“Sis… I can’t run anymore.” The boy’s voice was barely a whisper, his breath coming in ragged bursts.
“No. We have to keep running. We can’t stop here,” the girl said, tightening her grip on his hand.
The two siblings ran barefoot through the frozen forest, hands locked together as they pushed through the snow. Their bodies trembled with exhaustion, their lungs burned for air, but they refused to slow down.
The boy’s hand was bleeding, crimson drops falling onto the snow and leaving a trail behind them. Deep scratches cut across his skin, as if something with sharp claws had torn through it.
The girl was injured too. Her clothes were dusted with snow and dirt. She had fallen more than once, pulling her brother back to his feet each time.
Tears streamed down the boy’s face, soaking his cheeks as he struggled to keep up.
His sister squeezed his hand tightly.
“Don’t worry, Wox. I will protect you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“But… sis…” Wox choked out between breaths. “That guy is a monster. He killed everyone in our village.”
Everyone in their village was dead. The old man who always gave them bread. The woman who taught Wox how to carve wood. The children he played with every day.
“Yes. He is a monster. He slaughtered everyone. Men… women… even children.” Her voice hardened. “Someone like that doesn’t deserve to live.”
She wanted to say more. Wanted to curse him, curse the world, curse whatever god let this happen.
But then she felt it.
The monster was closing in. And there was no time left to say anything at all.
She stopped running and turned toward her brother.
Wox stopped too, his bare feet slipping on the snow. “W-what is it, sis?” he asked nervously, noticing the change in her expression. “Are you tired?”
She did not answer at first. Just looked at her brother’s scared face, his bleeding hand.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. Then she gently placed her hand on her fifteen-year-old brother’s head.
“Wox.” Her voice was calm, but her eyes were urgent. “Look at me. That guy is coming for us. You have to hide.”
“W-what? Why only me? What about you, sis?”
“If I hide with you, he’ll find us both. So I’ll distract him.” She said it like it was simple, like it was not a death sentence. “If we stay together, we both die. This way… maybe you live.”
Wox shook his head desperately, tears pouring down his face. “No! No, sis, you can’t do that! If you do that, you’ll… you’ll…”
“And if I don’t,” she interrupted, her voice soft but firm, “we both die. And I will not let my little brother die here. Not today. Not by some monster.”
Wox threw his arms around her, hugging her so tightly it might hurt her bruises.
“Sis… I don’t want to lose you.” His voice came out muffled against her shoulder. “You’re the only one I have. What am I supposed to do without you?”
Wox pulled back just enough to look at her, wiping his tears with his injured hand, smearing blood across his cheek without noticing. “If we’re going to die, then we die together. And if we live, we live together. That’s how it should be.”
Hearing her little brother talk like that, she wanted to cry. Wanted to hold him and never let go. But there was no time.
“Don’t talk like that, Wox.” Her voice trembled. “You have to live. Remember what you always said? You’re going to build a big house someday. A really big one.”
“What does a big house matter if you’re not in it?”
Comments (6)
See all