Connie woke up from Daryl's sudden movements. He got out of the bed quickly and she saw the serious look on his face, so she got up too. Lydia was also awake.
"What was that?" She asked.
"I dunno."
They ran outside and saw a lot of people standing in front of the neighboring house. The roof of the house had collapsed and the mother with her daughter, who lived there, were standing outside with shocked looks on their faces.
"What happened?" Daryl asked.
"We heard a cracking sound and we barely made it outside, before the roof collapsed. It must have been the snow."
"Damn it." Daryl said. The snow was becoming a big problem. It never snowed that much and they never encountered that kind of issue. Connie gave Daryl a worried look and he looked worried too.
The friends of the two women took them in and it was still snowing the whole night through.
Connie couldn't sleep. She was too much afraid their roof could collapse too. Daryl was also awake.
"We should take care of it tomorrow. Clear the roofs of all houses," he said and Connie nodded.
The next morning it finally stopped snowing, but there was a lot of snow already everywhere and people started clearing their roofs.
"I never saw that much snow in my life," Daryl said, as he climbed up on the roof of their small house with a shovel in his hand. He started to clear the roof and Dog was running back and forth, exited about the falling snow. He jumped up several times, trying to catch some of the snow, that was falling down.
"You're okay up there?" Lydia asked. She and Connie were a little bit concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Watch out for Dog," Daryl answered. He was afraid that he would accidentally hurt Dog with all the snow he was throwing down.
Lydia tried to lure Dog away from the house.
"Come here, boy," She said clapping her hands.
But it had no use, Dog was too much caught up in playing with the snow. So Lydia made a snowball and threw it in the other direction. Dog saw it and ran after it as the snowball disappeared in a big pile of snow. Dog stuck his head into the pile, searching for the snowball. Daryl, Connie and Lydia were all laughing when they saw it and when Dog pulled his snout out of the pile, he was obviously confused which made them laugh even harder. Lydia was holding her stomach laughing tears, while Daryl was so distracted, that he slipped and almost fell down from the roof. Connie looked up, worried again and Daryl put a hand up.
"I'm fine," he told her, showing the sign for "I'm fine", he learned recently. Connie smiled.
She signed to him: "Careful". He understood and nodded.
When he was finished with clearing the roof, he came down and Connie hugged him.
She noticed how cold his whole body was and his hands were too, so she took them in hers, trying to warm them. He smiled and they shared a long kiss.
People were taking care of the roofs of their own houses, to avoid the danger coming with the snow. The sun was shining as Connie and Daryl walked through the town. The mother and daughter with the collapsed house were still busy, trying to get their belongings out of the remains of their house. Connie felt sorry for them. The collapsed house was uninhabitable now.
"Hey, you need help?" Daryl asked.
"Thank you, we got this," the woman answered.
"But they need help at the storehouse, I think."
Connie and Daryl went there, Lydia followed them with Dog.
The storehouse was a big building, it was higher than the other houses and it had a big roof, which was still covered in snow.
Daryl and two women decided to climb up. Connie was still holding his hand and she didn't want to let him go. She had an uneasy feeling seeing him on the roof of their own house already. And this house was much higher.
"I'll be careful," he told her, seeing the worried look on her face and kissed her.
Connie knew it would take a while to clear the roof and she had other business to take care of, but somehow she didn't want to walk away. She thought when she watched him, nothing could happen to him and this would change, if she went away. But nevertheless she had to go.
When she came back, she saw him still working on the roof and she was relieved. Her only wish was that he would be finished soon.
Lydia was sitting on a table and watching the people on the roof working.
Suddenly they both saw, how some of the snow started to move down the roof, right where Daryl was standing. He slipped and fell off the roof into a little pile of snow, while some snow from the roof fell upon him. Connie covered her mouth in shock, then she ran to him as fast as she could and other people were also quickly there. Daryl's face was contorted with pain.
"Damn snow," he moaned. Connie and the others helped him out of the snow pile
When they finally freed him he was holding his leg. He was lucky that the little snow pile mostly broke his fall, but he still hurt his leg when he landed on the ground.
Connie and Lydia supported him while they were walking back home. The doctor from Oceanside came with them and examined his leg. It was bruised and swollen.
"It's bruised heavily, you need to cool it," she told him.
"Like I didn't have enough cooling for today," he said dryly and thanked her.
Connie was patting his back and Lydia gave him a compassionate look.
Daryl changed into dry clothes, and Connie and Lydia were busy taking care of him. Lydia gathered snow for his leg, to cool it, while Connie tried to keep the rest of him warm. She put a blanked over his shoulders and gave him some hot tea. Dog licked his hand and Daryl petted Dog's head.
"You were lucky, could've ended worse," Lydia said, when they sat around the fireplace.
"Yeah, damn lucky me," Daryl said. He was embarrassed about the stupid accident and about how they were fussing over him now.
The next day Daryl was up early. He wanted to go outside, but Connie stopped him.
She pointed at his leg.
"I'm alright," he told her and made the sign for it. She shook her head.
"I'll just go checking, if they still need help with that damn roof."
But Connie shook her head again with a serious look on her face and then she took his hand and tried to pull him back into the bedroom.
Even Lydia didn't want to let him go.
"Daryl, she's right. Take it easy today. They can do it without you."
Daryl sighed, but obeyed. He spent the whole day at home, while the others went out to do their daily work. He felt useless, but his leg still hurt and he had a heavy headache. His throat was also starting to feel sore and he was coughing. He decided to lie down for a little bit, hoping he would feel better after that, but then he slept almost the whole day through. He only woke up when Lydia and Connie came back. His head still felt like a balloon and he felt dizzy when he tried to get up. Connie came to him and looked concerned. She sat next to him on the bed and laid her cold hand on his forehead and he could see, that she was worried.
You're burning up, she wrote.
"I'm not, maybe your hands are just cold," he said, but he knew she was probably right.
Connie made him a hot tee and brought him also something to eat, but he didn't touch the food.
You should eat something, Connie wrote.
"I'm not hungry," he said and he could see that Connie was frowning.
"I guess I should sleep a bit more, it'll be better tomorrow."
Connie nodded and kissed his hot forehead.
But when the night came, Daryl only started to feel worse and worse. His teeth chattered and he was shaking and sweating under the two blankets Connie covered him with.
Connie couldn't sleep and she was sitting by his side, not knowing what to do.
"It's getting worse," Lydia noticed. She couldn't sleep either. "I'll go get the doctor."
The doctor came and examined Daryl, who was still in a feverish sleep.
"I'm sorry, we're really low on medical supplies," she said.
"There is not much we can do against the fever, he just has to go through it."
Connie felt hot tears coming up. She felt helpless.
"Make sure he drinks a lot and keep him warm," the doctor said, before she left.
Lydia was sitting on her bed, chewing her nails and she was worried as well.
They were up the whole night watching over Daryl.
Daryl woke up twice. He seemed to be in a feverish trance even when he was awake, but Connie was able to make him drink some tea. She was tired and exhausted and fell asleep on his bedside, right before the morning came.
She woke up at noon and Daryl slowly opened his eyes too. She touched his forehead and it felt less hot than the day before. He wasn't shaking that much either.
"Hey," he said in a hoarse voice. Connie couldn't hold back her tears, she was relieved that he seemed to feel better.
"Hey, stop that. I'm fine," he told her when he saw her crying and she kissed his hand, which she was holding the whole time.
"Ain't gonna die, 'cause of a damn cold."
"Don't you even dare!" Lydia told him and he smiled. She brought him some tea and then the three of them sat on the bed.
"I really hate that damn snow," Daryl said and laughed a little and Connie and Lydia both smiled.