Somewhere and Something Warm
It feels cold.
Unsettlingly so. Like it’s striking through the bone and breaking into her very being.
Mafuyu keeps running along, the metal of her zipper on her small backpack clinking as she does.
How far out is she?
How far is home?
Mafuyu doesn’t really want to have considered it home right now. Just another place. A different space in time.
On the thought of time, how long has it been?
Has anyone noticed her disappearance?
Does anyone even care?
It’s getting dark, and Mafuyu feels farther from a safe space than she ever has.
Maybe because she never left the house for anything but school, so it felt safe, in her delusions, at least. Maybe because the darkening depths of the forest can have that effect on people.
Maybe she never knew safety to begin with.
But two immensely heavy feelings became clear to her.
Freedom and the lack of air in her lungs, a mixture of running and the winter air ripping it straight from her throat.
But she’s free. From the college applications, graduation planning, the pressure, and her mom.
That’s all Mafuyu can think about as her stamina shatters from hours of running, and she becomes just another missing body lost to the abyss of the woods.
_______________
Kanade has never been very proactive.
But she’s never been able to leave anyone to die, either.
Even if they were human.
Kanade wheelbarrows the girl into her house with much effort, breathing heavily by the time she actually gets inside.
Kanade would like to move her to the couch, but doubts she has the strength to——since it was already difficult enough to even get her in the wheelbarrow——so she settles leaving the human girl laying in the wheelbarrow on top of some potatoes and radishes.
Kanade takes a moment to catch her breath.
Kanade picks up a wool blanket and drapes it over the girl, observing her face. Her hair is messy, the thick purple locks tangled against her shoulders. She’s pale for a human. Probably freezing.
Kanade sighs.
Now that she’s inside..
What is she even supposed to do with a human..?
What if it panics when it wakes up? What will she do then? What if this was a mistake??
Kanade takes a deep breath, calming her thoughts as she looks over at the girl.
She looks young.
What was she doing out this far in the woods anyway?
Kanade goes over to the kitchen, cutting up some vegetables.
The girl will need something to eat when she awakens. But when exactly will that be..?
_______________
Mafuyu feels a pounding in her head and a soreness in her body as she slowly opens her eyes.
She feels warm.
That feeling makes Mafuyu snap her eyes open.
She isn’t in the woods anymore..
Mafuyu quickly looks around, trying not to move too much in case someone is nearby.
There’s lots of wool blankets around, a couch, a fireplace.. But Mafuyu was so deep in the woods, so where the hell is she?
Mafuyu runs her hands along the wool blanket covering her, and further down, the root vegetables underneath her.
She’s in a wheelbarrow.
Mafuyu feels for her small backpack she left with, sighing with relief upon still feeling it on her back.
After a moment of seeing no one, Mafuyu sits up.
Everything really starts to ache then.
Mafuyu stands up, getting out of the wheelbarrow. She wraps the blanket around herself as she stands frozen, unsure what to do.
A sinking feeling kicks in at the sound of footsteps, in the room nearby, and that feeling drops through the floor looking at the person that peeks out of the kitchen.
She’s paler than the heavy snow that graces the ground in mid-winter, and quite short. Just a bit lower than Mafuyu’s shoulders. She has pale gray-blue hair that reaches to her knees. The most peculiar part, she has pointed ears and small white wings.
The creature looks equally as stunned for a moment, but she’s the first to speak. “Hello..?”
It sounds more like a question than a greeting.
“Hi..” Mafuyu manages to say back, still observing the creature in a trance.
“Umm.. I found you in the woods a few hours ago.. So I guess I brought you here,” The creature takes a small step closer. “I’m Kanade..”
“Kanade..” Mafuyu repeats, looking at her. The creature's tone of voice is soft. Non-threatening. Or maybe just trying to be.. Mafuyu doesn’t know her.
Hell, Mafuyu doesn’t even know what she is.
“Mafuyu. My name is Mafuyu.”
Kanade nods.
“What are you?” Mafuyu asks abruptly, trying to relax her confusion and unease.
Kanade starts fidgeting with her hands, “I’m an elf..”
Mafuyu just blinks at her.
Like the ones in children's books or what?
She looks the part, but.. This is all just strange.
“And you’re human..?” Kanade asks, glancing over Mafuyu.
“Yeah,” Mafuyu nods.
Kanade nods as well, in recognition.
They both go silent for a moment.
“I.. umm.. I made some food, if you want some.. I don’t know how long it's been since you last ate, so..” Kanade’s words trail off, looking back into the kitchen.
Mafuyu hesitantly steps closer to get to the kitchen, “sure.”
Kanade steps back inside of the room to make room for Mafuyu to get through the door.
“It’s just soup, but it’s better than nothing..” Kanade clears her throat and goes to one of the cabinets to get a bowl and a spoon.
Mafuyu looks at the furnace in the kitchen.
Definitely not modern..
Kanade goes over to the furnace and scoops some of the soup from the pot on top of the furnace into the bowl she got, setting the spoon carefully inside and placing the bowl on the kitchen table.
Mafuyu watches Kanade walk back to get another bowl for herself before moving to the table and sitting where the bowl was set.
Great.
She ran away from home. From the life she knew. From everything.
And now she’s in a fairies house late at night, and about to eat dinner with the creature.
Mafuyu picks up the spoon, collecting some soup onto it.
She doesn’t take the time to blow it off, too hungry. She can’t even taste it.
But with the aching in her muscles, and the throbbing in her head just from thinking about home, she’s thankful for a warm meal and a warm house.
Mafuyu watches the elf sit down with her own bowl of soup.
It’s gonna take her a moment to adjust the doubts in her mind that this isn’t a ream of delusion.