Eyes of Ice

Gentle

Ali took it oddly well. He told them that there were weirder things out in the woods than ghosts, to which Patty agreed, saying he'd seen some pretty fucked up trees.

Ronnie slowly got used to Patty dropping by, accepting that he was eventually going to have a heart attack caused by Patty suddenly appearing in his living room, or his kitchen, or his shower, or the passenger seat of his goddamn truck right as he's backing out of his driveway. Overall, he was sweet and mild-mannered. He seemed to like helping out around the house and talking about cool things he saw in the forest. He knew a lot of secluded spots that living people rarely saw.

"Hey, we should go to the lake," Patty suggested one morning, helping Ronnie carry firewood inside.

"Why?"

Patty shrugged. "It's pretty. And you never see it in winter."

Ronnie stacked the wood next to the fireplace. "That's because it's too cold to swim."

"We don't have to swim, we could just...look at it and hang out."

"What if someone sees you?"

"There's nobody there right now and I know a really cool place they never go anyway."

Ronnie didn't have much to do today. Maybe it would be fun to see the lake.

"I guess we could drive down."

Patty grinned. "I'll help you pack lunch."

"You wanna help me pack lunch," Ronnie deadpanned.

"I haven't made lunch in forever," Patty said with a shrug.

Ronnie guessed that one started to miss things like that when one had been dead a long time.

As they drove, Patty put on some music and sang along. Turned out they liked a lot of the same music. Once they were parked, they hiked for a while to find Patty's spot. It wasn't surprising that people rarely visited it, if Patty hadn't been there guiding him, Ronnie would've gotten lost dozens of times on the way.

Patty hadn't lied about the lake being pretty this time of year. The dark water wasn't quite frozen over and contrasted beautifully with the snowy trees. Everything was peacefully still, like it was all made of untouched glass.

"Do you see that?"

Ronnie looked where Patty pointed.

"A deer." It was drinking from the lake a way off.

Patty grinned. "He's a favourite of mine. He's got a really curious personality."

The deer looked up at them for a moment. Ronnie thought it might run, but it seemed more interested in them than scared.

They found a place to sit and watched the deer in comfortable silence. It eventually started walking towards them.

"Sit still," Patty whispered, cold breath tickling Ronnie's ear.

Ronnie didn't move a muscle as it came close, pausing to sniff the air. Patty took his hand and held it out for the deer. Almost holding his breath, Ronnie watched it close the distance between them to nuzzle his glove. It seemed to decide that they were safe, snuffling at Ronnie's face contentedly. Satisfied, it wandered into the trees and disappeared.

"Oh my god," Ronnie breathed.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"So animals are okay with you when you're in your...human form?"

Patty shrugged. "They don't mind me hanging out in it." He gave Ronnie a sly smirk. "They know I'm not like other boys."

Ronnie smiled at his hands.

"You should eat," Patty told him, standing up, "Don't want you starving to death on me."

"I don't think living people need to eat as much as you think we do," he replied.

Maybe Patty was right, though. Although he'd had plenty of breakfast, Ronnie was kinda hungry from all the walking.

"I'm gonna go for a swim, okay?" Patty headed for the shore.

Ronnie blushed a little when Patty's dress suddenly turned into snow, leaving him in his briefs. He must've momentarily forgotten that Ronnie was there and just shed the dress out of habit. He tore his eyes away from the dimples in Patty's lower back, making himself busy with his sandwich as Patty waded out.

Occasionally, Patty would disappear under the surface for minutes at a time. Even though he knew Patty couldn't die again, it was hard to not be just a little concerned. As he ate, Ronnie wondered if the spirits of drowned victims stayed in the lake and if Patty talked to them.

After a particularly long dive, the snow beside Ronnie started to shift, startling him as it formed a humanoid shape. He relaxed again. Patty, back in his dress, sat up and smiled at him.

"Sorry, I had to go check something."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, a momma bear just had her cubs a couple of miles that way," he pointed in a direction that Ronnie guessed was east, "I was worried, but they're all doing okay now."

"So, when you're not in your body you can just travel anywhere in the woods?"

Patty shrugged. "It's kinda more like I feel it all and I exist everywhere at once, but yeah, pretty much. The downside is that it's just...harder to think when I'm like that. Like I have no physical brain to organise my thoughts."

"Huh." Ronnie looked out at the lake, trying to imagine being everywhere in the forest at once. "Do you always keep track of births in the forest?"

"Usually. It's probably the best thing about being like this, getting to see so many new lives come into the world all the time. It's amazing."

"It must be awful when anything dies out here."

Patty tilted his head. "It's sad, but it doesn't usually get to me too much. Lots of things hunt to survive, you know? I just hate it when humans are disrespectful about the lives they take."

Ronnie nodded. He'd always found hunting trophies tasteless. Killing wasn't something to proud of.

Patty frowned, looking into the distance. "Hold on a sec." He crumbled into snow. It wasn't a moment before the snow flurried back into shape and Patty stood, holding out a hand to Ronnie. "We should go."

Ronnie took it, standing up. "Why?"

"Someone's coming," Patty said, picking up his pack and handing it to him.

Ronnie slid the pack on, letting Patty take his hand and pull him into the trees. "Who? People?"

"I'm not the only one who lives out here. Some of the others are...not good."

"Must be pretty bad if they can scare you," Ronnie commented.

"I'm more worried about you. Most of them can't do anything permanent to me."

Most of them. Ronnie wondered about the ones that could.