Hilda and the Werepup

Chapter 19 - Christmas Preparation

"Callum! Callum!" Luke bobbed up and down before the open window, calling his brother down below outside. Callum stood outside embracing the cold temperature outside as the afternoon sun shone over Trolberg. He was wearing his orange scarf, folded over the collar of a brown coat, inside he was wearing a red turtleneck sweater; his hands were kept warm by a pair of dark grey fingerless gloves, which were the only gloves he had. Callum exhaled deeply, watching his breath condense in the dry, chilly air; he could feel the wild breeze racing past him, feeling the coldness in his blue denim jeans which were ripped at the knees, and one more small rip lower on his left shin. The design of the jeans made him shiver a bit when he felt the breeze on his bare knees. He turned and looked up, seeing the bouncing white head disappear and reappear as Luke jumped.

"Careful, Luke!" Callum cautioned. "You don't wanna fall!"

"I know, I know..." Luke reassured, "can you and Hilda take me to the playground during our walk? I wanna play with the snow there!"

Right... snow.

Callum had forgotten how much time had passed since he last saw snow. Days had stretched into weeks, then weeks into two months. Two months.

Wow... Callum thought to himself, watching the white flakes sway their way down onto the numerous, soft mini piles of snow on the road. The walkway already looked milk-white. He stood there for a few seconds and took in the dry, minty air before looking back up to see if Luke was still there. 

Luke waved impatiently down at him as though he was trying to signal a reminder to him that he hadn't left yet. Callum smiled, but it abruptly dropped and he felt all the muscles in his body stiffen. Not because of the cold... but because he saw an unusually large figure standing behind Luke. He opened his mouth to warn him but only a frosty breath escaped. The figure stood behind Luke motionlessly, in the shadows.

"L-luke..." Callum coughed, "behind you!"

But it was too late, the dark figure faded away as though its shadow had spread itself to join the darkness around him, and shadows loomed over the small boy before it consumed him whole.

"Luke!" Callum breathed as he immediately threw himself forward towards the entrance of the apartment, only to find himself aggressively turning on what seemed to be soft sheets and before he knew it, his face was an inch away from someone else laying beside him.

"Hilda..." Callum said in a low voice, watching the blue-haired girl in front of him stare with a concerned look on her face.

"Uhh - sorry for disturbing you, just a bad dream, good night." Callum said quickly before turning to the other side of the bed, facing the window. 

It was night. The sky was dyed deep blue. The moon glowed triumphantly above the translucent clouds as the moonlight made the snow stand out. He looked down to see streetlights showing dim, yellow lights, colouring the snow underneath on the road. Snowflakes were silently making their way down slowly and peacefully onto the soft patches of snow - cars were parked neatly on the roadside, snow slowly taking over the surfaces; some cars already had mini mountains on their hoods.

Callum sighed with relief and turned to face the ceiling. That was when he remembered that he was on Hilda's bed. His face quickly faded into a deep blush as his cheeks were flushed. 

How did I even end up here? Callum thought before turning to his head to his right to see Hilda already asleep. She lay there peacefully, snoozing soundly as Callum watched, instantly calmed down, enough to remember that he was told to sleep in Hilda's room because Tontu had accidentally flooded his bedroom toilet, and water had spilled out into the room, and the bedsheets he had folded on the floor were all drenched as well, so Callum couldn't sleep there. He also recalled suggesting to sleep on the sofa, but Hilda insisted, blushing furiously as he remembered, that he sleep with her. With that thought, Callum blinked and his distracted vision focused back on Hilda, whose soft breathing could be faintly heard among the still silence, apart from the gentle wind howling outside.