Et tú, Clarissa?

Chapter eight

Present Day (England, Britain)

I find myself back to reality as I sense the odour of dead people, rats and seaweed reaches up with me and I see how my vision goes back to the snow outside the cottage instead of the humid oak hull filled with tenth as many people as it were built for.

An exhale escapes my throat and I lean back in the chair. I notice the food and Zac to be gone so I walk towards the living room. The fire is about to die and I see that the firewood is gone so it is not especially hard to figure out where he went. I sit down in the sofa and look out over the snow that have slightly reduced.

These visions... They must be like metaphors for what actually happened in my life, must they not? When I had my memory. Like that gladiator thing. It must mean I have struggled to keep moving forward, but I was stuck and never felt like I was free. It has to be something like that, does it not? That makes much more sense than that I would have lived through centuries, I think to myself with an easy laugh at the end.

Suddenly I hear a sound and I stand up. It comes from outside and I grab my big jacket and stumble out through the snow, but I stop in just outside the door. I see Zac's footsteps in the snow and how he has gone around the house. The sound of woodchopping echoes through the forest and I look around the bright surrounding. It was something else I heard. Suddenly I see him. His beautiful crown decorating his seemingly small head compared to his majestic body. The nearly red fur shines as the sun touches it. He gives away a quiet sound and I slowly moves towards the fence at the end of the porch. For some seconds he seems to hesitate before moving closer to me too. I put out my hand and feel his smooth mule against my palm. A calm feeling spread through my body and I look into his deep black eyes. From my lips a smile escapes and I caress his cheek before I feel that someone is watching me and my newly found friend. I let him grow more comfortable with me before I turn my head towards Zac standing some metres from us with a box of wood in his arms. He looks kind of lost, but at the same time calm. There is some kind of glance in his eyes that makes the smile feel all more real and a warmth spread inside of me. Like I am not used to that admiring gaze.

The big red deer hums something and looks from me to Zac and back. I get a feeling of that he is smiling and something like thought appears in my head, but it is not mine. Something in line with:

'Oh, that gaze! I'm happy for you.'

I look quizzically at the majestic animal.

Did he say that?

I caress over his head one last time before I turn to Zac and the red deer makes his way back into the woods.

"I ... ehm... okay. I got us some more firewood." he says and shows me the box of wood. "But I guess you're talking to red deer now so maybe you're planning on leaving me and get out of here."

I laugh easily and shake my head slowly.

"Do not be silly. Who would want to leave this cottage?"

He joins me and I tell him that we could make our way in again. A nod tells me that he agrees, but as I am on my way in, I feel something cold in the shape of a ball in my back. I turn around and look at him, who instantly plays innocent. A laugh escapes me and I am not late to return a snowball that hits his chest perfectly. He bends down to make another one while I flee out on the snow-covered sward. After some exchanged snowballs, he seems to understand that he has met his defeat and should give up. Instead, he throws himself over me so that we tumble, laughing around in the deep snow. We roll around and I bend my head backwards in a laugh as he looks down at me with my hair almost disappearing in the white snow. He smiles and when he least expects it, I turn him around and straddle his stomach.