Hey! Its shorter than I wanted it, but then again I am going to add two chapters so I hope you forgive me for the lateness and shortness. Enjoy!
When I emerged from the…catacombs, for lack of a better word, my backpack and Ralph sat by a nearby oak, and an athletic bag was nestled next to it. I looked around for Natasha, or the skull-guy, both were, thankfully, absent. Rummaging through the new bag I was happy to see energy bars, water flavoring packets, and new shoes. There was more there, I was currently focused on the really important things. The shoes were heaven to my feet, arch support never felt so amazing, and how I missed the taste of tea.
Once I packed everything carefully back into the bag, I slung my backpack on then heaved the athletic bag, expecting it to weigh as much as my old school bag did when I carried around unopened text books. I ended up slamming my shoulder into a tree due to my overcompensation; it felt as if there was nothing in it! Gotta love nymph magic, or whatever it is that they used.
Week Three….
Thankfully nothing like the last two weeks happened this week, I was able to go about my trek with little to no distractions. I watched the leaves fall from the trees, smelled wood smoke from nearby homes and was thankful for the little things, like, being able to walk down a small country road without being tackled by a weird nature nymph, and not seeing any skull men long dead. All the little things. Though, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting the snow.
I think it was around Halloween, if the pumpkins were anything to go by, when the snow hit, literally. I had hunkered down for the night, thankful for the thermal sleeping bag that was included in the athletic bag. With Ralph supporting my head, I was able to burrow deep down, having only a little hole for air, my athletic bag was at the very bottom of the sleeping bag and backpack was inside it, call me paranoid but I would rather not lose either item.
Waking up was harder than usual, my body was practically lethargic, it was nearly impossible to wiggle around and find the top part of my bag. And it proved to be an even harder feat to unzip the thing. Boy, did I ever regret unzipping that bag. Snow! A good foot of snow was on top of me! The beautiful-white-one-of-a-kind-till-they-froze-your -toes-off-flakes swept into the opening of my bag. I am certain I yelped loud enough and at such a high octave it would make a soprano opera singer jealous. Holy shit in a hand basket, that was COLD! I shoved as much snow out of my bag as possible, squirming around and trying to avoid any other body part from touching the vile whiteness. I can only imagine how I would have looked to a bystander, a big black thing wiggling around in a sea of white, they probably would have shot me and asked questions later – at least if this was as hick as I thought it would be.
Finally I was able to push the snow out, only leaving behind a damp chill in my bag. Shivering I was able to snatch the tiny flashlight keychain from my pack and use it to navigate. If I had to go out of my warm oasis, I was going out as a marshmallow. Two pairs of jeans, four shirts, two pairs of thick socks and my thickest jacket and a thin blanket, I was ready to leave my cocoon. I stuffed my backpack into my athletic bag then pushed it out first, making a small clearing. I made sure I had a pair of socks over my hands, don't judge, and I crawled out. I'm pretty sure that if the old Stiles was forced into a similar situation, he would have freaked out by the cold, and snow and cursed and made as much noise as possible. Then again, I know I cursed, I just don't know how it sounded to someone else, not that there was anyone out in this weather. Anyway, once again I digress, I think the cold just makes my ADHD worse.
I shook off as much nasty white from my sleeping bag as possible and bundled it up, before slipping it into my athletic bag, silently apologizing to Ralph, for the damp bag was pushed right next to him. My nose was already numb, and boy, I really hate snow!
Finally I was able to begin my trudging of the day, but it seemed to be getting colder. Snow was starting to fall in huge white clumps and my bad leg had gone numb long ago. Breathing became a chore, and I was sure that I was going to get sick if I continued, but there was no other option, I mean, I had no were to go, I didn't even know where I was much less having any money to find a place to hole up and wait for the snow to stop.
Maybe three hours later, I was exhausted, the effort it took to drag my bad leg was immeasurable, and the cold finally stopped being cold, which meant danger to me and my other extremities. Ha, that reminded me of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and how the invisible man was naked and told the rather pretty girl that all his outer extremities were frozen, and he meant all of them. I smiled at that thought, that was when the world was simple, when Scott and I would have movie marathons, and our parents' knew not to worry if they didn't hear a peep from us for a whole weekend. As long as the toilet would flush and food went missing, they knew that we were ok.
Ah, tears, can't cry it's too cold, can't cry, ow. I sniffed and fought the tears, knowing that they would freeze and they would hurt. I mean, really hurt. Oh lord, I am so cold…
I wonder if I die like Captain America, frozen in ice, if I had the ability to be reanimated, but then again, I died twice now and so I might just be a living, frozen person…and I really don't want to be frozen, imagine the boredom! But my body decided to rebel and I was forced to stop for the night, or maybe it was still day, I honestly didn't know due to the white. I found a nice pine tree to hole up under and I snuggled down deep into my sleeping bag. Maybe I could hibernate, that would be awesome. Yea…..hibernation…
Whelp, there is another chapter, and it turns out studying is something that is in fact Really Important...darn tests. Hope you liked it and hope you have patience and enjoy whats to come. I'm going to (hopefully) get to the meat of the story soon!