Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

Frozen in Time: Roses in the Snow

"RUN!"

A shrill call echoed through the sleepy morning market as three children scrambled through the thin crowd. Their giggles and cries of fear were drowned out by the angry hollers of the vendor that they had stolen goods from.

"Raine, give the things to Kaz to fly them back home, then come with me."

The leader of the little thieving group was a beautiful, pale skinned albino boy, no older than 10 years old by the looks of it. A girl with sandy brown hair, the one he had called Raine, tossed a sack of goods up to another boy running on the rooftops, the one they called Kaz. He secured the cloth sack tightly in his arms and then dove off the other side of the roof, disappearing from view.

After skidding around a few people hoping to snatch them, the pair hopped over a table which made its vendor fall hard onto her bottom, knocked over a rack of clothes before disappearing into the alleyway.

"Look! Can we keep it?" Raine smiled as she held up a nice, new woolen sweater. The albino boy nodded. They needed all the clothing they could get since winter was fast approaching.

After a long trek through an abandoned path through the forest and a grassy field, a worn down shed came into view. It sat hidden in the outskirts of the town and it was the place 15 young children called home.

"Brother Ruski! Sister Raine! You're back!" the family chirped and grouped together to see what they had brought back in the sack. One of the older girls stayed against the wall with a frown on their face as the other younger kids unwrapped the goods. Once the items were stored away safely, the girl walked up to the other three and folded her arms.

"You guys were late and we were worried. Are you guys alright? Nothing went wrong right?"

"Don't worry Bela, everything went fine," Ruski replied and she sighed. She was only the third oldest but she worried the most, especially when they went out to gather living necessities.

"I should be out there with you guys," she would lament every time the others went out. Bela had hurt her ankle a while back which made it basically impossible for her to run errands like that but that only made her more determined to help out in the house.

As the night drew the day to a close, the eldest children tucked the others into bed before gathering in the living room. They sat in the dark to discuss future plans before bidding each other good night and heading to their own beds. Each one slipped into their covers, closed their eyes and listened to the silence. But before they went unconscious, regrets, complaints and longings never failed to appear.

"If only we could live as freely as other children..."

"Why do we have to struggle just to see another day?"

"It's so unfair but this is what reality is."

"I wonder... "

...

Cold. Everything was cold and dark. I couldn't see, I couldn't feel until suddenly, a splinter of light erupted from my peripheral view. After a few seconds, I could finally make out a few dark shapes. A hand? Two hands? Legs? Those were my body parts.