Singing of the dead (Novel one)

CHAPTER TEN: TIMBER

Atlas woke up alone on new year's day, his head wasn't hurting too much as even though he had drunk a fair amount he had a solid night's sleep, maybe it was because Jessica wasn't in the bed taking up all the room. He rolled out of bed grinning to himself at his basically non-existent hang over and threw on some clothes. Atlas left his room and poked his head around the door into his grandfather's room who was still fast asleep, Atlas' mind then wondered as to where Jessica had fallen asleep last night, had she shared a bed with his sister again? The thought crossed through Atlas' mind, but he decided he wasn't going to be bothered if Jessica was in Isabelle's room after all he did trust his sister and he knew Jessica loved him. He poked his head into Isabelle's room, and he found it empty a fact that he was secretly happy about even though he really didn't enjoy being happy over his envy. Atlas shivered as he creaked his way down the wooden stairs, the house feeling colder than usual on this day, it must have been a particularly cold night. He then saw his girlfriend and sister asleep on the sofa, bottles of alcohol and glasses of water scattered around them and the fire struggling to hold a glaze of colour as its fuel had almost turned to ash. Atlas walked to the kitchen and took a bite of carrot and put the rest in his pocket and drank some water he then put his jacket and gloves on, grabbed the axe and a radio, placing another on the table in front of the girls and left the house to get some timber to heat the frosted home up.

Atlas stepped outside and the brightness of the light fog struck his pupils, and it took them a moment to adjust, Atlas then began walking towards the forest area leaving a trial of footprints behind in the frost and began whistling to himself. Atlas didn't stray to far from the house and found a perfect dried out tree to chop down and use for fuel in the fire to help fight the overgrowing coldness. He swung the axe back and hit it into the frosted dried trunk of the tree causing its bark to splinter and water splash backwards. Atlas was a few swings in until he heard something near him. He wasn't scared he presumed it was a bird or something but still he stopped and observed his surroundings, his eyes darted trying to piece together vision though the fog and then he saw what looked like a dog in the distance. Atlas stopped hacking away at the tree and decided to walk closer to the dog. Isabelle had always wanted another dog after their family one had passed away a few years back.

"Here boy, come hear boy." Atlas spoke in a smooth buttery calming voice as he approached the dog whistling to try and beacon it over to him.

The dog was weary of this stranger and moved further away but did not run as you could see its curious behaviour try to work out if it was a human trying to call him over as it had been so long since he had heard a friendly voice speak to him. After a few attempts of trying to close the distance between himself and the dog, Atlas decided to change his tactic and knelt on the floor and simply called for the dog to come over to him instead of trying to get to it. A few minutes had passed, and the dog had finally gotten within reaching distance of him. Atlas slowly grabbed the remaining carrot from his pocket and offered it to the black Jack Russel standing in from of him. The dog gently reached its mouth out and took the carrot and then backed away and lay on the floor to eat it. Atlas let the animal finish and then walked over to it and patted it on its head.

"Hey little guy, what are you doing out here? I wonder what your name is. You look like a Ted."

Ted tilted his little head and gave Atlas his puppy eyes as he stuck his tongue out and Atlas gave him a scratch behind his ear.

"Come on Ted, let's go meet your new family."

Atlas walked alongside his new canine companion occasionally having to usher Ted along.

The floor was still frosty, and Atlas was looking forward to getting back inside to some kind of warmth. He thought to himself he can introduce Ted to the family and then grab Isabelle or Jessica to help him bring some wood inside so that Ted could warm up besides the hot flames of the fire.