Two Elves

Chapter Six

My feet is wet.

Not 'beach wet' but 'slimy wet.'

Groaning loudly, I sat up hurriedly but regretted it almost immediately. Everything hurt.

A dog barked and I slowly began to notice my surroundings, there were lots of trees but I could smell something in the air.

It smelled like life, like earth. At least what I always imagined it will smell like.

I stood up slowly, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier. It felt like bells of all shapes and sizes were going off in my head. I heard a little whine below and looked down.

So that's why my feet are wet.

A dog wagged its tail. It was a black puppy with cute ears. It seemed excited. I have no idea why because I'm sure I looked horrible and definitely unfriendly. It licked my right foot for good measure and walked around in circles. Like it was happy to see me. I can't imagine Anna's face when she sees him. Him? Her? How do you figure out the gender of these things?

Anna.

Panic overtook nerve endings I know and didn't know existed and I froze.

"Anna? Anna!!" I yelled loudly. The puppy barked like it was trying to help and while I appreciated the gesture, I couldn't really focus on it or take out time to appreciate it. I walked farther into the woods.

God I hoped nothing happened to Anna.

"Anna where are you?"

"Anna!" I continued. My hands were shaking until I heard a rustle coming from a pile of leaves behind me. Her arms came out first, and then her face.

"Anna are you okay?" I walked closer to her. Trying to check for injuries and soothe my worries.

There was a lot of coughing and taking leaves out of her hair and dusting her clothes and muttering. And then came the panic.

"We crashed." It was a silent realization I had been trying to ignore since I gained consciousness.

"Our very first delivery and we crashed. I don't think this has ever happened before. We crashed, and it was all my fault."

"No it wasn—" I tried to intervene.

"Don't. Don't lie to me or make me feel any better, I poured blue dust all over the reindeer. A pouch full and they fell asleep Charlie, what could be worse than that? I'm sure they are hurt. Oh God I don't eve—"

She stopped talking abruptly, eyes wide and face pale with dread.

"Charlie? Charlie where are the reindeers?" She asked, body incredibly still.

Hands on my hips, I replied.

"Why thank you for your concern Anna, I'm doing great. How are you this fine evening?" Making sure to roll my eyes so she could realize it is indeed sarcasm. "I'm sure they are around here somewhere, probably still asleep because you know? Blue dust." I shrugged and proceeded to walk farther into the woods.

Three hours later and we still couldn't find them and it looked like we managed to circle back to where we started. We were tired, dirty, hungry and frustrated. Even Marvin barked less.

Anna named him, he looked like a Scott to me.

"Look, why don't we just have something to eat? I'm sure there's something left in that bag that didn't get ruined in the crash. Come on Anna, we can only find them if we are alive and it feels like I'm dying right now."

At the mention of food, Marvin's stomach growled loudly and Anna smiled at him.

"I'm sure there's something for you my sweet little boy" she rubbed his ears, crouched down and opened the bag to search. She found a bottle of water, took a sip and handed it to me. And then a box of cookies we never knew was in there.