Arc II — Echoes in the Snow

  Chapter 8 — After the Tears

  The next day.

  It's already noon and the sun is shining on the white snow and the trees are shining.

  In the middle of this forest path, a carriage was slowly pulled by a horse. The carriage was leaving its traces as it moved in the snow.

  And inside of it I was sleeping soundlessly. I curled around and the sunlight was hitting my face because of it.

  I slowly take my hand and rub it on my eye because of the sun.

  I take my time opening my eyes slowly. I open my eyes and look around.

  This time I was a little awake and my hands have gotten normal now. I see that Phil was sitting by my side.

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  And I can also see the shadow of Niki and Karel from the front curtain.

  I look at him not knowing what to say and how to act. My eyes were already red and puffy because of all the crying I did.

  But I don't know that. Phil looked at me and my uneven expression.

  "So you up," he said, looking my way.

  "How do you feel now? Are you okay?" Phil asked genuinely with a painful look on his face.

  I don't know how to respond even after last night, and my brain has stopped working since then.

  "Good," was the only word that came out of my mouth in that moment.

  Phil had a relieved expression on his face after hearing my single word. "That's good," he said, placing a hand on my head and stroking it.

  I don't know how to react to that, so the only thing I was able to do was tilt my head and look at the floor.

  He stopped at some point and remembered something. He looked through the stuff and found a water bottle and something wrapped in cloth.

  He handed me both of them with a big smile on his face.

  "This is water and food," he said as he was handing it to me.

  "We all know that you were hungry yesterday, so we made something for you in advance this time," he said, looking my way with a proud expression.

  I take them and open the water bottle. My throat was dry from last night's crying and waking up.

  I take a slow sip of the water, and as it hits my throat, the dryness vanishes and the freshness of water fills my whole body.

  I don't stop and continue to drink, emptying one-third of the bottle.

  After that I open the thing inside the cloth and it was a bread sandwich with meat and some vegetables.

  My eyes started to glow looking at the sandwich. I lift it to my mouth and take a large bite.

  My mouth was full of the sandwich and it became hard to chew it, so I had to slowly move my mouth to chew it.

  Phil was looking at me intensely like I was a hamster or something.

  But my face was undeniably like that of a hamster chewing its food.

  I continued to eat in that moment, not looking at anything and savoring the food.