The Rabbit's Den

The Long Winter

It had been a month since Trixie's mysterious malady had her curled in a ball screaming for three days. It took weeks for her color to return, even now she still looked sickly. She was constantly reassuring everyone that she felt fine. The only thing that was bothering her was the fatigue, she wasn't as active as she had been before, and it was hard on her. Kaleb had stopped acting like a prison guard the moment she fell sick; he didn't have it in him to behave that way.

"I swear Trixie, you don't look well at all." Kaleb said pushing her back from the door. She was trying to go out and help chop more wood for the wood stoves. "And I swear I feel fine!" She argued trying to pass him again. "It's okay Trixie, we have it." Rhys insisted as he, Ester and Yana walked out into the flurry of snow. "You don't have to try and do everything to prove anything to us!" Ester shouted over him. "Rest, malyshka. You look like dead." Yana said winking at her. "See, not everything needs your attention." Kaleb said grabbing her firmly by the thick of her arm. This place felt like a personal hell, it was crowded, noisy and the air itself felt thick and suffocating. Trixie pulled away from him and took a couple steps away from the door and stopped, she looked around. There were so many people there, six more babies had been born.

Trixie covered her ears and closed her eyes; she just wanted a few moments of peace. She felt a tug on her elbow, when she opened her eyes, she saw it was Kaleb. Her hands slapped down to her thighs, "What?" She said exasperated. "Come on." He replied walking away from the crowd. Quietly she followed him, when they came to the door to the staircase that led into the basement she stopped. Kaleb turned with a curious look on his face, "What?" "I don't want to go in that dank nasty basement." He leaned to look past her as one of the babies started to cry out. "There's no babies down here, no bored pregnant women either." She turned and gave the floor another look then followed Kaleb down the stairs.

It was a bit colder down in the basement, especially without the lower wood stove burning. Even she had to admit he and Rhys had done a really good job cleaning and going through the junk down there. She spotted a blanket on the floor, Kaleb scooped it up and started to fold it. "I may have slept down here a couple times." He almost looked embarrassed. "I get it." She told him. The look he had now, she could tell he was going to start asking questions. "Did you have your own rooms at the hospital?" He asked. Trixie nodded, "Yeah, but there was always someone coming or going from it. Or I couldn't leave it, I don't know which was worse." Kaleb chuckled a little and sat on a crate. He pulled another out and set it beside him. "They found a room that could contain you successfully?" It wasn't a real smile, more of a cynical one. "Well the room couldn't, so they kept me tied to the bed for a long time."

Kaleb's smile slipped away, "They tied you to the bed?" He tried to hide the anger on his face as he lit the kindling in the stove, in the orange glow she could see the tell-tail tightening of his sharp jaw line. "You think that's bad, I stopped eating one time and they force fed me with a tube that they stuck up my nose." He shuttered at the thought of the tube being stuck up his nose. "How did you do it Trixie?" He looked like he belonged there, in the light from the fire. His dark brown hair had grown quite shaggy and his beard was in full and thick. She studied his eyes as the light danced off them, the orange mixing with his natural brown. "Do what Kaleb?" "Survive? Not lose your mind?" She shook her head, "I didn't Kaleb, remember the stream?" He was looking at her like he was searching for answers, "You weren't like that until after the tunnel. How did you keep it together until then?" She bit her lip, "Every day I thought about two things. Revenge and you. I knew you would come, as long as you were still alive Kaleb, I knew you would come."

He didn't smile when she said it, neither did she. "I'm that predictable?" He asked. Cocking her head to the side she shrugged, "I don't know if it was that you're predictable Kaleb, or if it was just my faith in you. It's who you are." He didn't like it when she said things like this, usually everything was cold, honest and logical. Kaleb hadn't noticed as he was mulling over all of this, that he was blankly staring at her. "What?" she asked with her familiar annoyed tone. "Someone told me, that when we finally got you back, you wouldn't be the same. They were right. Even the way you talk Trixie, it's different." He looked more disappointed than anything else.