"Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song, high above the trees... Do you know what I know?" * ❆*
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PART THREE Do You Hear What I Hear?
I awoke to a warmth around me.
Confused, I jerked out of my restless sleep, eyes snapping wide open as I shot upwards — only for my vision to immediately focus on a familiar figure sitting a few feet in front of me, his head carefully bounded with his slightly readjusted mask.
He was gazing out at the world of white through the crack in the barn door, the night's snowstorm having undone some of my work of keeping it shut.
At my loud gasp he turned to face me with a pained smile, just as I tackled him in a hug.
"LEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"M-Mky, nwed aiw-"
"Oh right! Sorry dude," I yelped, wheeling away from him. "You're alive!"
A frown replaced my relieved grin as he seemingly struggled for breath, leaning into himself ever slightly and clutching at his head. A deep, crackling cough wracked his body for a few moments. I shivered.
"Re-really, ha... Wha-what...?" He trailed off, cut off by his own coughing.
"Oh! You want to know what happened??" I questioned, leaning towards him once more.
He nodded weakly, lethargically laying back down on the hay. His eyes shut tight. I noticed the discarded brown blanket beside him, right where I'd lain; the warmth around me before I'd jumped up must have been from it. He gave it to me. Really, bro? It had to have been shortly ago, though.
"First, when did you wake up?" I questioned, trying to get rid of my frown before he could see it.
There were a few moments of silence, and just as I began to think he'd fallen unconscious again and felt a rise of panic, he spoke softly.
"... Couple minutes ago... couldn't get fire back..."
Indeed, when I glanced back a few feet in front of us, the pile of charred wood was dead. It must have burned out recently; it had still been going all of the previous times I'd woken up. I snagged the stick and stone that were still laying off to the side before opening my mouth to explain to him the events.
