Dead Dreams

Three

The air was cold...but not like usual. It was the kind of cold that would seep into your bones and make you freeze from the inside out. On some occasions, it would touch your soul and make you feel hopeless. I opened my eyes, which were watery. I was crying. I wiped my tears with the sleeves of my shirt as I looked around. The area looked the same. From the bare, dense trees to the cold, steep ground. Even so, my mind was telling me this place was the farthest thing from safe.

My eyes landed on the sleeping form of Shiloh, who I hoped was alright. I slowly crawled over to him, trying to make as little sound as possible. I knew that we would both have to be careful. When I had reached Shiloh, I gently grabbed his shoulder and shook him a bit, trying my best to get him to wake up. At first, it wasn't working. So I resorted to shaking him a bit harder. This time, I could hear him groan.

"What is it?" he murmured, not fully able to register the situation.

"Please get up, we have to go." I replied in the smallest voice I could use.

I could see him open his eyes fully and blink a few times, before he sat up quickly and looked around. He visibly shuddered.

"W-where are we?" His voice was wavering.

"I don't know."

"It feels...different from before..."

"It does."

He stopped looking around and looked at me for what felt like a full minute. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I managed to keep eye contact for some reason. I asked a question.

"Is something wrong?"

He seemed a bit taken aback by the question, but he recovered and answered quickly.

"W-well, yes, as I'm sure you can tell, but let's just get going." His voice was not harsh as he said it, letting me know he was just speaking facts rather than trying to be rude.

"Okay."

I stood up and offered my hand to him, which he took, and I helped him up to the best of my abilities. Though I did struggle a bit, due to my weak arms. After he was on his feet, I went over and grabbed our flashlights from the ground a few feet away and handed him his. He seemed to understand the danger of our situation, as he walked through the snow as quietly as possible and didn't talk any more. We both silently agreed upon a path to follow through the trees which he had picked. He decided to speak up.

"U-Um do you know where everyone else is?"

"No, Maybe they fell somewhere else."

"Yeah, You're probably right."

Once again the forest was silent. Until another question was asked.

"Ruth?"

I turned my head to acknowledge the boy.

"D-D-Do I make you uncomfortable or anything?"

I thought for a moment over all of our previous experiences, but nothing came to mind. In fact I don't believe I ever felt that way about him.

"No."

"Oh...okay. That's good then." He rubbed the back of his head as he talked, and when he was finished, I got the feeling that he was unsatisfied with my answer.

"Why?"

He looked at me, surprise evident on his face. "Well, because you never seem to want to talk to me or anything. I just thought that somehow I might have made you uncomfortable and needed to apologize for anything I did."

For a moment I was silent. I didn't mean to make him feel that way.

"If anything, I am most comfortable around you as a group member. The others are loud."