Ice

Hannibal sat looking out of their dormitory window, watching the snow fall as the sun came up. He turned away from the appealing view and his face broke into a smile as an idea struck him. His eyes swept the rows of beds that were full of still sleeping boys before he snuck quietly over to his cousin's bunk and prodded him hard, startling him awake. He sat up quickly as his hand went automatically for the slingshot that was always at the side of his bed. "Wha-a?"

"C'mon Jed, it's snowing. We can go build a snowman or have a snowball fight or something. Everyone else is still asleep so we get it all to ourselves till they wake up."

Jed glared at him and shuffled back down under the quilt, showing no interest at all as he snapped. "Go back to bed Hannibal. It's Saturday. It's c-cold and everyone else is right, it's way too early to be awake." After another fierce look, Jed lay back down and pulled the comforter up to his chin, before turning away. Hannibal stayed where he was bent over the bed and sighed heavily at the back of his friend's head, the only part of him still visible.

He knew that the younger boy was simply ignoring him, hoping he'd give up and go back to bed. Hannibal also knew that before; Jed would have been up and dressed on the word 'snowing.'

Annoyed, he blew out a heavy breath and decided that just because Jed was a slug a bed, it didn't mean he had to be. "Well, suit yourself but I'm going out. Bet the lake is iced over too, I might go skating or fishing. Don't need you around to have fun." That wasn't exactly true, as he always enjoyed himself more when Jed was along, but he was tired of trying to coax his friend into doing things that he used to enjoy before. All he ever wanted to do lately if Hannibal let him, was sleep and practice shooting targets with the slingshot he'd made out of the wood he'd rescued from the burnt out remains of his family's barn.

At his words Jed gave up the pretence of sleeping and turned back to face him, sitting up abruptly with his face pulled down into a worried frown. "You can't! It's cold and you might get lost or fall in the water and drown- especially if I ain't there!"

"I'm bigger and older than you, Jed, I don't need you looking out for me. You're just no fun anymore and I'm sick of it. Ain't like you're the only one who lost their folks so you're just being plain selfish." The words were out before Hannibal could stop them, he knew that resentment and worry were no excuse for being so cruel. His Ma would have been ashamed, and his stomach clenched in misery as his friend's face crumpled. Hannibal wished he could take the words back and flinched when as he went to touch his friend's shoulder, the younger boy pulled back as if burnt, his eyes unnaturally bright as he worried his bottom lip in an obvious attempt to stop from crying.

Jed turned away and studied his hands as he mumbled. "I know and I'm sorry. I- it just don't seem right to have fun no more. If we'd been where we was supposed to be maybe our folks wouldn't have died."

Hannibal felt his eyes prick with tears at the sheer misery in his friend's voice and cursed his sudden burst of temper. He'd promised himself after they'd buried their families that he'd look out for Jed now it was just them. Swallowing hard against the lump in his throat, Hannibal said softly. "Weren't nothing we coulda' done, Jed, 'cept maybe get killed too."

Jed shrugged and still looking down said softly. "I know it ain't fair that folk expect you to look after me. I'll do better I promise."

Hannibal reached out again to squeeze his cousin's shoulder, relieved when this time he leant into the touch with a soft huff of breath. "It ain't a problem, Jed. Besides we look after each other, just like our folks woulda' wanted us to. You got Billy Marks good with that pebble when he was trying to steal my lunch last week. He won't try nothing again."

Jed managed to drag his gaze up to meet Hannibal's eyes, a whisper of a smile on his face. "Yeah and no one did figure out who fired it neither, cos you hid the slingshot real good before anyone had time to spot it." Jed glanced towards the window and gazed briefly at the snow still falling before he turned back. "You think the lake will be frozen nice and hard?"

Hannibal nodded firmly. "With all this weather we been having, reckon it'll be frozen solid. We just make sure we don't go too far away from the edge, so if it cracks, we got time to get back to shore safe."