"No hay necesidad de correr, chica. Descansa, rest..."

**WARNING, MENTIONS BLOOD AND DEATH. LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY**

"It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.

My feet were tired from walking and running away, and I needed a nap. But I couldn't find a place to sleep.

The snow lightly fell, blanketing the floor and trees around me. I breathed in slowly, letting the beauty of it all sink in. I shiver with cold.

I press on and continue walking. Suddenly, the leaves rustle behind me. When I looked back, no one was there.

A bunny hops out. A small one. It looks up at me. I lay down, and it comes and cuddles up against me.

A brief spark of hope and warmth in a frigid time.

It climbs up onto my back, and I rise to my feet. I slowly walk along, with the little snowball on my back. It keeps me moving.

I hear a crack behind me. A Shiver runs down my spine. Making me more cold than I already am, it makes me scared.

I turn around and I see a man. In a suspicious-looking coat that went to the floor, blood was smeared on it. He looked like he just stopped running from a predator. He turns to us. I see death In his eyes as he pants, not looking away. He calms down and the green comes back to his eyes, and the blood on his coat flakes off like snowflakes from the clouds.

The bunny hops off my back and towards the man.

Once he gathers his surroundings, he waves at the little bunny. He pulls his hood off to reveal a pure white skull, and his hands were pure quartz, and his eyes seem to tear up. His hands go from the sky to his back. I take a step back. He places on his gloves.

His eyes fill with joy and sadness as he looks at the little bunny.

I walk up to him. He quickly pulls on his gloves.

I look at him, his eyes full of hope. He falls to his knees and cries.

I fall to my knees and place my head on his lap. I hear a bluejay as he flaps his wings down to us.

The bluejay rests on the man's shoulder, my head rests on his leg, and the bunny on his boot.

Other animals come along soon. Like a Robin, Raccoon, or a Buck.

As more animals come, his eyes overflow with joy. A man who cares.

Look at him. Acting like a child who went out into the woods for the first time.

We get up. He places his hands on his hips and nods. He grunts.

I tilt my head. His mouth moves as he waves. It must mean hello.

As he cuts down trees, builds with them, and even makes fire, we never leave him. He kills boars and coyotes. Bears occasionally when he needs the pelt for a coat.

Multiple fortnights go by. Snowfluff grows bigger, until a full adult, Bob learns a little dance, from him, and I learn what he is saying. Soon, I can piece together a sentence, and I learn his name. Thanatos, from La Muerte.

"Well, Honey lemon." He said. That's my name. "What are we doing today?"

I point my snout outside and gesture. "Outside it is."

Thanatos puts on his clunky boots and coat, puts Snowfluff the bunny in his open pocket, and we walk outside.

Whoot the owl and Blue the Bluejay fly to us. They sit in silence on his shoulder and my back. A bear walks up to us and scares Thanatos. I walk in front of him and walk up to the bear, showing Thanatos that the bear was friendly.

"Are you sure, Honeylemon?"

I nod. The bear sits on his hind legs.

He places his hand out. The bear does the same.

Thanatos's mouth opens to a smile. "Hello, Mr. Bear. Do you mind if I call you Mr. Brown?"

As if in reply, the bear grunts.

"You are a wonderful animal, Mr. Brown. Look at your pelt!"

He brushes Mr. Brown's fur. I look at him and tilt my head. Just like he did when I was eating his berries.

"I wasn't going to Honeylemon!" He exclaims as if he knew what I was thinking.

We hear grunts from behind him. We both hear it. "Who's there?"

We stay silent.

They lift their guns. I see another bear beside one of the men.

"Bear!!" Thanatos yells.

They panic. Frantically trying to get away from the bear and seeing raccons rush by, thinking that they are more bear cubs. Daring birds dive right in, pecking at them as they swoop down and back up into the sky.

I stay right beside him. Snowfluff and Bob the Bluejay didn't abandon him, too.

The bear leaves, and the raccoons stop running. The birds stop nosediving in.

They lower their guns.

The men start laughing and joking about how the animals were so crazy just then.

He stays silent, but he creeps away. He tells me to stay put as he puts his hood up, and takes off his gloves.

A man stops laughing. He saw Thanatos. He quickly taps his buddy and he stops laughing. one by-one they stop laughing, looking straight at Thanatos.

"Why are you laughing?" He menacingly says in a voice that I have not heard.

"W-we're n-n-ot..."

"What were you just doing?"

"Ta-talking."

"Gphawing?"

"n-no."

"You are stuck up with ladies when you are not hunting." He starts speaking in another language that I couldn't understand.

I look away.

"How-"

They stay silent.

I look back and see that Thanatos had taken off his hood. He smiles. He says a sentence that my mother taught me, that when you hear it said to you, run. Death is right around the corner, Run out your life before Death catches you with his teeth.

"La Muerte está aquí muchachos. Correr. Si puedes..."

They scream and drop everything. They run away.

He runs after them, laughing.

I stay there. Traumatized at what I just saw. Bob and Snowfluff stay with me too. We stay there for a while.

The snow starts to fall again. We sit there, Snowfluff starts to paw around the snow in a ball, like how John showed us.

Bob flies to grab twigs, while I just watch. A little snowman was created, Snowfluff began to create smaller ones around the big one. Two one medium sized ones, and one little snowman.

Snowfluff pointed at Bob, and moves her paw to one of the little snowmen. She pointed to both of the medium ones, then at me and her. When she got to the big one, she looked around, trying to find Thanatos.

Bob and Snowfluff both start to worry. I open my legs to make a little pocket for Bob and Snowfluff.

We wait. And we wait.

Night falls and we give up waiting. I write in the snow, "Come home Thanatos. We love you. Bob, Snowfluf, and HoneyLemon."

We walk to the house. Thanatos taught me how to turn on the heater. So i did. We spent i do not know how many days without him. But we waited for him.

We finally see him walk to the place where the snowmen were. He looks down, his big arms rise and fall. Warm steam pants from his mouth. He looks up, and walks towards the house.

Again. The shiver going down my spine. Cold, scary, yet familiar.

Looking like how we found him. Blood on his coat, his hood up, and his hands no longer pure Quartz, but slightly red.

I look at him, We look at him. His eyes do not change back to green, but stay garnet red.

Snowfluff hops behind my leg, and Bob onto my head. He just looks at us. Unwavering red. The blood from his coat does not flake off. But soaks in.

He takes a step forward. A tear falls down my cheek. He stops.

His hunched over position immediately straightens. He murmurs something. I tilt my head.

The red in his eyes flicker. I take a step forward, and lay on the ground.

He hesitates. I stand, and circle him, until my back is to the door.

I walk out, running away from Thanatos. I get to a hill.

A tall hill looking over a pure-white valley. Plants sprouting out of the blanket of snow. I stopped at the peak of it. I smell him, running up behind me.

I hear his footsteps, crunch in the snow. I sigh, and hold my breath as he nears me. I tighten, straining for the moment when he strikes. But the moment doesn't come.

Until he slams down his arm, and touches me. I feel my soul lifting, as he cradles me in his arms. Snowfluff sees this, and climbs up.

He cries, the green coming out of his eyes like he could create life, and not take it. Snowfluff looks at him, and snuggles up against his hand. For the last time, Me, Bob, Snowfluff, and Thanatos, look over the hill.

I look up at him, taking my final look at his bright green eyes. Looking at Snowfluff and Bob. The little ball of snow and air, already asleep for eternity.

He looks at me and says his last words, another sentence that I heard after someone or something murdered my mother, "No hay necesidad de correr, chica. Descansa, rest..." I rest my head back down, take my last deep breath, and I sleep."

Sniffles come from young and old, as I tell my story.

Death comes up from behind me. The shiver that once scared me, comforts me as I turn to see my friend.

"Hello, Thanatos."

"Hello. Honeylemon. You want to come on a hill with me for a moment?"

"Sure."

Our Hill. The moment that Snowfluff, Bob, and I drifted away into endless sleep there, but awake forever here.

We sit there. Just sitting there. SNowfluff and Bob greet us with a playful demeanor. I say, "No hay necesidad de correr. Descansa, rest"

Death holds me in his lap, like he always wanted to. Snowfluff hops over, while Bob soars over. We sit there. The four of us. A family.

"Descansa. Rest."