The morning frost sat on the grass, awaiting ruin.
A silent landscape of cool. Icicles graced to branches, unweilding to the weak attempts of the pallid winter sun.
"Winter."
Clouds of air followed my deep breathing. Inhaling hurt my lips, the cold like tiny needles poking at my flesh, searching for a weakspot. My hands, too, were suffering: mutilated ice cubes inside my deerskin mittens.
In my left hand I held a spear, hand-crafted, moulded to fit my grip. It shivered in my hand, finely attuned to my movements. It knew I was waiting. Waiting...
...A twig snapped to my left, shattering the icy perfection of the still winter world. Prey was comeabout. I moved panther-like towards the sound. My footfalls were quiet, my breathing shallow, my scent downwind, my hair tied back from my face in preparation.
A doe nipped at the frozen greenery. Her delicate bone structure was blatant to any observer, her quiet beauty as subtle as any mammal's. Deer were among my favourite animal to hunt. Their grace was uncompareable, their challenge worthwhile.
It was a game, the hunt. A game which I won more often than I lost.
She moved towards me a little, falling into a false lull of peace as she searched for an edible patch of grass. Her hooves left dainty imprints in the snow, nice to look at, but to be destroyed soon enough.
I bent forward, judging the distance between my spear and her flank. Doable.
I hefted my spear forward slowly, no sudden moves at to alert her.
And the spear was off, soaring through the air like a bird in flight, choosing its landing spot and sticking true to its course.
Another day, another meal.
A quiet prayer to send the doe into a better place, and I could return to my hearth to feed my sisters.
"Winter."
It still sounded the same, even after I'd killed her.
~H
Stood side by side, I feel your hand reach out and wrap itself in mine, in unison we blush neither of us wanting to speak to break this precious moment, a quick glance at each other then out again, then you let out a little giggle and I join in. “I…” we both try to speak but then tail off into a giggle again. It begins to get colder and I shiver, so you turn to me and wrap your tatty scarf round my neck with your icy soft hands with hardly any moment and you just grin, the creases in your face made more prominent with the cold surging through your body. You offer your coat but I just shake my head and we return to standing side by side, an idiot walks by and has his music on too loud you give me a look as if to say “what a dolt” and I just laugh. A snowflake fall and lands on your nose and you just sneeze then look at me apologetically; I offer my tissue to which you refuse. You start to rub your hands together as the cold is cutting off the circulation and turning them pink, I cup them in mine and you just look at me, a look that I had seen before but never up close and never when you knew I was looking, your jade green eyes cut through me like hot stones in butter and I just melt at that moment and without us noticing the snow gets heavier, you hug me close and enclose me in your warm coat, I wrap my arms around your waist, I hear your heart beating next to my face and I feel the breath on the back of my neck, I close my eyes and just listen to the hypnotic rhythm and the pound of your heart that was moving my head back and forth, a moment I had often dreamt about and it was happening nothing could wipe this smile off my face. I reach up and put my hand on your face it was like ice, I run my thumb over your lips and edge closer the warmth of your breath on my face, our faces now parallel you put your mouth next to my ear and whisper “You're my snowflake...” you lean in a press your lips against mine we close our eyes and for 30 seconds its as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist, at this moment a snowflake lands on your nose again and I wipe it off and again you just grin, I whisper "perfect..." and you hold me close to your chest again which put me in that same hypnotic state, we both smile. “I don’t want this moment to end…”
- R x.
