The Long Dark- A Journey Through Frozen Hell

Loss

Miho stepped into the wind, looking at all the nearby houses.

"If I was a bank manager, where would I live?" She asked.

With no other choice, she walked to the closest house, trying the lock before checking the next house.

After checking several houses, Miho stuck the key in the lock to find out that it fits.

She quickly turned the lock and walked in.

The sun was beginning to die down, and she work still needed to be done.

Miho quickly searched through the kitchen, grabbing anything from food to books she could burn and more matches than she knew what to do with.

She smiled at the abundance of food she collected. Even though it was not much, this was more than she was finding.

Miho walked around the house, opening drawers and looking on shelves for the code until she walked I to the home office.

She searched through the drawers to find a sticky note with a code.

"Yes!" She said, taking the note and rushing out of the house.

The sun was now barely hanging in the sky with wolves howling in the distance.

Miho ran to the bank, wanting to find out why she had gone through all this trouble.

She walked inside the bank, walked to the vault, and put in the code.

The vault made a loud clang and unlocked.

Miho opened the door and into the deposit boxes, looking at the key number for the box before unlocking it.

Miho looked inside and pulled out a smaller box.

"Grey Mother's box. I should take this to her." Miho said to herself.

She walked to the glass and looked up to see a blizzard had set in.

Miho was now getting sick of this weather change. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself and went out.

The wind almost knocked her over as she pushed forward, following the outline of the road to Grey Mother's house, which was just on top of the hill.

The wind started soaking her clothes, making them stick to her skin as she pushed forward.

Still, she was determined to get there.

Miho made it to the top of the hill, grabbed onto the beam and pulled herself up, and opened the door, quickly getting inside.

Miho looked down at her clothes to see they were now soaked, sticking to her skin and freezing.

Worse yet, Miho started to feel hot.

Realizing she was starting to get hypothermia, she quickly removed her jacket and pants, pulling off her boots as well and folding them before walking into the living room with Grey Mother and set them down by the fire.

"I got it, Grey Mother. I got your deposit box." Miho said.

"Please, give me the box." Grey Mother said.

Miho handed it to her as she opened it.

Grey Mother held up a necklace that rattled in the dark room.

Miho felt disappointed. She almost died for that?

"Jewlery? I don't understand."

"You have done more for me than you would ever know, Miho. These pearls were my Lily's." Grey Mother said.