Sickly Sweet

Snow White

Words echoed in his head, bouncing inside his skull. Lana. Princess. Dead. Sophie. Alone.

They emanated there, booming within him. No matter what he did, he could not shut them out. There was no telling where exactly they sprouted from, yet somehow he knew exactly where they were produced.

They came from his heart.

All of these words meant something to him - something it would take hours to describe. It wasn't a moment in time that conjured these thoughts, but some sort of breakthrough.

A breakthrough of him waking to the real world.

In the real world, people die. People leave others behind. And Lochlan was convinced that his life before this moment had simply been a dream.

There was no telling how long they'd stay there, or how many more would join them. But he knew that somehow he must conquer these mangled thoughts or they would consume him from the inside out.

He shifted his position in the freezing cloths and tried to push these dreary ideas from his head. But they were not the only thing on his mind. This would be a very hard winter, for many reasons.

First there was Sophie. The girl who broke his heart. She befriended him and took advantage of his hospitality before leaving him alone to die.

Then there was Lana. The girl who did die. Lochlan could be severely punished and accused of killing her after being the shadowy accomplice near her dead body.

Lastly, food. It was the winter, and meals were getting harder and harder to find. He thought back to last year when he resorted to rummaging through trash cans.

Lochlan shivered in disgust. Never again.

Picking up the soiled blanket by one finger, he wrapped it tighter around his cold body. It was freezing outside, as the temperature had dropped to mid 30s.

A small shout came from outside the window and Lochlan reluctantly stood up, walking to the smudged glass. Wiping it away with his blanket, he squinted and scanned the landscape.

Outside, the winds were pushing feeble trees to their limits and causing birds to dip up and down in the air. A figure stood in the shadows, screams emanating from its mouth.

"Hang on! I'm coming!"

He shouted, making his way to the door. Opening the rotting entranceway, he squinted and began trudging toward the person.

"Help! Help! Help!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He waved his arms in the air and reached out, only a few feet away.

"Hurry, grab my arm."

A small, cold hand latched onto his elbow and Lochlan winced, shivering. "I'm taking you to my house."

The stranger nodded his head and he sighed, dragging him back to the lonely hovel.

"It's not much, but it's warmer and safer than being out here."

Focusing his vision on the small figure, he analyzed a small boy with jet-black hair, skin white as snow, and cherry red lips.

"Snow," he muttered underneath his breath. About a week ago, during her stay, Sophie had told him about one of her fables. Snow White. It was targeted at a young girl with skin white as snow, hair black as night, and lips red as blood.

"Help... Please..." the young boy breathed, leaning against him.

"It's alright, I've got you."

Carrying him back to the shack, Lochlan held the creature tight with one arm and opened the doorknob with the other.

"See? That wasn't so bad."

Setting him down carefully on the hard stone ground, he watched as the boy tried to get comfortable.

"My... My head..."

Frowning, Lochlan leaned closer.

"Huh?"

He groaned and slowly flipped onto his stomach. Lochlan's jaw dropped.

"Holy..."

In the back of his head, just above the neck, there was a gaping wound. Blood trickled onto the floor and he winced at the sight of bone.

"Is that... Your skull?!?"

"I'm not going to make it," the boy groaned. "I need nectar."

"But the only places with abundant nectar are the arena and the palace. I can't just-"

"Please..."

"Dammit."

Lochlan heaved a huge sigh and patted the boy's arm.

"I'll be back... Unless the King gets me first."

"Thank - thank you," he croaked, gingerly placing his head on the ground and looking up at him. Lochlan turned to the door, pausing.

"Hey, kid. What's your name?"

"..."

He pivoted and leaned in to the boy.

"If I'm going to help you, I need your name."

He winced and quietly squeaked,"Maude."

"Uh.. Isn't that a girl's name?"

Maude gulped hard and looked as if he were holding back tears. "My... Mom was expecting... A girl. Please... Help me."

His features softened.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry."

And with that, he turned and exited the small house, expecting to find a dead body when he returned.

(A/N)

OHMYGOSH! THANK ALL OF YALL SOOOOOO MUCH!

I'm super psyched that I reached 200 reads! And I apologize for not updating in the last week and also for this super short one. Ski week messed up my writing schedule.

Anyways, please check out hopebake. She writes my favorite books on wattpad!

Also, thanks to upuliwick for supporting me :)

Keep writing, all of you!

Love,

Jules :D