Fresh snow fluttering onto the layers of old snow, white blankets on every surface, as far as the eye can see, not a person in sight and only the sound of the wind heard. This is a story about a child, a child with skin as fair as snow and hair as dark as night, with eyes as deep as a stormy ocean.
The wind gets stronger, and the snow starts to pour down, no one, would go into this type of weather, it was cold and brisk, you could get buried by snow and found next spring if you are not careful. Houses line the streets full of snow, there was a hotel on the corner of the main street and under the hotel was a cellar, it was cold and full of boxes and wine, then, there in the corner, lay a small child, around the age of seven. He was curled up next to a figure, his mother, but she was still, and lifeless. The boy was wrapped in a blanket, it was more of a rag then a blanket. Though it was small, he shared it with his lifeless mother, in his mind, she was just asleep, too young to think otherwise.
She was leaning against the cellar wall the blanket over her lap and her arm gently resting on his back, his head resting on her lap and the rest of his body was called up in the blanket, his mother's lips were blue, her fingers and toes were purple. His tummy made a gurgle, he was hungry, very hungry, it had been days since he had eaten, he thought. Why had mother not wakened up? Was she sick? She was so cold that she froze and would stay like that till the spring, his childish mind pondered, getting stressed, not wanting to be alone all winter.
He got up, his legs shaky and stiff from disuse, he gripped a nearby box and held himself up before he walked out near the door, the soft pads of his feet echoed in the cold room before he opened the door, the door made a loud squeak he slipped out and closed the door after himself, his feet plunge into the cold snow, it was freezing. A violent shiver ran down his body, snow falling onto him fast. He started to walk in a random direction and ended up in the forest, the forest was dense and never really had snow inside of it, it was normally like a terrarium, moist and weirdly warm, he wandered in and went to a tree, it was a tree that had soft squishy moss and he just collapsed on it, his mind went black and he fell asleep.
When he woke up, there was a man standing over him, he was wearing a black 3-piece suit and had a long sword strapped and sheathed around his hips. It was dangerous in this forest, monsters and demons run around here in the forest in the winter, so it would make sense why this man would have a sword, but he looked like a noble, someone of high ranking, could read, write, and inherit land, and this guy looked like he got the best of it all.
The man continued to stare at the child, like he was trying to find out why a child, was in a place like this, of all places to go, why here. The child shot up in fright and grabbed a nearby sharp stick and pointed it at the strange man, his breath coming in short and labored breaths. The man raised an eyebrow at the sudden movement of the small child in front of him. He then grabbed the stick and lifted the child up, the child then gasped and let go of the stick, falling onto the snow with a soft, "fwa," the snow cushioned his fall.
The man just stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "Child… what are you doing here? Out in the weather? Where's your mother?"
the boy got up and tried to run away but couldn't, du to his stiff joints and cold aching muscles. And the man quickly caught up to him and grabbed him with a firm grip, as soon as the boy felt his grip, the boy shrieked and screamed, "LET GO!!!" the man gripped his arm harder, and the boy scrunched up his face in pain, but the man quickly softens his grip and speaks.
"who are you, what's your name, kid?" the child grunts, trying to pry his grip off his arm and says, "Till, my name is Till, NOW GET OFF!!!" the man lets go and says, "And what about your mother, where is she?" the boy goes quiet and mumbles, "…she's… at the pub down at the corner… but she's not waking up… so… I left, I think she's just tired" both go quiet for a few seconds, and the man mumbles a quiet, "ah…"
After a few seconds the boy speaks, "what do you want? And who are you," his voice was laced with fear, his guard was obviously up, and man studied him and replied, "it's strange to see child so small in this forest, and while its in the midst of winter, I wanted to know why you where here, and my name is Atle"