[discontinued] Golden Days (Sleepy Bois Inc+ fic)

This is Now [Chapter Nineteen]

TW: Death of an animal

[ Tommy's POV ]

On that very chill night, where the siblings made a promise to one another and the father declared his loyalty to them, where secrets were reimagined and others locked away, where a deathly beast prowled right out of sight, the snow continued to blow. The night stayed darkened and the cold would not falter. The night was long and for the many who had not found themselves a hidden house in the woods with a lonley man to care for them, the night was deadly. Hungry animals feasted on nothing but their own pain and sorrow. People, who were left alone after the world turned on them, had to find warmth among the bitter cold. The world was so very dark and brittle and lonley, no matter where you were. Well, unless you were of the five residents in the house that had been so delicately warmed and cared for in those very woods where birds now grew skinny from the winter's hunger and raccoons resorted to eating dirt. Those five residents were the only source of hope in the lethal winter. The only light among the unlit. Yet, they were unawares of their luck and their fortune, of their full bellies each day and more warmth than they could ask for. As, why should they worry for such things? Why should these four children who just found a new home for themselves, even think of the cruel course of nature right outside of their windows? They shouldn't, as they were simply kids who had nearly avoided the same exact fate the rest of the forest now had to deal with. They were able to lay their heads down on each of their pillows and rest happily and softly. They could finally rest.

But that was then.

This is now.

*     *     *

The world would recover from the clutches of the unforgivable winter of that first year, as the snow would melt and bring forth new light and even colorful flowers. Then the days would grow even longer and weeks were spent playing outside in the green covered forests, and of course bees would fly around and play with them. Yet as most things must come to an end, so would those warm days as the trees shed their leafy coats and the blanket of snow would revisit the land and bring back the darkness. Then, it would all repeat again. For years, without fail, the seasons would change and still the family of five would stay safe within their house, sheltered from the cruelty of this world. The boys would grow, outskilling their small foam swords so they would move on to branches found, broken from trees, and eventually even convincing their father to get more safe-ish but still dangerous swords to practice with. The small bow with suction-cup arrows became too boring and so they managed to get an actual bow, though they had to make extra money to buy their own sharp arrows. Even the small guitar was switched out for a bigger and more professional guitar, with enough extra strings to last a lifetime. The plastic crown so treasured by one of the boys was kept, yet he now wore a crown made of many other materials. And the nerf guns? Well... they stayed nerf guns as there would be no way in the history of this tale that the father would entrust his boys with such a real weapon.

And that's just how it was for a while, with the boys outgrowing their stuff and getting upgrades, always living safe and warmed, under the wing of their father who was so careful to build up their secret lives like this so they wouldn't have to face the rest of the world.

But as said before, all things must come to an end, and eventually... The boys even outgrew their nest.

The world was almost silent. Almost. Frozen crystals were piled upon every surface they could, emitting a chilling freeze that drove small animals into a cower for as long as their homes stayed cold, and causing the larger animals to wonder helplessly and hungry. These tiny flakes of snow, when grouped, seemed to kill the very forest that they now covered, ending bloodlines of all these creatures and giving no hope for the plants below. Despite this, a crunching broke through the silent winter air, soft movement echoing off of the trees.