Red Snow

1

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The tiny, floating orb that provided heat for the chaser's cabin made the room warm and comfortable, but I couldn't stop shivering. Everyone else looked so cozy as they slept under piles of hand-sewn quilts, but I was rigid as a stone. I could have been outside in the arctic snow and feel just as comfortable as I did inside, on a turtle dove-plumage mattress and under a specially insulated red and white quilt.

I sighed. Why did I feel so heavy? Why did I feel like ice? Mika wasn't close to me. I had known her for a day. She was annoying and sarcastic; I should have been relieved she wasn't there, chatting up a storm.

It smells like reign deer turd in here!
I can't sleep with all this snoring!
I'm hungry, can we get a chicken?
I can't sleep, let's build a snowman
I'm not being loud, you are!

I went through the possibilities of what she would have said. Each was annoying, but I still didn't feel relieved. I felt sick and cold.

I could hear the snores from Jova in the bunk under me and the swaying of the storm outside.

She was gone! I kept telling myself it was okay, and we'd eventually get her. I shouldn't have felt attached to her in any way.

But my heart didn't pay attention to logic. It wanted her.

The battle between my heart and my head raged for several hours as I shivered in the dim, orange light. I was exhausted from the crazy day of fighting dragons and going to Utah, but I couldn't sleep. Sleeping was hard on good days; I wouldn't be surprised if I couldn't get a wink of sleep.

But eventually I did. Maybe I had collapsed from exhaustion. I don't know what happened; I just knew that I was able to wake up from something in the morning.

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My dreams at the time were getting extremely weird, and almost terrifying. But I never felt scared. I never felt hurt or confused, no matter how dangerous or strange the situation was. But as soon as I woke up, feelings such as anxiety and panic rose in me like Prancer in a windstorm. Then I felt relief that it was just a dream; not a physical memory.

But I was having a hard time telling what was real and what was imaginary. One time I had a dream that I went sledding with Reesha, but when I mentioned it in our conversation she had no idea what I was talking about. I thought we had gone sledding down the hill behind the reigndeer hangar a few weeks ago.

Each night I prayed that I would be able to tell the difference between dreams and reality.

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My paws felt like they were on fire, but my nose felt like it was frozen with nitrogen. I couldn't see anything but a small, red ribbon tied into a bow on a black background.

The black inked itself to an image; sort of like a magic-color picture where all you had to do was paint some clear, liquidy stuff over a page and colors would magically appear. The image was a close-up of Mika's silvery face. The ribbon had been tied by her ear, and her nose was touching mine. Her eyes were closed like she was enjoying the moment.

She pulled away and my whole body returned to a normal temperature. She opened her blue eyes and smiled. She had on some kind of weird animal dress that Mrs. Claus must have made. I would never admit it was beautiful, but it was pretty. Red thread was woven into delicate lace shaped like snowflakes and reindeers. I guessed it was some kind of throw or cover up. It covered her back and draped to the floor, while the sleeves fit nicely over Mika's shoulders.