was walking around barefoot. Why would he even go outside? He could barely stay awake long enough to eat; he hates the cold. When Puck started getting sleepier during the colder days. I told him to stay inside and that I would take care of everything; after all, I had experience with winter. But the little fucker was still concerned about me. Worried that I couldn't do it alone. Or that I would leave him behind. 'Oh, oh no, he thought I left him. I would never do that. Maybe I should have left him a note or something; if he could have read that, I don't really know if he can read. The ground suddenly turned into a slope, and the footsteps turn into tumble prints. Shit, ‘PUCK!' I slide down the slope. ‘PUCK. ANSWER ME GODDAMMIT, PUCK.’ Broken branches and even deeper tumble indents track down the slope. ‘PUCK, PLEASE’, I spot a dark shape, getting slowly covered by snow along the slope. The blanket. I rush over. ‘Puck, please.’ I touch the blanket and only the blanket, not Puck. My stomach drops and panic climbs back in my throat. I frantically start searching around me. He can't be far, right? He won't leave the blankets, right? Oh please be right? Down the slope I see a weirdly shaped snow hoop. With a little bit of purple in it. There is no purple in the forest, especially not during winter. Puck! I rush over, almost tripping down the slope. Almost. Thanks to my experience. Puck! I started to remove snow from him. He's cold, way too cold. Frost crystals started to form on his wings. With eyes closed, snow lay on top of him. ‘Nonono, come on, man. You have lived through worse, please.’ Grabbing his face, tenderly caressing him, I shoot a prayer, and when I do, I feel his breath. Oh, thank God. He's alive. I push into my chest; I might have let out some tears. He is still dead to the world, though, and the snow has really started to come down now. I have to bring him back to warmth. I lift him into my arms and throw the blanket around him and track back up to the cabin.
In the cabin I put Puck back on the carpet in front of the now fireless fireplace. Rushing over putting new block Of wood in. Trembling hands trying to strike a match too fast. I have to calm down; rushing won't work. I know what to do and how to do it. Everything is alright, my... friend? Won't be helped by badly done tasks; I strike again, flame. Slowly the fire starts to burn. I feed it air until it grabs the bigger blocks. It will live on its own now. Back to Puck. He is a hump of body and blankets. Unmoving. It strikes fear into my heart. I start to strip. Direct body heat is the fastest way of heating somebody up. Later, when Puck is moving again, we can get over the weird awkwardness of it all. I delicately folded myself around him, careful of his wings. He is so small and cold. You won't know it from the way he holds himself, but he's so fragile.
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The fire crackles loudly as I slowly wake up. I blearily open my eyes. Nnngh, I'm warm and comfy now. Weird, it feels like I am supposed to feel deep-seated cold and frozen limbs. But it might have been a dream. I try to sit up but can't. Something heavy holds me down. Can I turn around? Yes, I'm now faced with a hairy, warm, living chest … Eric, I'm overcome with joy. ‘Puck, you're awake. Are you okay?' He starts checking me over. 'Yes, I'm fine. ' He grabs me. ‘Why did you leave the cabin?’ ‘Eh, uh, I don't know.' He shakes me. ‘Why?' I don't know; it was cold, and I panicked. Eric takes a deep breath. 'Don't do that again.' His grip loosened. 'You... you scared me; don't do that... please.’ I lay my arms around him. winding my arms tight. Slowly Eric's arms come up around me. We sit like that for a while. The heaviness slowly leaving the room, making place for warmth and fullness.