The Windigo

by -Hidden Identity-

4

Day 4:
We are almost out of water, and the fuel for the fire is just short of being depleted. It has been almost a full day since Cross abandoned us. You know how at times you can tell if something has happened or not? I can’t feel it here at all. My head tells me that Cross is dead and has been for a while, but I want to keep up hope. Forget that, I need to keep up hope. Once you lose everything you have, the only thing you can do is hold on to what can’t be taken unless you willingly banish it. Hope is one of those things that you give up last, a thing that nopony can take from you. Wymble apparently believes in the hope of sleeping this whole thing off, as he has once again curled up with himself on the only bed we have left. That will be the last thing to go, I hope. It is not impossible to sleep on the floor of the accursed cabin, and keeping warm is the first priority at this point. The day that the fire goes out sets for the night that we all freeze to death.

I asked Peers about the W which he carved into the door. I was right in thinking that that was going to be a mistake. He lashed out at me in a way I have never seen. A side of him I didn’t know existed. He keeps pacing, looking out at the wall of white, which continues to obscure our vision from the cabin. I don’t exactly know how the snow did not blow out our fire when Cross opened it to run yesterday. Every nerve in me tells me to be enraged with Cross, and to deal with him in accordance for his actions when we find him. That is assuming he will still be alive when we do find him, or if we find him at all. I wonder if anypony back home has recognized the fact that we are not returning at the time we designated before we left. Even if somepony does, how will they find us here? I don’t know if they would realize we entered the Briar Sanctum.

I managed to get some sleep, thankfully. It seems that sleeping through this may indeed be the way to better our chances of survival. The wind has died as suddenly as it came. We now have a view of the forest again, and the surroundings. I had not noticed that the clearing expands further to the south of the cabin. After the wind and snow calmed it became obvious that there is a downward slope to who-knows-where. Peers seems to be packing his things. What’s he doing? I just inquired as to the nature of Peer’s actions, and he has informed both Wymble and myself that he is setting out to find Cross. Reckons it won’t take too long to find him, as he couldn’t have gotten far. I would ask to accompany him, but I’m not sure if that would be wise. More than just the cold and chance of getting lost, Peers is becoming more irritable by the hour. I don’t think he wants any help either. Funny, as he never knew Cross that well.

To sit in solemn’s silence on a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life long lock.
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper,
On a big, black block.
Somepony wrote that. I don’t know who.

It has been two hours since Peers left looking for Cross. Time spent wanting the many things we have to want, and wasting what little we have to waste. Wymble and I talked some. Mainly about what is awaiting us back in town. Home, family, friends and the like. Wish we had something to do to keep us busy. The more bored you are makes you all the more aware you are of how hungry and cold you are. Writing in this journal doesn’t exactly take your mind off things. I could start writing a story to help pass the time. A story about a pony who gets lost in caves made of pure ice. No matter how I start, or how I want to go, the story would always be concluded in a cold manner. I wish we had something to eat. I don’t care what it was, just something. Shut up.

Peers came back thankfully. He apparently did find Cross. Peers says that he was frozen solid. Not too far away from the cabin, down the hill to the south. So I was right, there is a hill over there. He went on to say that he took time to attempt to bury Cross, but only had the strength to cover him with snow under a tree close to where he had found Cross initially. There wasn’t any of the food Cross stole around the body; he must have eaten it all. If there is any way that Cross running off could help us, I guess it would be because Peers found some edible inner bark in a couple of felled trees near where he “buried” Cross. It also burns like a dream: long and warm. So, the question becomes do we eat it or burn it?

I never thought that any of us would die so soon. I tried to keep up hope that all of us would survive, but there is no point in denying the inevitable. Four days. Four days we have been on this trip, and for three days we have been stuck in the cabin. The last three days of Cross’s life consisted almost entirely of sorrow and despair. So, was four days too early for any of us to die, or too long?

It’s odd how the three of us have acted in the last hour since Peers returned with the confirmation of Cross’s death. I would have taken the silence in the cabin for mourning, but it is not the type of silence one encounters at a funeral, that silence is heavy with the emotions of all who are present. This silence is the silence of those who are not sure what to think or what to feel, as it is cold and empty. I don’t think any of us went through the various stages of grief; we can’t spare what little emotion we have left. What do you do when you feel the things that make you who you are being sucked away? It took four days for one of us to die. It will probably take six to turn one of us into a shell, with no essence of whom they were inside. Just a body. Just an empty body.

Cath

Its very dark out, and has to be close to midnight. I presume the other two are asleep, but I don’t want to risk waking them by sitting up to check. We’ve all been very light sleepers lately. I just woke up for no reason, but as I did I swear that a light was hurriedly extinguished from outside the window. Tomorrow I’m going to pay my respects to Cross, and take a look just inside the woods.

Comments

[Night06]

I like how its "Two months later, the search is called off" they were searching for two months? That seems a little excessive, did they pack two months worth of trail mix?

[Balancer]

So....depressing
Nice work

[-Hidden Identity-]

@Nighters07
Yeah, my description of the story has something to be desired. I should have put it that the four went missing, yada yada yada. Point well taken though.

[mrheadhopper]

nice stuff
eep goin