An Alaskan Midnight

Chapter 14

Eddy woke up shivering. Desperately he clung to Brett from the cold. Except Brett wasn't there -- the only thing in his arms was a blanket.

"Brett?" Eddy called. He searched the kitchen. No one. "Brett??" Eddy whimpered. He searched the bedroom. No one. "Brett please!" Eddy cried. Desperately he searched everywhere -- under the bed, in the closet. No one. Immediately he looked outside. There Brett was, with a pack of exhausted, shivering dogs and a stack of wood. 

"Brett!" Eddy ran out the door, not caring that he didn't have a coat on. As he came closer, he realized just how weak Brett was. His legs trembled, giving way to the snow. "I-I just wanted you to be able to survive Christmas so you could see Lucy again," he whimpered.

Eddy ran up to Brett and held him in his arms. "Brett, please, I need to bring you inside." He tried desperately to pull him back up, but he was too weak from the cold and lack of food for the past several days. He tried to carry him, only falling back in the snow in a heap.

"Eddy, it's okay," Brett whispered. "I'm ready to go now." After taking a moment to regain some strength, he spoke again. "Eddy, I'm really sorry about how I treated you. I doubted you, and even though you made some mistakes, you are the most incredible person I know. I wish I could be here for you longer, get to know you more, but at least you can be alive. Please, please forgive me."

"But Brett, I was the one who did wrong. I'm the one who killed us, I can't," Eddy cried.

"Please, Eddy, please forgive me before I die," Brett whispered desperately.

For a moment, Eddy hesitated. Then he looked down at Brett, ready. "I,I-"

Brett had already died.

The greatest stab of grief and guilt coursed through Eddy's body. Collapsing on the ground, still holding the limp body in his arms, he yelled out into the lonely night in despair and heartbreak. His friend, the one person he knew in life, was dead.

Should he go back in the house? Eddy thought about it for a moment. But then he realized, he was no longer able to live like this. He had already died inside.

So he stayed there, still holding Brett in his arms. "Please, Brett, I forgive you, I forgive you!" He cried. "Please come back, so I can see you one last time."
He never came back.

For a moment Eddy just sat there, completely grieved. Then he remembered, life before he had met Brett. It seemed to be so long ago, impossible that he actually had a life before meeting him, but he did. He remembered the church service, how the pastor said that no one would make the sacrifice to die on Christmas, except for Jesus. But Brett had done just that.

He looked around. The dogs, which had loyally helped Brett to the end, were shivering and collapsing into the snow, whimpering desperately. Then one of the dogs mustered the little strength it had left to come and comfort Eddy. It was the dog that first met him, that  admittedly scared him at first. But now the dog didn't. Eddy wrapped his arms around the dog. "Thank you," he whispered.

He remembered nothing after that, and would never remember anything again.

The dog howled into the night. Its cry was that of a broken heart, one such that was never heard. Not a single soul heard it in the lonely, chilly night. And such a desperate cry would never be made again.

Then the dog joined its masters in their fate.