Snow and Fiu has been outside for quite some time now. They’re both freezing, but for some reason, neither of them is brave enough to ask the other to go inside. Instead, Snow asks “Do you want to go on a walk in the forest?” Her ears flattened against her scalp and her tail twitched back and forth in nervousness.

  Fiu looked stunned for a second, but then answered with “Uh, sure.”

  Both her ears and tail perked up in delight. “Great!” She exclaimed with excitement clear in her voice. “Let’s go right now, then. I’ll lead the way.”

  With that, Snow was already turned around, headed towards the path leading deep into the heart of these mountains. Fiu quickened his pace to catch up to Snow, not wanting to be left behind. As they were making their way through the woods, Fiu couldn’t help but to be completely amused by the empty scenery unfolding around them. There was no life except for some of the ever-green plants, yet everything seemed to thrive. “How peaceful,” he thought.

  Suddenly, Snow’s voice broke the peaceful silence in the air. “Say, would you mind talking about what you were like?” Fiu slowly turned his head towards Snow, who was walking in front of him by a few steps.

  “What was I like? That’s a hard question.” He murmured the last part more to himself than to Snow.

  “Just think about what you liked doing. I mean, before all of this happened.”

  “Hm… I guess I liked reading a lot.”

  Snow patiently waited for him to continue, but no further sentences came from behind her. “Is that all?” She turned her head sideways to glance back at Fiu.

  “Yeah, I guess. It’s hard to talk about yourself like that, you know?”

  “Understandable.” She nodded a few times and turned back to look at the path. “I guess I’ll just have to learn more about you by spending time with you.” A slight blush crept up her cheeks. In response, Fiu raised an eyebrow for a second.

  “I’d like to see you try and crack my mind open. I still have to figure my thoughts out myself, too.” He admitted, feeling a pang of shame. But shame is meaningless now, isn’t it?

  Neither of them made any more effort to continue the conversation, Snow just nodded in understanding and Fiu just didn’t say anything else either, because he was already getting disinterested in holding a conversation with her.

  They finally almost reached the peak of one of the mountains. The trees were getting scarcer and the sky clearer.

  Snow inhaled a big load of air through her nose and slowly exhaled with a content humming sound. “Ah! This has always been my favorite place.” She said with barely contained excitement. She swirled around, hands clasped behind her back as she was leaning slightly forward. Her white hair fell around her shoulders, slightly covering one of her eyes, but she gently tucked a strand of hair that was obscuring her vision backwards. “Do you, too, like this scenery?”

  Fiu stopped in his tracks and answered in a cold tone “It’s not bad, I guess.”

  His answer was vague and lacking emotion, but Snow still felt that it was enough. She grabbed Fiu’s wrist and tugged him along to the side of the mountain peak. She plopped down on the rocky edge and pulled Fiu down, too.

  “I could just stay here and stare down this valley all day long.” She said in a futile attempt to start small talk.

  Fiu nodded in agreement, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. His mind was filled with thoughts—about his death, the strange whispers he heard, and even… Snow.

  “Look,” she started, “I know it’s hard to process everything that’s going on right now. But I’m guessing you’re not this reclusive usually.” She said with her head turned away. Her concern was genuine, but when she was surprised—even frightened—that she could care this much for a complete stranger. Then finally, she slowly turned her head to look Fiu deep in the eyes. “Have I done something wrong?”

  She was ready to change her whole personality to make this stranger feel more at ease with their situation.

  “No, it’s not because of you,” even he couldn’t believe his own words when his mind was so messy.

  Snow nodded and turned away once again, clearly not convinced by his answer. But she wanted to trust, to believe.

  As lassitude completely overpowered Fiu, he closed his eyes with a deep sigh. Then, a dreading, warm embrace enveloped his body.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “You will be alright. Fret not me, but her instead.” Whispered the same voice from earlier.

  At this point, Fiu was so tired mentally that he thought all of this was just his mind playing tricks on him. “Tell me this is just a bad joke.” He mumbled weakly to himself. Snow didn’t know what to do in a situation like this, so she just kept her mouth closed and let Fiu grieve in silence.

  “Oh, but this isn’t a joke. It feels real, doesn’t it? The warmth, my voice…”

  Fiu squeezed his eyes shut to try to shield out the voice. An action that neither make sense or worked.

  “I ought to go now. I’ll pay you a visit later,… Fiu.” With that, the warm embrace slowly ended and the biting cold took over Fiu’s body again.

  “How does it know my name? What does it want from me?” Only those and similar sentences were the ones that Fiu could think about.

  He suddenly stood up in frustration. In response, Snow’s head jerked toward him, eyebrows raised and ears perked up. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could even begin, she was cut short by Fiu. “We can come back tomorrow, or after that, or whenever, but please let’s go… home now.”

  Snow stood up hesitantly, but nodded in surprisement, her tail started slowly twitching from side to side once again. “Ah, sure. But why?”

  Caught off guard by the question, Fiu shook his head and tried to make up a quick lie. “I’m just feeling a bit tired.” Eh, maybe that wasn’t even a lie, at all.

  “Alright.” The tension left her shoulders and her voice took on a warmer tone. “It’s starting to get late anyways.” She started walking back on the path they came and Fiu fell into step next to her.

  As they made their way back to the foot of the mountain, the sun began its slow surrender. Fiery slashes of crimson and orange bled across the western sky, painting the undersides of the clouds before softening into bruised purples and finally, the dusty grey of twilight. Shadows danced on the forest floor from the rustling of pine leaves caused by the wind. The peaks opposite to them were no longer lit up, but just dark silhouettes instead. Everything looked and felt like evening.

  About half an hour has passed since they’ve began their journey back to the cabin, and they’ve finally arrived at their destination.

  Fiu slowly opened the door, only to be met by the same cold as outside. Snow looked bamboozled, but they both stepped inside. Fiu sat down on the couch and Snow went to the bathroom. And there she saw it: she left the bathroom window open. She quickly closed it and walked into the living room again.

  Snow rubbed the back of her head, ears flattening against her head and tail swishing close over the ground. She started speaking in an apologetic tone “I may or may not have left a window open.” She gave an embarrassed giggle to Fiu.

  “It’s alright.” That’s all he responded with, mostly because he was bothered by bigger things.

  She exhaled slowly in relief and her shoulders plumped in relaxation. “I’m glad.” Now, she had to figure out what to do to spend some time until she was tired enough to sleep again. “I’m going to take a shower. No peeping, okay?”

  The thought haven’t even crossed Fiu’s mind, but it was understandable why she’d say that. After all, there’s a stranger in her house now. “Understood.” He replied in a distant voice.

  With that, Snow had gone to grab her pajamas and a second later she was already under the running shower.

  When Fiu was certain that Snow couldn’t hear him from the sound of water flowing, he started hesitantly speaking to thin air. “So, are you going to pay that promised visit to me?”

  At the words, a black liquid-like thing started falling from the ceiling like snowflakes. The liquid morphed and flowed until it started vaguely resembling the shape of a human. “Here I am.”

  Sweat broke out on Fiu’s hand and he took a step back, as the dark figure made him feel threatened. He swallowed hard before starting “W-Who are you? And why are you around me?” His mouth suddenly felt dry.

  “It’s simple really. I want to keep you safe from that greedy b-… Snow.” The figure replied in the same monotone voice. “As for my name, it’s Micella.” She took a step towards Fiu, he followed suit and also stepped back, but his leg bumped against the couch, which he fell on with a strangled yelp.

  “Oh. You’re afraid? That’s most unfortunate. I really am only here to help you.” Micella said as her barely held together liquid form morphed slightly. Her voice was strained and tired, it even wavered.

  “I-I’m not afraid.” A lie. A blatant, half-assed lie.

  “Hopefully, you’ll grow to be comfortable with me being around you. You might even start to love me.” She said with another dark chuckle. “But I must go again. Snow is about to finish and we wouldn’t want her to see me here.” Her form already started disappearing into thin air.

  “Wait!” He practically begged in a horse tone and jumped up from the couch. “Why must she not see?” He was practically yelling the last part.

  “…” No response came. After all, how could air respond?

  Fiu looked around, but the figure that was there just a second ago really did disappear. He plumped back into the embrace of couch in defeat. Questions left unanswered and his mind terrified.

  A few minutes later, Snow got out of the bathroom in her light blue pajamas. There was a towel thrown around her shoulders, so the water from her hair doesn’t drip on clothes. “Did something happen? I heard you talking.” She tilted her head to the side slightly.

  “Oh, I was just talking to myself. It’s and old habit of mine.” He declared lazily, the sentence ended in a yawn accustomed by a stretch. “Now who’s the liar? Me, or Snow?” He wondered.

  “I see.” In response to Fiu’s yawn, she had to let one out, too. “Tiredness is contagious.” She thought.

  Snow walked to the kitchenette, took out a glass from a cupboard, and filled it with water. She lifted the glass of water to her lips and slowly tilted her head back. As she was swallowing, her throat muscles bobbed slowly.

  “Tell me,” Fiu started. “Where will I be sleeping?”

  Snow put the cup down and turned towards him. “On the couch, like earlier, or you can sleep in my room, while I stay on the couch. Whichever you prefer.” She said with a smile, waiting for his answer.

  “The couch is alright.” He replied flatly and already started splaying over the couch.

  Snow turned off the light in the living room and walked towards her room, pausing just before entering. She looked back and hesitantly said “Goodnight.”

  “Yeah, goodnight.” He returned the gesture, though there was no meaning behind it.

  “Goodnight.” Replied a third person, only heard by Fiu.