Red Snow

2

I think I woke up a few hours past noon. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. I remember feeling like the sun was above my head, even though I couldn't see it.

That was the first thing I thought when I blasted up from my back to my feet. The second thing was Where the heck am I? Better yet, what's going on? Who am I?

It took me several minutes to register my surroundings. My mind was racing, trying to grab details from thoughts. My mind settled on memories that I thought may be useful as they were suddenly ripped away from me to be quickly replaced by another thought.

My body slowly took notes of where I was. It was cold. The floor felt solid. The air was cold, stifling the breath in my lungs. It was so cold that a tiny storm cloud pushed between my lips and into the air. It reminded me of a dragon puffing smoke.

Then I was able to recall a memory from my cubhood. Mom, you never let me do anything! Mika and Dacelle always get to play! I think my brother Kodak had said that. He had fallen in the river the day before, and mom didn't let him out of the cave so his newly developed cough and incessant shivering wouldn't get worse. The next day he complained about staying cooped up inside when me and my sister went out to play.

But who am I? I wondered. I'm sure I have a name. Is it Dacelle or Mika? They were both girl names, but which one was mine? I don't know. Maybe I should flip a tree branch or something.

Instinctively I looked around for something to flip. Nothing but chunks of rock and ice.

It looked like I was in some sort of cave or hollow. More like a bowl with a lid on it. A bowl big enough to fit several kiloliters of milk and cereal. The floor and walls were made of gray, ragged stone, but ice covered the entire roof in a sparkling sheet. It covered the upper part of the walls in thick blobs, but as it drew over the top and came to the center it became thin enough to see through. A mammoth could have stood on the sides without a single crack, but I wouldn't trust anything heavier than an elf on the center.

Blue light sparkled through frozen air bubbles in the center. The sides nearest to the wall were dark as a closet. It was terminally cold everywhere except for where I had lain; like a small, fading candle flame in the middle of an arctic ocean.

But I wasn't that cold. When I think about it, I don't think I've ever felt really cold. A few times when I was a cub and I didn't have my real fur, or when I ran in the river, (boy, was that fun or what?) but most of the time my body temperature was either just right or scalding hot.

I remember when I had ran over the ice horses. Minutes later my paws were back to normal and my entire pelt was hot. Maybe I had a resistance to cold or something.

But I still was reluctant to move from my warm little island. Until I heard a shaky cough from a dark corner.

I shot my head towards its source. I didn't hear another cough. I thought there was nothing there at first, but after staring into the dark, I noticed white fur gleaming softly with each rise and fall of breath.

"Hello?" I called out. My voice was hoarse. I didn't like the way it bounced off the walls, becoming metallic with each echo.

No reply, but I did see a flick of a pointed ear.

"I know you're alive." I said dryly.

"They can't hear me if I keep quiet." She said to herself. Was she crazy or something?

"Hey, you can be quiet all you want, but I can hear everything you say. If you want to go unheard then you should keep your creepy remarks to yourself."

She whipped her head to the side. I could recognize her form better now; she was obviously a wolf, and I wasn't sure how long she had been staring at that wall.