Chapter V:

I somehow I still lived. When I woke up, I was lying in the snow. How was this even possible? The manor was burnt down to the foundation. The bodies were burnt away to ash by now.

When I tried to sit up, I felt a searing pain in my nape. I reached behind my neck. I took in a deep breath. It felt like fire on the back of my neck. I though I would choke. I could hear a whistling noise behind me. When I turned around, there was no one there. I didn’t want to think that I was losing my mind. I had already lost everything that I had ever known. What was I going to do now? Most my family’s friends died in that fire. I didn’t have any money anymore either.

But I knew that I could stay here in the cold.

The only place I could go was into the woods. Father, Nathanael, and I had been in them so many times before. We’ve hunted in the woods before too. What choice did I have? I pulled myself up and started walking.

My cloak wasn’t going to be enough. It didn’t matter. I had nowhere to go. I didn’t have a plan. I just wanted to get away from the ruins of my once perfect life. Was it really perfect though? I don’t remember anymore. All I know was that was gone now. But who could’ve done this? Sure, we had money. But we mostly kept to ourselves outside of their friends. At the time, I had no idea how bad it really was. My parents kept so much from us. Now, I understand why they did it. That might had gotten them killed in the end.

From what I could remember, the woods could take me into the village. Then what? I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t know who to turn to either. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened. They could’ve dismissed it as a boy with trauma. Still, someone had to know the truth. What if they could come back and kill me? I didn’t even know who “they” were.

The snow came up to my ankle. The chill drilled down to my bones. All I could see were dead trees. They looked just as black as the foundation of the manor. These trees looked so beautiful in the summer. Usually, I never paid them any mind. But now, I found them to be source of comfort. The silence didn’t help. Lucky for me, I had an idea of where to go.

I kept going over it in my head. How did the manor go up in flames that fast? Nobody looked out of place. No one but that girl. Could she have been involved? I shook my head. That didn’t make any sense. Why would she want to kill my family? I barely got a look at her face. And what was with that song she was singing? I heard the nursey rhyme before in my youth. But what did that have to do with me?

I looked up at the empty sky. There were no clouds this morning. The sun shone so weak. My stomach started to grumble. I was going to need to eat soon. There was a stream in these woods. Surely, there had to be some fish I could eat. I didn’t have anything to hunt or fish with. I looked around at the snow on the ground. Maybe I could find a rock or a stick to work with. Father did teach us to use the woods to our advantage. Nathanael did a better job than I could. I tried to get his served head out of my mind.

I was able to collect a handful of small stones. Three sticks as well. My fingers started to feel sore and numb. This fancy suit wasn’t worth walking around in the cold. The fancy trim seemed to be weighing me down. I needed to get somewhere warm. Sadly, these woods were so big. How many days would it take before I made it to the road or the stream? I couldn’t fall asleep out in the cold. Freezing to death would make it worse. For some reason, I didn’t want to die just yet. I couldn’t understand it. Something inside of me wouldn’t let me die. I just had to keep going. Better than staying around and freezing to death I supposed. Mt stomach growled again. I looked around as I kept walking. It didn’t seem likely that I would run across any animals for the time being. I had to push myself not to think about what was going to kill me first. Am I going to freeze to death? Will I starve?

I slapped myself in the cheeks.

I couldn’t keep thinking like that. I still had time. I just had to keep going.