Snow White

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Once the eight of us have gotten back to the cottage, I've started to make dinner. Since I was at the mines all day, I didn't get a chance to prepare anything fancy, so a quick chicken soup is heating up on the stove.

   While we wait for dinner, the dwarfs and I sit on the squished-together beds and share memories.

   "So how did all of you meet?" I ask cheerfully.

   I've been dying to ask this question but I never got the chance to.

   Quert starts to laugh. "What do you mean meet? We've known each other from birth!" he says and keeps chuckling.

   "Wait are you guys all brothers?" I ask with wide eyes.

   "Kind of, it's complicated," Grub laughs.

   My green eyes get even wider. "You guys need to explain! I've told you guys practically every detail about my life, I wanna know about you all." I say.

   We've got about twenty minutes until the soup is ready, they might as well give me a dwarf history lesson.

   "Think of us dwarfs like a litter of puppies. There's a woman whom the dwarfs refer to as Mother Dwarf and she gives birth to a litter of us every few years," Flint explains. "Once we're around ten years old, Mother Dwarf lets us go on our own and we usually find our way to the White Kingdom."

   "That's interesting!" I exclaim. "So, the seven of you were one of her litters? You were all born at the same time?"

   "Yep," Barnaby smiles.

   "And if you're gonna compare us to puppies, Flint, then you have to admit that you're the runt!" Chuck laughs.

   "Woah, woah, woah! Don't even go there!" Flint argues.

   I just sit back and laugh at them all starting to argue about who's the smallest and who was the most loved by their Mother Dwarf.

   "So, Snow, what was your relationship like with your mom?" Copper asks me with a sweet smile.

   "My mother was the kindest person in the world. She would always put others before herself, and every day I try to be like her. I loved her so much, but she loved me more. I miss her so much," I smile, thinking about the woman who shaped me into the person I am.

"Snow, darling, can you come here for just a second?" Mother asks me as she's sitting on her bed.

   She's the sickest I've ever seen her. Mother's face is swollen and pale, which throws me off guard. Everyone else in our family is pale, but not Mother. Her skin is usually tanned, but not anymore, the sickness has changed her. The color of her skin isn't the only thing that's changed though, her eyes have too and it's scary. The green color is faded away by the redness in her sclera.

   The past few months haven't been the same now that she's sick, and just looking at her breaks my heart. I just want her to get better. I want her to survive. But right now, things aren't looking so good.

   "Of course, Mother," I say and sit on the edge of her bed.

   I notice a bowl of soup on her nightstand and I pick it up. "Are you hungry?" I ask.

   "No, I just, I just need to rest," she says and lets out a huge sigh.

   Her swollen eyes shut and her head sinks down deep into her pillow as she dozes off into a slumber.