An Eternal Wintre

Chapter 7

Many Years Ago

Cain throws another snowball at Anai's back, making her scream from the cold. "Oh!" She snarls and runs after him with a shovel. "Come back here!" He only laughs and runs fast, hoping her short legs will make her slow.

Anai catches up with him and trips him with the stick of the shovel. Falling face first in the snow, Cain gets a mouthful of snow and a large weight smashes down on top of him as Anai pins him down. "Give up?" she asks, teasing.

She's tossed aside the shovel to gain a better grip on him. His inner beast wants to rear up its head but he pushes it down as he struggles onto all fours, slowly sinking into the snow.

As he gets up, Anai is rising high on his back and he keeps her there and smiles a mischievous grin. "Hang on," he warns and starts running on his toes and fingers like the wolf he is. She starts laughing feverishly as she grabs tightly onto his shirt.

Adults go about their daily chores, other kids are in school, but Anai and Cain play all day together as if the world couldn't stop them. They weren't uneducated or dumb, Cain's mother homeschooled them, but she was busy with work today so they had a snow day all to themselves.

Cain never grows tired but the cold wind makes Anai's nose run so he slows down and stops them next to the pond in their village. He waits till she gets off and then stands tall, cracking his back and fingers. "You're heavy," he remarks. She smacks his arm hard.

"You're weak," she snaps before smiling softly. "Wanna go swimming?"

"Are you insane? It's Wintre! We'll freeze to death." She only shrugs and starts stripping off her clothes.

"It's not that cold."

"Your nose is running! Hey, get out of the water!" He shouts at her and starts stripping as well before splashing in after her.

When he gets close enough to grab her and pull her back out, she stops laughing and moving, pointing a finger at the opposite side of the large pond's bank. It's not large enough to be a lake but it's seemingly too large to be considered a pond either.

On the other bank sits a wolf with green eyes, watching the two kids. Cain shivers, but not from the cold. Swallowing hard, he pushes through the water and stands beside Anai, clutching her hand in his. She felt ice-cold, as if she were a glacier. "C'mon Anai, let's go back," he whines, almost whimpering like a pup. Anai only shakes her head and pulls on his hand, going towards the wolf.

She doesn't speak as her hand slips through his, taking a step at a time to reach the large creature. With a small, pale hand, she reaches out towards it as if the eyes were those of a friend's. It opens its large mouth, showing off its several rows of teeth and leans towards her, wanting to rip her to pieces.

As Anai gets closer, her fingers mere inches away from being ripped off, Cain yanks her back and smacks her across the face, hard. "Stop it!" he shouts in her face, shaking her fiercely. Her eyes look hollow, her hair wispy. "C'mon. Let's go back now Anai," he pleads, pulling her back the other way to their clothes.

They get dressed in silence and neither speaks as they walk back to Cain's house. Anai is back to normal and smiles at him, the red mark very apparent on her fair skin. "Bye Cain. I had lots of fun today with you." She waves and runs back home, her hair bouncing in its braid against her small back.

Sorrow meets Cain as he walks through the doorway to his house. His mom's nowhere to be found but that's to be expected. "She's probably still at the pond," he mutters to himself, pulling out a piece of bread from the cupboard to eat.