The noises started to wake me. Before it had all been far off sounds and a low rumble that vibrated my skin numb, but slowly bits and pieces started to fit together. It all formed a rather messed up story. I don't know what sucked my energy more, the loss of the adrenaline in my blood, the fight for my freedom, or the jet lag. I'd tried to lift my head and see where I was, but someone gently pushed it back down. They said words softly into my ear, but it all blurred together. I thought maybe it was my dad, but... my father had never stroked my hair in such a gentle way.

I reached up to feel the hand that caressed me, and was only a little surprised when it started to caress my fingers back. The voice murmured to me again. None of it had been coherent of course, but it lulled me deeper into this... delerium. I had no Idea what I was experiencing. The gentle touches that danced across my skin felt comforting, but I was unable to understand why I'd needed the comfort in the first place.

I was at the mercy of others, and if it wasn't for my tired mind and body, maybe I would have known and done something to stop... whatever it was that they were doing to me. I was unable to really see or hear anything anyway. Everything moved too quickly for me to understand what was going on, and the touching... The voice in my ear... It was all so damn distracting. It was like being an infant again... Only able to concentrate on one thing at a time, and finding everything fascinating.

I was steadily becoming more and more conscious though, and I made several attempts to move, all of which were stopped with the gentlest of touches. I tried to speak, and I could feel my lips moving, but I don't think any real words came out of my mouth. Whoever had been with me tried to calm me down by patting my stomach, but my eyes and brain were clearing. I pushed his hands away and sat up to look around. I was in an old flying metal death trap with three other people who were most probably going to kill me. At least I thought.

The pilots looked back at me and spoke, of course I didn't understand any of it, and tried to stand up. The man who sat next to me pulled me back down onto this plush 'bed' thingy. I tried to sit back up again, but he became very... Firm this time, and held me down a few moments so that I would 'get it.' So, I laid down and looked at his face. He was rather handsome with his blue eyes and brown hair, but then again, he was also Russian, and I always thought Russians were pretty. He'd stroked my hair again, then begun to presses another chloroform rag to my face. I was almost out when suddenly the whole plane flipped, and I was thrown against the side of the plane. Then It all went black.

My ears were ringing and my body was cold. I tried to open my eyes but I only saw black dots on a white canvas. I tried to lift myself up, but collapsed under my own weight. I'd tried a second time and managed to flip myself over in a panting aching heap. I was outside in the frigid cold, looking up at a dark colored sky. I watched as snowflakes fell and plumes of black smoke rose to replace them. I was dazed by the contrast between the two, and the melted snow that rolled down my cheeks made no attempt to lift me from the it.

It felt like christmas. The warmth of the fire... The crackle of the fire... Laughter... It all seemed so real that I could have roasted marshmallows over it, I swear. I tried to think of reasons as to why I was outside in the snow, but my mind told me it was tired and that I should go to sleep right there in the snow. It was a very tempting Idea, because... Well... For some reason I wasn't all that cold anymore, so I made no attempt to move. I just layed there and watched the snow fall against the black smoke.

Soon a long shadow fell over my eyes and I looked over to see what caused it, but was distracted by how red the snow was. I was thinking about it when a warm bottle was pressed to my lips, and I was forced to drink the liquid that slid down my throat. How I hadn't noticed the man before is a mystery to me, but when I did, I thought he was an angel.

He took off his coat and scarf and wrapped them around my body, before lifting me up and placing me into another vehicle. It was amazing how warm the cloths were. They were large and soft and smelled nice too, but I just couldn't get over the warmth. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep. I knew this because eventually I was jolted awake by a curt shake and then lifted up again.

We entered a rather modest house, or so I thought. I was placed on the warm hard floor and my clothes were swiftly torn from my body. Bare skin pressed against mine and soon I began to feel the cold in my limbs. I tried to breath in but couldn't seem to find any air. I tried again and again and soon warm lips pressed against mine and forced air into my lungs. The feeling in my limbs had slowly returned in a searing, burning pain. Air was forced into my lungs again, and when the lips moved from mine I cried out in pain. The man began rubbing my chest in a circular motion, warming my vitals with his hands. Soon I was able to breath on my own again, and he moved away from me. I started to babble, talking, saying anything I could to keep him near me... Anything I could to keep the warmth. He returned to me with more warm liquid and made me drink.

Then wiped my face with a warm cloth and blew hot air over my cold skin. His face was so near mine, I reached out to touch it, but he took my hands and placed them under my pits before I could touch his face or his ashen hair. After that he wrapped my bare body in a few blankets and made me drink more of the warm liquid.

"Are you an angel?" I asked to get his attention.

"Nyet, I am no angel." He whispered.

"Did you save me?"

"There is no one else. You are tired, da?"

"Yea." I said after a moment.

"Then you will go to sleep."

He picked me up off the floor and laid me down on a plush bed, throwing more blankets over me.

"Make sure to keep the middle warm, and don't run the fingers together, you will hurt yourself if you do. Now sleep." He smoothed my hair, turned off the lights and left the room. I fell asleep quite quickly and had dreams of fire and screams, only to wake up several hours later overly warm and very dreary. I kicked the covers off my body and tried to get up, but couldn't find the edge of the bed, only a wall.

"You must learn when it is time to be still, tiny boy."

I stopped moving... Maybe even stopped thinking. None of it was a dream. It all really happened... I had been kidnapped, drugged, abandoned in the snow, and rescued by some white haired guy who took off all my cloths. My family probably though I was dead, my body hurt, I was thirsty, overly hot, and in bed with some unknow man. My life really sucked.

I'd looked down at myself... I was in my pj's... So he'd dressed me... He'd taken all my clothes off and then dressed me. I'd had more skin ship with a man I'd met only a couple hours before, than I'd had with any woman ever.

"Lay back down." The voice commanded.

I laid down, and he threw more blankets on top of me, then moved me closer to his body. I pushed him away.

"I-it's too hot!"

"Oh it's too hot? Just a few hours ago you were dying from the cold, and now you are too hot? You would like to go back outside with the snow and the wind, da?"

"...Not really, no."

"Then you will go to sleep."

His whole essence was menacing. He oozed authority the way BP oozed off-shore oil spills. It was devastating and could ruin a whole eco-system. I didn't move. I laid there, smothered between a huge Russian guy and all his blankets, waiting for him to fall off into sleep. It was impossible to tell if he was acctualy sleeping or not, so I sat there quietly, waiting for the rise and fall of his chest to slow. I could feel him against my back... His breathing never changed, it was steady and even. His breath was hot against the top of my head, his arm around my waist was burning its way into my flesh, and I could feel myself start to go crazy. There was noting I hated more than people breating on me. I started to move his hand off my waist when he spoke again.

"You are tired, yet you refuse to sleep." He'd said against the top of my head.

"I'm hot and thirsty and kinda weirded out." I mummbled.

"You asked me not to leave, and so I am here, and now you want me gone?"

"W-what? No, thats not it... Im hot... And thirsty... And I haven't shared a bed with another boy since my cousins seventh birthday party..."

"You wish for water?"

"Yes... I.. Wish... For a glass of water. Please."

His body pulled away from mine, and sweet sweet cold air rushed in between. I felt him turn over, and then he was pulling me up beside him.

"Here you are." He said, pushing the bottle between my lips. "You will drink, and then you will sleep."

I chugged the liquid, my parched mouth relived. In my haste to get it all down, some of it dribbled down my chin, and he wiped it up with a swift move of this thumb over my skin.

"You are done now, da?"

"There's still some left..."

"Good, now take this pill. It will make you sleep."

Where he got the pill and how he could see in the darkness, I will never know, but he took up my hand and dropped the tiny little sleep bomb into my palm. The fact that he didn't give it to me first was irritating.

"Why did you wait for the water to be gone before you gave it to me!" I studied it a while longer, not wanting to look up at him. "It... Like, won't make me sleep forever will it?"

"You think I will save you, then kill you? I will not do that so easily."

"So easily... If I die, i'm going to haunt you."

"You will take the pill and sleep."

"Do we need so many blankets?"

"It gets very cold at night."

"But theres two of us under them all..."

"You almost had frostbite, I would hate for you to be frozen in the morning with no fingers or toes, no matter how funny you would look."

"When can I go home?"

"You will have to sleep first. Take the pill, we will talk when I am less tired."

He took the pill from my palm and popped it into my mouth. The sugar capsil started to dissolve immediately, spreading its nasty sweet and bitter taste all over my mouth. I downed the rest of the water, hoping it would take the taste with it, but no, it hadn't.

"It will work soon, lay down."

"That was cruel." I said, doing as I was told.

"There are far crueler things I could have done to make you sleep."

"Still..."

I closed my eyes, but found myself waiting to feel the medicine's effects. There were far less blankets now, and I was much more comfortable, so I was actually grateful when the haze hit and I could concentrate on that instead of the warmth of the Russian against my back. The wind outside began to whistle, and the house shook around us a bit.

"A storm?" I asked.

"Da." He'd said.

It was quiet again and I was drifting in and out of a very peculiar dream. A nightmare really.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ivan."

"Ivan waht?"

"Braginski."

"My name is Alfred F. Jones."

"Good. Now sleep."

With that, I fell asleep to the tune of my nightmares, of screams and fire and guns.

So guys, feel free to review, tell me what you like, what you don't. Tell me where you see this going, I might not know myself. Or do I?

Also, I learned some cool facts about hypothermia, frostbite, and even CPR. You could always check that stuff out. Also, if any of you know the person who created the image on my cover, please let me know.