And My Mind Wonders

i break

Bri

[attr="class","edentable"]The chilling touch of winter brought a twisted sense of comfort to Eden. She walked along the frozen field, small paws crushing into the snow with a satisfying crunch. That was the only sound that filled her ears, paired with her slow and deep breaths that felt like ice-cold daggers grazing her lungs. Her body felt heavy, weighed down by the drifting snowflakes riding the wind, melting into her plush tangled fur. But her head felt incredibly, and completely, light — completely empty, and as blank as the blanket of white that surrounded her.

The wind had carried her for miles, leading her to places unknown. Eden had no particular destination or preference in mind for where she wanted to land. She went where she pleased, whether that was toward paradise or desolation. She was unfit to tell the difference anyway. Her dark honey eyes mindlessly strayed too. The grey and white sky looked no different than the ground below. The only thing that separated them was the distant streaks of green and black treelines that bowed beneath the pressure of snow. Some of the trees were barren while others clung to their leaves. But there was no denying that when the chilling wind blew, their hollow trunks rattled and wailed.

Eden felt the same, but being anything else was a luxury that didn’t exist. Her resolve to survive was firm, so she forced herself to subsist, and eventually her body acclimated — so much so her teeth stopped chattering and her eyes stopped stinging. She disliked being cold but had a strong bias towards it; it became a shield. During these months, it was less likely she encountered other predators, and the unpredictable ground made pursuing rabbits slightly easier, but only when the ice didn’t grip her too. The frozen air enhanced her dull nose, concentrating the scents that lingered. And it calmed her, clearing her mind and lulling it into a serene trance-like state.

Her face was untouched by a tense scowl, instead relaxed and vacant. When the gentle but prominent scent of another wolf touched her dry nose, she glanced over but didn’t stop moving. A distant figure walked along the nearby horizon just as she, pale in color and meandering peacefully. It wasn’t uncommon that a few others shared mutual feelings about winter, preferring to explore its endless white expanse rather than hole themselves up somewhere damp and suffocating. Winter's touch was unavoidable; there was no point in trying to hide from it.

She watched the figure move. They were both heading in the same direction, walking almost side by side. She breathed in but all that she smelled was the bitter cold. But they were close enough for Eden to hear the subtle crunch of snow under their paws that were in tandem with her own.