The Snow That Night

Chapter 4-- This is Not Heaven

Glacier woke up staring into a blank wall.

Where am I? Heaven?

"Glace!" A warm familiar voice came from the other side. It was Ocean, who seemed to be by her side the entire time.

"You're awake! Are you feeling ok? Do you need some water?"

Glacier smiled and nodded. This is her older twiin brother, who is closer to her than anyone else in the world. He looks about the same, except maybe a bit more tired, but still wearing the same smile on his face and his glowing, vibrant... Gray eyes?

Tears started streaming down Glacier's face as she thought of how she could've died back there.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain?" Ocean came back with a glass of water. Glacier shook her head and choked on her words, "I just though I would never have the chance to fulfill that promise I made with you."

"Oh Glace." Ocean walked over and hugged Glacier tightly, gently soothing her while she sobs into his clothes. Ocean still had a bit of charred smell lingering around him. When she finally calms down, he pulls her away.

Glacier gave herself a hard sniffle, "How did we get here" She can tell that everything in the room is high quality, and there's no way the orphanage looked anything this fancy. Plus the orphanage had probably burned to the ground by now.

"You should ask him." Ocean gestured to a man behind him. He is tall, his face is stern, yet his eyes are filled with warmth when he looks at the kids. He doesn't look too old, maybe in his early thirtoes. Dressed in a long black cloak, it is easy to tell that the cloak is made to cover up, instead of keeping warmth.

The man sloly approached her. "You must be Glacier, Ocean told me about you." Glacier shot Ocean a look, he should know that they should never approach or trust anyone. Ocean avoided eye contact.

Glacier internally sighed, this brother of hers always lets his guard down. She's afraid one day someone might kidnap him away with soething as simple as candy. But of course that would'nt happen; she would never let that happen.

Glacier looked at the man alarmingly and nodded, "And you are? Why are we here?"

The man's fce softened, not answering her question but started speaking out of the blue, "You two have grown so big. The time in the orphanage must have been rough." he sighed. Glacier perked up. 'Grown so big?' She doesn't remember this man in her life at all. No one who came by the orphanage had ever wanted to adopt them both either.

"Who are you?"

The man laughed, he had a very deep laugh, like he heard something funny, his stern face lightens just laughing. "You are still full of spikes I see. Anyway, I am the one who found you in the mountains, the one who delivered you to the steps of that orphanage. I knew it was a bad idea to send you there, those people didn't seem like they'd treat kids well..."

"Wait, you put us on the steps? You found us?" The twins were holding their breaths, maybe he know who they are, where they really came from. Ever since they came to understand the world, they didn't seem to fit in, like there's a place they long for, but they don't know where. "Yes, I did."

"Please tell us about all you know about us sir, we'll do anything?"

"Don't make such promises, you can never be sure that you can fullfill it. But since you've already made the offer, I'll accept it, you two owe me." The man clears his throat, "I was running away from some... people in those mountains, when I was running out of places to hide, that's when I saw a well, and I lowered myself in it. When I got to the bottom I realized it was dried up, so hid myself under the pile of dried grass, and I found a wooden box sitting under it also. After the footsteps had gone away, I fished out the box. I thought it would be a great surprise if it was a box of gold or treasure of some sort. What was in there was definitely a great surprise, I can tell you that... It was two babies!!"

"Us..." Occean and Glacier said at the same time; eyes widened.

The man nodded, "I was going to just leave you guys there, but that's when your necklaces started to glow," the man pointed to the jade sitting in Ocean's hands. "It was so bright, I'm sure it was to be seen through the sky. I had a crazy thought back there that it might bring all things bathed in that light good luck, so I felt the sudden responsibility to get you guys to saftey, and I took you to the nearest safe place I could find..."

"to the orphanage." The twins interrupte once more in unison.

"Wait, so you don't actually know anything about us?"

"No, sorry. Youwere just kids I happened have met..."

Ocean and Glacier's shoulders slumped, their eyes dimmed a little.

"But, I happened to be an archaeologist and a merchant. I gave onlook at those jades and they do tell a story. They are an heirloom, the only source to your identity, yes?"

Slight nods.

"If you can trace it then you can prbably find what you are looking for,in fact, my boss has a very high interest at the things you are holding, that day when he saw that I was holding two babies with the necklaces, I could see his eyes shining!" The man l aughed at the memory, "I'll probably never see that face again!"

"Boss? Who's that? Did he see you rescue us? What about our jade that makes his eyes shine? And you never told us why you saved us from the fire..."

"Look, I know you prbably have tons of questions right now, but how about you two go clean yourselves up, and grab something to eat, I'll answer all your questions on the dining table." Glacier takes a look at herself, then at Ocean. They were covered in dirt and dust, there were some burnt marks and scratches here and there. Their stomachs are protesting right now. Maybe the questions can hold on a little later.

(I know there's probably tons of mistakes but I wrote this on mobile so I'll fix this as soon as I can.)