Cybil (2018) #projectsuper

Chapter 15: Feel The Chill

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the same mountain...

Corey couldn't sleep. Not because of the cold, as that sensation didn't mean anything to him. It hadn't for a while, as something had changed in him, his brother, and his sister.

He couldn't begin to explain it. It had been a long time since the accident that stranded them out here. The fear of death and feelings of cold had faded as days  passed. Now, he only felt lonely...

Climbing out of his makeshift hut, he tiptoed past the hut of his sister (and his younger brother) to climb his way topside.

He watched in awe as the blizzard swirled around him. Even he knew that in this weather, he should have been freezing to death. He wasn't, and that made him, his brother, Cole, and his older sister, Clare, freaks.

He wanted to be rescued. He wanted to go home and have some of Mom's famous Hot Cocoa.

He looked at his hands. Thoroughly frosted though they were, he didn't feel the least bit cold. When he really thought about it, did he even want to go home, considering what he was.

He heard footsteps just behind him, followed by a hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be out here, Corey."

It was Clare. She looked tired. It was hard to tell out here what time of day it was sometimes. She seemed to be about as unaffected by the cold as he was.

"Corey. You shouldn't be out here," she repeated. He had heard her, but had something else on his mind.

"Are... Are we monsters?"

Clare spun him around to face him on the spot. "No, we are not. And YOU are not! Look, I don't know what's going on with us..."

She brushed some snow out of her hair. When they had first went on the plane ride that started this mess, it was a sandy blonde. Now it seemed to be turning white as the driven snow. As if he needed more proof...

"...but I know that you're NOT a monster. You're a smart kid. And we'll get home and show Mom..."

Something snapped inside of the ten-year old boy. "What? That we're mutant freaks and deserve to be experimented on in some lab somewhere?!"

She seemed to want badly to respond, as her mouth kept opening and closing wordlessly.

Before she could think of a response, her attention bounced to somewhere in the near-whiteout snow field.

"What?"

Clare pointed Corey to a mysterious black speck that they could just barely see. She turned to the boy with a fine mix of nervous excitement on her somewhat stiffened features.

"Go in," she ordered, referring to his hut. She stood back and relaxed visibly. Putting her arm around him, he led him back to bed.

Clare herself didn't know what to think. Well, she hoped it was some sort of rescue party, but over time, that kind of wishful thinking had become little more than a dull thud in the back of her mind.

Whatever or whoever it was, she was going to find out and do what was best for her siblings.