"Mommy…"
My eyes opened with a start as the whisper vibrated within my ears. It was a moonlit night, so the little clearing in the Brecilian Forest was bathed in a shimmering silver light. It was also snowing; it made everything look so peaceful. "How ironic," I managed to whisper out, though I knew I was speaking only to myself. As I felt the ice dust my face, I flinched; that bastard hit me so hard that a mere snowflake was painful to me. I sighed and watched my breath drift away and vanish, feeling that my hopes were doing the same.
Mommy.
There it was again! At first, I'd thought it was the breeze in the trees, hitting the leaves a certain way to make those sounds. But this time, it seemed closer, more like a whisper than a trick of the wind. Besides…the air was still, the flakes were falling straight, and other than the whisper, there wasn't a sound. I tried turning my head towards the source, but the bark of the tree behind me grazed against my swollen cheek, forcing me to return to my original position and wince.
Then I heard something else: crunch crunch crunch, as if someone were walking through the snow at a slow pace. I tensed up and forced myself to look in the right direction, no matter how badly it hurt. It only sounded like one person; perhaps the blonde-haired man had come back to finish the job, or to interrogate me some more. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worse.
That's when the pain hit. Right in the gut, like someone had stabbed me with a long, sharp knife. If I hadn't been tied up, I would've doubled over into the snow. Instead, I let out a loud groan, making the footfalls speed up. "Maker," I whispered harshly, my eyes clenched shut, "just end it already!"
When I opened my eyes again, my vision was blurred. The trees seemed so far away, and in front of them was a slender figure. He or she (I couldn't tell) was carrying a smaller person, and they were facing my direction. Apparently, my hearing was distorted as well; one of them said something, and the short figure was put down and started running towards me. Just before she reached me, I blacked out.