2024 Story Collection

They Met The Way They died

The woods were dark that night. More so than usual due to the new moon. It didn't help that storm clouds blocked the stars from her view if she could see past the dense tree canopy above her.

It was the same journey she always made, every night she she would take her bucket down to the stream and fill it before lugging the much heavier, now full bucket back to the small cottage just to wipe her brow and repeat the trek all over again.

She was strong from this, her body used to the night routine but it still wore on her. Her feet tired, and her arms sore.

She was no small woman, she had always been muscular and strong with some extra fat that helped her get through the hard, cold winters. Her white hair was long and kept in a braid, her face round and soft. Her skin was smooth, showing her young age but her eyes showed the pain of a hard life.

Her family had been killed by theirs when she was a child, having gone to fetch water, much like she was doing now. When she'd returned, the house was on fire and her family was dead.

She had waited a day before digging through the rubble to collect their bones and burry them together. She couldn't separate their bones, she couldn't tell who's from who's.

It was a hard year for her.

It had happened near the end of the summer and had nothing prepared for the long winter ahead. She had barely gathered enough to survive that winter. By the time spring finally came, she was thin as the bone barrier in her family graves, but she managed to set traps and hunt. She put on weight and quickly was able to gain the weight back and then some.

She was proud.

In their culture, bigger men, women and sought after more and found more attractive. If you can afford to keep such weight, that means you are wealthy.

She arrives at the small stream and dunks her bucket in the water.

She turns back, walking the same path back when she hears the crackle of thunder above her. She'll have to take one trip less tonight.

She makes it inside her small cabin and fills the pot on her stove for soup. She places the rest in her water storage.

She made it just in time as only a moment later, the sky began to let loose it's fury in the form of rain, hail, thunder and lightning. The flashes were intense and almost blinding if you looked out in that moment.

She continued on as usual until she heard a sound. It sounded like it was coming from just outside her cabin, to the north.

There was a story passed down from generations that if you heard the crying of a black wolf that lay half-dead to the north, that you would be soon to follow it's death.

If you were able to save it, you would live a life twice the length of an average man and if you don't, you will likely die with them. So, she rushed out to find a black wolf.

She assessed his wounds before managing to pull the large creature inside her house.

She was now soaked but didn't worry of that. Instead she made a nice bed for the animal by the wood stove. She then treated his wounds before making them some food.

After a few minute she decided to change into some warm, dry clothes.

She managed to wake the wolf just enough from his stooper to her it to eat a bit. She did the same before curling up for sleep.

The next morning, the wolf was gone, replaced by a man. She looked at him for only a moment before taking a quilt and lying it over his sleeping form.

She continued to treat his wounds and feed him. He didn't mind her, he didn't seem to mind. Though it was always a surprise what form the creature would be in the next time she found him.

She was beginning to grow an attachment to him and it appeared it was neutral because the next month, he was almost completely healed and though he could leave at anytime, he decides to stay.

He would help her with her late night trips to get water and hunt. He was a fantastic hunter. He also seemed to enjoy her food and he could tell jokes. She laughed at all of them. She wasn't sure if that was because they were actually funny or just because the last joke someone told her was her father before he died.

As time when by, days turned to weeks, into months, into years. At some point she fell in love for the strange man, now the only man she cared for.

They worked together, laughed together, lived together, sang and danced together.

She had so quickly grown attached to this man, it scared her but also excited her. She'd never felt anything so intense.

He was kind to her and gentle with her, she never felt threatened or scared, in fact she often felt safer in his presence.

He was also a great dancer, it made her feel laughably bad but she had fun none the less.

And so, as they aged further into the future, they grew closer and more genuine. She lived home. He was an incredible man. He inspired her to be a better person, stronger, kinder, more loving.

They never went into town to get married, never said any vows in a church, but they did live as if they had.

And so, when the day finally came for them to leave this world, they held each others hands and told each other goodbye as they watched a storm outside grow stronger. Rain turned to hail, thunder boomed overhead and lightning lit up the sky in flashes, just like on the day they met.

The End.

February 13, 2024