Scorched

Epilogue

The ice entered her soul... Bringing life to her body.

It made her feel alive inside. The feeling of euphoria just washing over her.

It brought her senses to life for the first time in what has felt like an eternity.

First thing she sensed - heard; is the icy wind and hail howling loudly in her ears, nearly blocking her hearing off completely.

Then she tried to smell and taste, but her tongue is numb and her nose is blocked from the cold. When she did part her blue-purple tinged lips, ice flakes and solid pieces of ice fell straight into her mouth, causing her to keep her eyes shut off against the harsh ice too.

Lastly she tried to feel what was happening around her. She lay on her back, still completely nude, her toes and fingers numb from the cold, brittle enough to fall right off if she didn't cower herself soon.

She tries scratching the earth's surface with her fingernails, but instead a sharp pain pierced her. She grinds her teeth, hoping she didn't break off the nail.

She hears solid thumping next, coming from the distance. Could it be an avalanche that has caught up to her? That meant she had to move. And fast.

It still hurt to breathe, strain against her lungs from the cold, but she never coughed. She didn't need to. Something about this ice cold was welcoming to her.

It was like it brought life to her, being her breathe, enriching her soul, feeding her body. The ice is a comfort that wrapped around her and she welcomed it with open arms.

Slowly.

She was slowly getting there.

The thumping is closer now. So close it frightened her, but she just couldn't move. Her body is stiff, her joints completely frozen. How ironic it was even though she didn't want this cold to leave her.

Her breathing became more erratic, the avalanche might do her a favour. It could sweep her off the ground and maybe then her body could come back to life from the forced movement. Then she could find her way. Willing her body to start moving at last.

That made her feel a tad bit better, if the avalanche decided to listen to her.

The thumping is even closer now-

"Halt!" Screams someone. A woman's voice.

Her eyes are frozen shut too. She couldn't force them open to see where that voice came from.

She hears another thump and a loud neighing.

Steps.

More steps.

It wasn't an avalanche after all.

A presence now.

Kneeling beside her. A cloth being thrown off her, heating her too much instantly.

"I found her!"

She forces in another breathe but the cloth was there, over her face too, changing her hard air to soft warmer air. And then she feels a set of hands gripping her ankles dragging her through the snow. Scraping the bottom of her skin against the rough texture.

But she could not scream, even though she knew there would be blood and skin debris remaining a pigment in the snow with each pull they made.

She prayed this wasn't how she died.

"There you are princess."

That was another voice. A different more serene one. Sounding more ecstatic than the one pulling her.

"Let's get you home again shall we?"

Again?

The End.