SNOW

- Chapter Six -

"Ngh," Doug muttered as he slowly woke up.

Feeling an immense pain on his face he brought his hand up, but soon jerked it away once he felt the unfamiliar texture. "the hell?"

Finally resting his hand on the soft material, he slid his hand down his face only to realize that this binding covered the entirety of his right eye. "Gauze?" slowly pulling his hand away, he noticed it now had a deep red stain covering his whole palm. Confused, he looked down his arm to reveal his jacket was also soaked in a deep redness. "Blood?" he asked himself. "Ugh, what happened?"

Looking around he observed his surroundings; a fireplace, bookshelf, and a kitchen in the corner far behind him. Turning back around he could feel an immense pain pumping through his head behind the bandage. Putting pressure on his unknown wound, he quickly reached from the bag on his back. Patting the back of his shoulder a few times he sat there confused. But looking down he found it right next to him on the floor. "How'd it get there?" he muttered to himself, staring at the bag. But wincing at the pain, he quickly pulled up the bag into his lap.

Shuffling his hand through the inner pockets, he felt the familiar packaging he'd been looking for. Pulling out the small box, he ripped it open, pulling out the plastic sheet encasing the medicine. Pushing the tablet through the foil, he stared at it with unease. "IDT M fifteen," he read to himself. "God I hope this works." he said before tossing the tablet to the back of his throat.

Setting the bag back down onto the floor, he stared at the roaring fireplace. "Hm, that must've been Jerry. Good thing he found something to light that with." he thought to himself. Leaning back into the chair, he pressed his hand over the bloody bandages, waiting for the medicine to take effect.

"Hmm, I wonder..."

Sighing, his mind wandered as he began to think about their lives and how it came to this somewhat peaceful moment. Reminiscing about their days back in school, Doug laughed to himself, remembering that even back then he and Jerry always planned about going on a snowboarding trip together. But he knew that every trip they've had together couldn't even come close to comparing to this adventure they've found themselves in. Sure, of course both of them have explored abandoned buildings together before. But never one that's collapsed in on itself. Getting lost in the forest? Easy; Doug would regularly explore the woods, often with Jerry right by his side. But everything about this adventure has nothing familiar about it. There seemed to be no escape from this frozen forest, and hope felt rare to come by.

Grunting, he stood up from the old chair, trying to forget his overbearing feeling of despair. Walking over to the bookshelf he noticed that the back porch was boarded up. "I guess that's not the strangest thing I've seen." he thought to himself. Looking back at the bookshelves, he scanned over the various selections of books. Most of them didn't mean much to him, a lot of them seemed to be significantly older than he was. looking down , he saw the mess of piled up books that sat at his feet; dusty and old. Bending over he picked up one of the old, damaged books. "The recorded history of..." pausing, he looked down at the other books with a confused look, then focused on the one he held in his hands. "the preternatural?" putting the book into an empty slot on a shelf, he backed away. "Hmm, interesting titles." he quietly said to himself.

Walking away, he turned the corner on his right, and as the light of the fireplace faded from the distance he ran his hand across the wall. Feeling for the light switch, he pushed it up, but nothing.

Taking a moment to rub his eye, he allowed himself to adjust to the darkness. But walking into the room, he saw the beautiful calm moonlight seep in through the wall. "How're there holes in the wall? Was there a termite infestation?" he quietly mumbled to himself. Slowly walking over to the wall, he leaned into the rays of moonlight that dimly lit the room he found himself in. "Glass? Wait," he paused "it's a window. But why would it be boarded up? It's not like bears would crash through a cabin window just for the hell of it." Backing away from the window his footsteps became muffled, almost soft-like. Confused, he knelt down, feeling the floor beneath him. "Carpet. Ok, maybe this was a play room of some sort." he said, still unsure of his surroundings. Standing up, he stared at the moonlight. It was calming, dust danced through the light and the silence brought a sort of peace to the darkness he found himself surrounded by. Following the ray of light with his eye, he noticed that it stopped in the middle of the room. Something was for sure blocking it. Following the light with his eye, he noticed it stopped in the middle of the room. Creeping towards the light he felt his legs bump into some sort of object. Gliding his hand across it, he could feel the smooth grain of polished wood, the carved edges that reflected the craftsmanship and care it took to make such an item. "Ok, so maybe not a playroom. A large table like this could mean it was mostly likely a dinning room instead, sounds about right."