*** A SONG CAUGHT IN EARSHOT ***
......
One day you'll look up at the ceiling above~♪
if you're lucky you'll surrounded by the ones that you love~♫
When the lights in your eyes fade and life flashes by~♪
One day you're going to die~♫
......
That noise... no, that music. Someone's voice reached inside the small wood shed. Through the tiny cracks and gaps of the planks, through the space of the slightly open door, the song slid inside the man's house. The grave-keep's house. He woke up. His wide, rough hands gripping the brown bear-hide blanket. His neck felt stiff. He didn't have a pillow, but he couldn't bother to make or buy one. Pain and stiffness, those things come with the age I guess.
The blanket's soft fur scratched at his rock-feel palms. Those things weren't just covered in calluses. They were two big calluses stuck onto the hold-things ends of his arms. He messed with his covers then looked at the door. Not half open. Not a half of a half open. Not fully open either. There was a sliver of blind-your-eye light that glared back at him through the tiny crack-opening. Dazed—the morning still holding half of his mind in the bank—he threw his blanket to the side and got up on his feet.
"Guh..." His groan droned a little longer. The sweat from the night before stuck to his body hair like slime. He tried to wipe it off the best he could. It bested him instead. A few steps ahead, he walked past a charred black mound. The firewood was already spent. The stones were getting dirty. "Have to replace it later..." When later would come? That's a problem for sober him—more accurately, the him that was awake.
The girl he took in last night... Probably fine. He lit the fire for her, placed her near it to warm her up, then went to sleep after checking the cemetery one last time. It changed in an odd way. Not a bad way Though. The place felt lighter, happier. Somehow more relaxing—more relaxing than a place to dump bodies in should be. When he found the girl... Oooh boy what a surprise. Not a good one either. Covered in blood from head to toe, wearing nothing but pajamas—no boots or shoes either—and being colder than ice to the touch. The blood around her mouth... A lot. A lot a lot. A lot outside, a lot inside. It's like she ate unbled raw meat.
He cleaned her up as much as he could and used what he had to treat her, but her skin still felt as cold as the water under a frozen lake. Her life was up to fate. All that he could do with his hands was pray—pray to the gods and spirits of winter that she'd make it.
When he pried open the door—shaking off the little bits and pieces of icicles and snow that grew on it—what he saw woke him right up. The savings account the morn' kept his think in? He made a forceful withdrawal. It wasn't in his name either. Threw his card at the teller's face, went straight to the vault, took his brain out and ran with it like the guards were breathing down his neck.
......
No more future left to fear that you'll have, the past to regret~♫
But you worries will be over if you truly realize~♪
One day~♪
You're going to die~♫
......
The girl was fine. She looked to be doing well, even. Seems all the effort form last night didn't go to waste. Except for the bathing—if you could call wiping someone off with a cup's worth of water a bath. The blood was back on her. She was dyed red from head to toe. Her hair was already red colored, but the dark hue of bled-out life was splashed all over it. Near her mouth, down her dress, and her hands and feet were marked with blood. Hopefully it wasn't her own.
"Oh?" She turned to face him. The gravekeep looked into her eyes. He saw that they were... burning? Smoking? A blue kind of flame swayed out of her eyes the way the wind led it. Didn't look like fire, more like the airy smoke that came out of his mouth as he breathed. He stood there. Not a word. Not a single twitch from his arm or leg. Yeah, she was beautiful, but she wasn't that good-looking to stun someone. What took his breath were the giant wolves sat around her. She even laid her back on one! Those things eat people! And they're all looking at him!
Then the world went quiet. No warning issued. His ears didn't have anything to focus on. His eyes didn't have much to distract him. His hearing caught the low humming voice of the girl bathed in red. It sounded like the village's young ladies—soft and cradling as they sang to their baby sons and daughters. The brass sound was mixed in with the low growling of the wolves. He looked at them. They looked back at him. All of their gold-brown eyes trained on the gravekeep—a huntsman's gaze locked onto a fear-shocked rabbit.
The stand off was an eternity. Time wasn't counted. The thing didn't seem to move at all. The blood-drenched girl's hum was the only thing that moved forward. No ticks, no tocks, no clocks. The wind didn't howl. The snow froze and ceased to fall. Everything sat still. The girl's song marched on. She opened her mouth. She pet the man-sized wolf she leaned on and the small cub that sat between her legs. Song jumped out of her tongue, then reverberated into the world, then slid into everyone's ears as the earth stopped its pause and joined the girl's sing-song marching band.
"One day you're going to die~!" The wind blew. It sung its howl. "So if you only have one chance-" The snow joined the song and clapped with its hail of falling brothers. "You ought to try your best-♪" Now the wolves' voices sang along too. Their "Awooooos" and growls acted as the choir to shine the winter's eye-blinding spotlight to the human member of their pack. Everyone, even the gravekeep themselves joined the song. He didn't know why. He didn't mean to. He was lured in. Invited. Beckoned by an invisible hand and drawn in like a hypnotized lamb. He followed his shepherd's voice somewhere he hadn't the faintest clue about. But it'd be rude to refuse a lady's invitation. wouldn't it?
The wind breathed in and shrieked, its lungs filled with enough air to blow the snow off a mountain's top back to the sea to restart the water cycle from scratch.
The snow played its drums with its raining chunks, clumps, and stocks of white 'boomfing' and 'foomphing' the land below.
The wolves and men let out their voices in discordant harmony. Howls. Growls. Unpracticed singing mixed together into one.
Then She sang her song.
Their song.
The song that stuck to their soul.
"-To live as you like~♪ !"
"One day, you're going to die~♫"
*** GRAVES AND SHE ***
"Aye, what's your name brotha?"
"Graves..."
"What you do?"
"I watch over the cemetery."
"A grave keeper?"
"Yes..."
"Graves, what's with you? Ya seem off." She... They looked straight into his eyes. Their head cocked to the side with a brow-raised face. A noise behind them was the answer. The wolf that walked beside them growled as it nudged their side. "... The big wolf. Right beside you." They waved their hand in the air with a no-care air about them. She leaned back and bounced to the front, then faced the man with a full teethed smile. "It ain't nothing to worry about brotha~ They're friendlies to me and you. See?" Their fingers pointed under Graves. Beside his leg was a cub. It was rubbing it's head against him and growled with a high pitch.
"Ain't it adorable?" He would find the sight cute. Would. If he wasn't surrounded by a pack of men-sized wolves, then maybe—just maybe—he'd be able to relax. 'Gotta get it off my mind. Gotta get it off my mind...' He trailed on in his head. "So... Aadi... Beatrice..." They cut him off before he spoke. "Aadi right now brotha." Graves nodded his head, confusion painting his mouth and brow with skin with creases and wrinkles.
"What's with you?" She... They cocked their head again. They leaned onto the wolf's fur as they looked at him. Their eyes still had that ghostly blue smoke coming out of them. Graves looked back at those eyes, and he felt like he was being pulled in. Something was pulling him in. He was losing himself- "Not much man. Just some odd happenings, ya get me?" He snapped out of that trance. Seems like they weren't doing it on purpose so... that's a good sign. Right? Probably? Maybe?
"If you're wondering, I'll tell it to ya again. There's 3 people here. Just that the other one's sleeping." That didn't answer any of his questions. Not at all. "Can you explain?" Aadi's eyes flew to the sky. "2 people, 1 body. I feel like it's a bit more than that, but that's about the best you'll get out of my mouth." They spoke with a slight smile. The air around them was relaxed and casual... maybe a bit off too. A thought popped into graves head. Before he could catch his tongue, the words slipped out of his mouth.
"Are you a demon?"
He was not supposed to ask that.
You ask that and the answer just so happened to be yes?
Your head would get lobbed off the next step you took.
"Hmm~" That smile. That damned smile with their teeth poking out. Graves' eyes might be getting old and looney, but he swore that their fangs shined. Just now. 'Please say no. Please say no. Please say no for the gods' sake!' He clasped his hands behind his back. He left that subtle prayer and hoped it floated to the heavens above and that someone would hear it.
"No. But then again, don't we all have our demons? Kinda funny if you lookit that way~" A short laugh left their lips. The sound jumped about in his ears. The only part that he could hear was 'No.' Now that was a relief. So much so his legs gave out. "C'mon now! Up and at em'!" They... She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up to his feet. She turned a bit in her motion, and the twist sent him next to the big, man-eating wolf's side. His face landed right in its fur. His whole body froze stone-still yet still shook with the beat of a bored child's spasming legs.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
'Please don't eat me' "Please don't eat me...!" His thoughts jumped from his mouth again. And again, he didn't mean for them to do that...!
"No worries bruv. He's a friendly." She... They... He... Whatever they were hopped from where they stood to Graves' side. She rubbed her face all over the wolf's fur with a smile on while cooing over the thing like a precious pet. The sight of a pretty girl playing with a big, fluffy dog almost warmed his heart. Well... Almost.
The "girl" was maybe a demon.
The "big, fluffy dog" was a huge monster that could probably—no, it really could—chomp their heads off if it wanted to.
As anyone could guess, Graves was not calm. Quite the opposite. He was still shaking from head to toe. All the hairs on his body stood on end with goose bumps bumping each other because there was hardly any space left in the traffic jam. Despite the fear inside, his face froze into stone. Can't show the fear. After all, demons and beasts like them feed on the stuff. And he wasn't about to fill up their bellies.
'Gotta hide it.'
'Gotta hide it.'
The girl was still covered in blood, but her casual tone hid it well. Like it wasn't there, though it was literally all over her. Especially near her mouth. Graves didn't like that. 'Change the topic man... You can do this.' He took a pause—careful not to stutter. "You change the way you speak a lot. Is that intentional or...?" The girl stopped her fluff session and looked his way. Her cheek sat on the wolf's fur. "Ah, unintentional. Don't mean to do it, but I do anyways. Old habits die hard, you know?"
"How does that become a habit?"
"See, you tend to do some weird stuff when you're by yourself."
Now that he could understand.
*** ALONG THE LONG ROAD ***
Aadi and Graves were walking along the dirt path paved to the town below the mountain. They were the only two there, plus the occasional squirrel, owl, or wolf that came by. Aadi sent the wolves away. They planned to visit the town, and Graves was her guide. The guy's shoulders almost fell off when those monsters went away. The relief must've slapped him over the face a few times then. It was a tad awkward. The two were a very... peculiar? No, straight up strange match.
For one, the man was fully clothed. Graves wore everything that you'd need in a winter storm. A good jacket, thick pants, sturdy boots, and even an old shovel he always carried around. Gravekeeps always had to ready a shovel. Here in Frostblade keep, duty could call at any moment at any time and place, be it at a town or somewhere in the snowy wastes. But the girl? She wore pajamas—a nightgown to be exact. No coat—though Graves did offer it to her. No shoes, boots, or sandals of any kind on her. And the dried blood only made things a tad worse. Just a tad.
Graves led Aadi to a well on the roadside. He drew some water into a bucket, pulled it out, then put it into the girl's hands. "Use this to clean yourself up. The folks in town won't take it too kindly if you show up like..." He gave her once over with his eyes. Blood was spilled everywhere. On her hair. On her arms and legs. Her mouth was dyed in it. "...that. Wash off the blood and get back to me. We'll continue by then."
Aadi started taking off her nightgown bottom first, then Graves squealed. He blocked the sight by raising his arms up to eye level and facing some other direction. He fumbled his feet a tad, and he stumbled back a fair few steps—catching himself by the last one as he was about to fall ass first onto the snow. "Aadi!?" His voice climbed a few pitches higher and turned to a semi-shout sound. 'What is this girl doing! Doesn't she have any common sense!? Maybe it doesn't matter because she's probably a demon!?'
Aadi let go of the nightgown's bottom half. She looked at graves with a raised brow and her head cocked to the right. Then she snapped her fingers, slid her hand across her face like a towel, then leaned back in her stand with an 'oooooh.' look of realization. "Thanks man. Sorry bout' that. Got to protect Beatrice in that way too. Forgot about that. Duh." She knocked on her head with the side of her fingers. Then she went behind a tree. Out of sight. Out of mind. That was what Graves thought. Well... He thought wrong.
The sound of light clothing draping onto the snow made it to his ear. Impulse dragging his gaze, he looked at the direction of the sound. Sticking out behind the tree, the bloodied pajamas laid on the ground. Slender, white arms stuck out from the tree's dark brown bark. Her hands went over her skin as they washed away the dirt and grime and mostly the blood off her body. Aadi raised the pail to her head and let the water flow down.
Red.
It wasn't much, but a bit of the blood came off her hair. Her hair was a long and red anyways. It the blood should lighten by now and be unnoticeable to the wandering eye. 'Strange... Something's different...' Graves took another look at her hair again. He couldn't see much. Only the parts that stuck out the side of the tree. But white hair was growing alongside the red. Everyone is gonna have white hairs. It comes with age and stress. Hell, even he had a few snowy patches of white on his head. But this... This was different.
White hairs grew. But they don't do it this fast. Something about it was... off. Rather than growing white hair, it looked more like the color was being sucked out. Eroded? That didn't feel right... The word escaped him. The more he searched for it, the better it hid. From the tip of his tongue, it went to the back of his head to where the vague and blurry memories are kept. Thinking. Thinking. He stared at those silver-white hair. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him. It's possible his brain just got it wrong. But his gut told him different.
Something there was different.
As he looked, the white hairs glistened with a dark hue. From it, a purplish-black appeared for just a second, then disappeared. As it did so, a red hair strand's hue turned lighter. Erasure? No. Something else. It's like it was being... Overwritten, changed. From red to pink. From pink to a baby red. Then White. Pure white. No silver or gray. As white as the snow. What was this? What's going on? Something's at play here.
She told him she wasn't a demon.
Of course, he took a mountain's worth of salt with those words.
People lie. Demons more so.
Still, he wasn't killed. Still, she acted... somewhat normal.
...
...
'There's more to this.' His gut told him so. It failed him before, but it never lied to him.
Then she walked out of the tree's cover.
*** TO THE TOWN ***
Hmm~♪ Huhum~♫ It's been a wonderful day. First, I made a new friend. Second, I took a walk with said friend. Third, I get to enjoy the forest. Again! The wind blowing past my ears, making this 'Fushoo...' noise , the snow drifting through the air onto the ground, and the faint rustling of the leaves... This is bliss... I'm glad I took the deal. I got all these things after I died, and I got to keep my personality? That's a miracle. A real godsend. Literally!
I hummed to a 1-2 1-2 beat as I strolled the long road. Not an end to be seen. Trees. Road. Dirt. Snow. And a few animals coming in and saying 'Hello!' when they passed by. It was quiet. The trip was a silence filled with white noise. Those came from the blowing wind and the falling snow. I liked the quiet. It was peaceful. And enjoyable too. But then as I took my step, a thought popped into my head. It wasn't a speaking thought. More like a reminder. A feeling. 'What about our friend? He seems a little bored.'
Right. My friend. My friend! What was his name again... I said it earlier. Just a little while ago... "Gr..." I mumbled those words aloud. They weren't loud. Our footsteps plunfing and blumfing in the snow's face easily covered it up. Seems he heard it. Two pairs of footsteps turned into one. The footprints beside mine stopped following me. I blinked. Behind the cover of the tree's bark, dark shadowy figures hid their bodies. Their bodies were gaseous. The edges of their form seeped into the air around them and disappeared only to be replaced.
They were Rorschach ink blots in the form of air that stared back at me. Wolves. Butterflies. People. Bear looking things? There were some owls too. Only half of their bodies stood out from behind the trees'-bark cover they all hid behind, but I could feel all of their eyes crawling onto me. Their eyes. Their gazes. Those empty, white, soulless eyes. Their sights crawled all over my back, my spine—wriggled under my skin and moved throughout my flesh and bones.
I smiled.
I waved back at them.
I blinked.
They were gone.
I felt someone's hands go under my armpits, then I felt the ground below me disappear. I looked around and felt a bit taller. I could see so much more now! "What in the name of Kalt are you doing?" He—my friend—turned me over to face him. I smiled a bit. His face looks kinda silly~ "Just seeing things again, dear. Don't worry about me too much." My body went lax. I rested in his arms as he held me up like a cat.
"Seriously, stop talking to me so weirdly." Gr... Graph? Gr... Grooves? umm... I saw a bead of sweat on the side of his face. His mouth cringed into an awkward wrinkle on one side too. C'mon... I gotta remember his name. It starts with a 'Gr-' sound. hmm... I give up.
"Random question. What's your name again?" At that, he stood still. The look on his face changed. A raised brow. Head slightly cocked to the left. "How did you forget? I just told you." I scratched my head's back. A stretched smile popped out. "Ehehehe~ My memory's a tad off." He sighed. Snow-smoke clouded around his lips. "Graves. Make sure to remember this time." I nodded my head with a short blink of my eyes.
Hope I don't forget. Would be real awkward.
...
...
After that happened, he put me under his armpit and carried me like a bag of luggage. Thankfully, he didn't drag me on the ground. It felt safe. Kinda comfy. It was just the right amount of warm as well! So cozy~ Reminds me of the room back at the psych ward. The AC was always so cold. They blasted it from morning to night to morning again. The room itself looked like it was shivering! Good times~ What was better was when someone gave me a weighted blanket.
Oh, waited blankets are the best! Put the AC on full blast! Let it blare it's spine-quiver air! Then lay the blanket out over the bed, or just wrap it around yourself like a cocoon, then OOMPH! You've got a slice of heaven on earth! Heaven. On. Earth. Hmm~ I'm imagining it right now. Eyes closed, flipping through the picture-book of my memories, and reliving the sensation this very moment. It helped that I got something close to it—the warmth of my friend's coat and the cold of the winter. Ah~ Bliss~ Good times. Very good times.
Opening my eyes, I look at the road in front. The shape of a person was walking. Walking to us. Is it another hallucination? Just my imagination? Or maybe it's a real person? "Hi there!" I greeted it with a smile and a wave. Didn't matter what it was. At this point, to me, reality itself was just one big hallucination everyone shared. I know a few Philosophers who'd agree with me. Then again, lots of people would and have questioned their sanity. Sanity, huh? I wouldn't call myself sane. But definitions are too muddy for me to bother with~
The woman stopped.
They stood there, and took their look from me to Gr... Graves—yes, that's my friend's name. Probably.
She made a weird face. Wrinkles took to her skin as he cringed.
She pointed. First to me. Second to Graves.
"Graves, did you kidnap a little girl?"
Heh. Funny how hard he's shaking his head right now. Looks like it'll fly off.
*** OOH~ A LADY FRIEND? ***
Graves! My boy! My boy did it! He got someone—someone good too! I'm so proud~ I could cry~ The feelings inside me welled up from my mind and floated up into the world of action. I couldn't help but rub my nose with pride. Graves snagged someone! That someone was really pretty too! Shoulder length black hair; Golden eyes; Fair chocolate-brown skin; And some big 'personality' to boot! But really, she seemed nice. She's joking. She's laughing. She's teasing him with the classic tomboy charm.
Totally ship it.
I'm imagining it now. How'd they know each other? What's their relationship? All these scenarios played in my head like a movie, and I'd gotten front row seats to watch it! Oh! If I wasn't closing my eyes, I think I'd hallucinate again! "Hmm..." The snow was howling as usual. Gentle, but still a blanket to the sound. All the white noise made it hard for me to hear or pay attention, especially with my imagination going this-and-that way in my head. But my ears picked up on their conversation.
"Care to explain the girl?" I couldn't see their expressions. I had my eyes closed. Pus I was being held under one of Graves' arms—neatly tucked below his armpit and next to his hip. I could still hear a pout in her voice. "Listen... I Just found her in the graveyard. I'm taking her to town." Makes sense. He can't keep me in his hut forever. "Hmm... And why are you taking her to town? Grandma's going to get very suspicious of you." They know each other's family? Ship it. "I know. Still. I won't let her be abandoned."
A pause in his step.
A sigh from his breath.
The cloud from his lips covered his face which held a sad twinkle in his black eyes.
"Not like I was."
They both stood quiet, then Graves' friend broke the ice-cold silence with her words.
"Agreed."
*** ??? ***
A few moments passed. Graves and his friend saw the town in the distance. Stone brick walls surrounded the road ahead. The toll gate's guards near the entrance were leaning on the wall while those put farther away looked to all their sides—fingers fidgeting with their spear's handles. The snow covered the sound, but the chunking noise of snowy footsteps made it through the wind's howl. The guard's chainmail clinks and clanks got louder as they walked.
"I'll handle this."
Graves' friend went up ahead. It was a formality, but something that needed to be done. The guards know his face. They know how he acts. They know what he does. They know who he is. But procedure is procedure. They need to be done, even when they're annoying and slow. Watching. Watching. And more watching. It was taking time. A lot more time than he wanted. It was quiet too—white noise filling the background, but that kind of sound didn't add much color to look at.
When silence stays, thoughts oft creep in. His thoughts creeped in. 'Ah... I really messed up the mood.' He blurted out just a bit about his past a while ago. It wasn't a secret. Not to anyone in town. But outside? Nobody really knew unless they were told. Back then, it was hard. A boy. Just dropped in front of the chief's gate. It was better than what would could have happened. He could've frozen in the snow. But still, that creeping feeling. That longing loneliness—alone though people are right there—it shouldn't happen to anyone.
In life.
In death.
You shouldn't be alone.
Whether you just came in
or are on your way out
There should always be someone there.
To say hi,
To bid goodbye,
Someone, anyone should do that for you.
...
...
Silence. Wind howling. Distant sound of people talking. It wasn't silent. It was quiet. And quiet opens the door for those kinds of thoughts. It welcomes them in like guests. Those who come in are the neighbor thoughts just next door to your mind. Out of sight. Out of think. But they're still nearby. The quiet comes when you're alone. When you're truly yourself. When no one else is there to judge or look at you, the mask you wear falls off. It reveals the actor underneath.
He was alone. Natalie was off talking to the guards. The guards hardly paid any attention to him. They've no reason to. Right now, he truly was by himself. Was he? Someone was supposed to be with them. A third one. A girl. Aadi, Beatrice, whatever they called herself at the time. Where'd she go? She had to be somewhere- She was under his arm and at his hip's side. Not quiet. Silent. Nothing. As if she wasn't there, but she was.
Her body felt cold like the winter air. His skin around her went a little numb. It's like he wasn't wearing a jacket where she was. Her cold pierced his clothes. It froze his skin. Same as the winter air would. Same as the winter air would have done to the boy he was. Left alone. In the dark, snowy storm. His mind painted images inside his head of what could have gone down if he wasn't so lucky. Thought of 'what if?' flooded his brain with picture upon photo upon painting upon crude drawing of what would have become of him if the chief was feeling a bit less generous that day and-
A thought bubbled up.
More a scene looked at from a birds eye view.
Straight from above, he looked at himself.
Buried in the snow.
Laid sideways.
Curled up in himself like a dead bug squashed under the winter storm's boot.
Staring at her felt like he looked at death. He leaned his head. He got a look at her face again. Clean. But her eyes. Those eyes. Wide open and looking. But what were they looking at? Nothing and everything. She looked at the natural scenery around. She looked at the guards and Natalie joking about. Then those eyes turned. They turned to him. They weren't the scarlet red he saw from before. They turned into a blue-burning black irises with pupils big enough to fall out. He saw himself in those dark pearl eyes.
Black, white, and gray mixing together.
Blending, transitioning, making hues and colors too subtle to tell apart in the gradient.
Circling and bumping each other like slimes bashing and thrown together, but never combining into one.
A light show of the gray scale swirled in those eyes.
And what was his reflection?
A skeleton's skull peering over.
His legs felt weak. His arms started to shake. He couldn't explain what he felt in that moment. Fear. Anxiety. Desperation. The want to run away. All of those, but there's more. All the strength he had was being sucked away, pulled by her—by Aadi. The life in him flowed out of his skin and went into Aadi. Heat. Feeling. Touch. All robbed from him. Stolen and taken by her. Even his mind was falling apart.
One by one, the bits and pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that made Graves 'Graves' was being torn apart. One piece taken out at a time. First from the outer edges. Then to the center. Picking. Prodding. Ripping his memories, the very ideas of what made up himself, his soul screamed. Not in pain but in fear. The cold numbed the pain, but it and felt the dull tingk and tongk feeling of something being cut. Graves was frozen in place. He shook. He felt weak. He could not move. But he had to. He didn't want to die.
Just a little. Just a little. And with a forceful, jagged movement of his body, he loosened his grip just enough for Aadi to fall out of his under-arm hold. pomf. pomf. pomf. Graves fell to his knees and gripped the snow with his hands. His breath struggled to throw itself out of his mouth. It was like death's icy rope tangled itself around his throat and let him go. Why? Just to see him suffer. Strength slowly returned to him. That vague feeling of self was coming back. The bits and pieces were torn. Still, they were being sewn back on.
Once he gripped himself enough, he looked back to Natalie and the guards. They came rushing over. Their voices were muffled by the snow-wind's howls. Their words were jumbled with the ear's dizzy. "Natalie...?" She shook him. "Graves! What's going on? What happened? Are you okay?" Her worried questions flowed out from her lips as water does from a river. Soon, his eyes wandered. His thoughts wandered too. Then he wondered about who. "Where's... Aadi...?"
He found the girl.
His eyes caught death's mirror in human form.
That same person had their face buried in the snow.
Their arms flailed around. Up and down. So were their legs, going there and back around.
They were making snow angels.
*** PMMFF! FFMMPH! ***
"Pu-hah!" I was pulled back out of the snow by the guards. "Hey! Ms.! Are you okay?" They frantically checked my body for anything out-of-sorts. Their hands patted me down, feeling my skin for anything that seemed remotely wrong. I wanted to thank them. But then again, she's awake now. Best let her get a turn this time around, yeah? "Ah... Who... Where...?" Yup! Beatrice is back in control. Ah, shoot. Gotta explain the sitch to her.
She looked up at the guards. Their faces turned a tad redder than they were earlier. Those pale faces got a fresh coat of pink on them. Kinda looks funny. "Ms., What happened? Are you alright? Did Graves do anything to you?" She paused for a second. She flipped through the memories I made with Graves and his friend. 'What did you do!?' Just had a bit of fun's all. Don't worry too much~ Just say you're fine, and we can go to the town~
"No. Graves didn't do anything to me. He brought me to his home after he saw me sleeping in the cold. I'm fine, but thank you for worrying about me, gentlemen." The guards slipped a glance at us, then at Graves and his friend beside him. One of the guards coughed. "I see. We're very sorry for the disturbance." The bushy-browed guard bowed. He forced the other one to bow too—pushing his back to a straight 90 degrees.
"Natalie's vouched for you, so we'll make an exception and let you in without any identification. Welcome to Frostblade Keep, Ms...?" He raised an open palm in Beatrice's direction, still keeping a slight bow in his posture. "Beatrice. Just Beatrice." She smiled as she shook his hand. Looks like she's going in-cog-ni-to~ Wonder what trouble you're up to. Ya little fiend~ 'Shut up. I can hear you.' You heard that? 'Yes. Now, stop being annoying and stay quiet. That is unless you've something important to say.'
Sheesh.
Tough crowd, huh?
She let go of the Guard's hand. Then she walked to Graves' side. Her stroll was slow and flowy, each step taken filled with all the dignity and elegance beat into her by her etiquette instructor's harsh shouting. Waiting a small second, she looked at Graves. 'Why wasn't he moving?' Her eyes locked with Graves' gaze. One second. Two seconds. Graves' shoulder fell back down the sides of his body. He wiped his forehead—removing a frozen bead of cold sweat he didn't know was there.
He's more comfy with you than me? Oh, I'm sooo hurt~
'Shut it.'
