A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Fifty Two}

Near Death Experience

January 2nd, 2018

Ashley

(Below is what I imagined Snow to look like in the story)

The smells of summer flowers welcome me as well as the small butterflies and white moths fluttering about my face. Suddenly, I'm not where I thought I was. Instead of sitting in the colony under the darkness and the cold of snow, I'm sitting in a grassy field under the sunlight and warmth of the rays that shine down on my face. The grass around me is tall, green and full of life and waving in the wind.

I reach down in it, feeling it tickle my fingertips and thighs where I sat.

But something was missing, something important.

I was looking around, only seeing endless sunny hills and nobody beside me. Where was civilization? Where were the houses, the lights, the snow even?  Suddenly I felt weightless and with a sigh, laid back in the tall grass and closed my eyes.

I slowly stir to the sound of a light cry and then a muffled whisper. I felt frozen suddenly, not expecting the harsh cold from a place that had just seemed so warm and full of sunlight. I shuffle more under a blanket, searching desperately for the warmth I needed. The pain in my lower body nearly seems to attack me though, and I make a sound of discomfort.

Slowly, I began to wake enough to begin recalling the events that took place yesterday, the certain events that were to blame for the pain I was experiencing. Without the pain medication and sedatives to help me along through the labor, it turned out to be a long one. And almost unbearable at that. The pain was so excruciating, and with nobody by my side to comfort me except for the repeated word "Push!" I had nearly given up.

Testing the waters slowly, I move my legs into a more comfortable position and allow my eyes to open. The sight next to me makes me feel like I've been hit with the reality train. And on that train carried a ton of weight and the words:

This is it. Your life has officially begun, and now there's no turning back.

On Mike's strong and pasty white chest laid another life with the same colored skin. It's as if right now, I weren't even here. The look on Mike's face was saying it all, and he was oblivious to everything that wasn't his daughter on his chest. He seemed immune to the cold, for the only blanket was the knitted white one laying over the back of Snow.

He was holding her small fist as she slept, staring down at her with his icy eyes full of love and admiration.

I shiver violently as a draft blows in from the open window and the movement is enough to bring Mike out of his oblivion.

With a small look of concern he grabs the blanket that had fallen to my waist and slowly tugs it up above my shoulder. The edge of it tickles my chin and I let a small smile show to him.

"Isn't she supposed to be asleep in the crib?" I ask softly, pulling the blanket tighter around me.

I watch as a tint of pink color rises in his face and he looks down to the sleeping bundle with soft eyes and a shy smile.

"Well, I thought that the child may want some company...or that she may have been cold, or hungry" I run a hand up and down his arm as he spoke, an embarrassed smile accentuating his features.

"She would have cried out if she were any of those things. Go on, now. Put her back and cover her up. And then come back to the bed, I'm cold" With a small defeated sigh, I watch as he stands from the bed and walks carefully across the room to the open window.

He places snow down in her crib and covers her with another blanket before closing the window quietly as to not to disturb the little one's sleep.

After coming back to the bed He pressed his cold chest to my back, causing me to shiver.

"Jesus, you're like a block of ice" He pulls the blanket over us and wraps an arm tightly across my chest.

"She's so beautiful..." Changing the subject, I smile a little at the words, gazing over my shoulder at him as he began to twirl a piece of my hair around his finger.

His eyes never left or faltered from the crib under the window, the moonlight brightening the face of fresh Snow.

"Like you. Beautiful like you, I mean. And soft.." His fingers trace the skin on my neck and chest "And warm like a little furnace in your arms. She's like a little deer, you know? Like a little fawn, so innocent and young. With your big doe eyes lighting up her face" When he had stopped speaking I leaned my forehead into his neck, a signal for him to continue.

"And she has hair!" He spoke with enthusiasm and I erupted with quiet giggles as I began to shush him quietly.

He smiles down at me now with a sort of demeanor.

"She is quite beautiful though, isn't she? So small and fragile that when I hold her I'm afraid she may break" His smile had faded by now as his thumb stroked the warm skin of my cheek.

"Like you...how I felt when I first held you in my arms. You seemed so small, and weak and innocent. Warm like a furnace and those big doe eyes staring up at me with messages I hadn't quite deciphered yet" I touched his face, not quite understanding where he was going with his speech.

Suddenly, his eyes grew soft and curious and his brows furrowed.

"Do you think...do you think that she'll like me? Or will she think me a monster?" I frowned and wrapped a tight arm around his neck, cradling his head against my shoulder.

"You're her father, an no one else has the honor of calling themselves that except you. If she's raised in this world, knowing what she is and what surrounds her, then she won't fear you. She'll feel normal, like she belongs"

He lifts his head to look at me and meet my eyes.

"And so you feel that way? Like you belong here? In the colony? With me...and her?" I nod.

"I do"

A long kiss is shared, and would have been longer had the shadow of a figure not appeared in the doorway.

With hesitation Mike sits up and I peek around him to address the visitor.

It's face is hidden by the darkness, but an alarm had begun to ring inside of me as first words were spoken.

"My...she is quite beautiful, isn't she?" Mike leapt from the bed, and with stealth made his way to the crib.

I swallowed something hard and watched whatever was about to happen.

My own child is pushed softly into my arms as Mike stood beside the bed with a stiff posture.

"You've stolen my pride, my honor to be your brother, and a promise I had made to kill you once before...you'll not steal my child, too"