The Edge of Siberia

A Bitter Retreat

Bowing my head with regret, sharp wind lashed at my wet cheeks. I shook my fringe desperately away from my damp eyes and clambered tighter fists to each side of the door frame as I peered hundreds of metres downward into an icy death. My feet stood firmly but nervously static. With my fingernails eagerly grazing harder into chipped metallic paint, a wave of something unnerving pulsed through me. Adrenaline. My fight-or-flight mechanism looming over my fate, my chest pumped harder. My body was using its resources fast.

Hurtling full speed west, ice continued its slashing against my cracked porcelain skin. Among the infinite white blur tearing past, a solitary snowflake dashed through the open doorway of the carriage and ventured down onto Hetti, still clinging to my legs with her head pressed against my torn trouser pocket. It landed on her agitated red nose and for a warming moment between us, she likened a glistening Rudolph as in the tales our parents used to tell us. She began to pinch at the skin beneath my trousers from gripping me so urgently. I threw my chin upwards towards the snowfall, averting my expression from Hetti's view. Eyebrows furrowed and watery eyes squeezed shut, I winced, contemplating the fate of a jump.

A metal rumbling of feet in the distance bellowed through the train's carriages, stirring an urgent wave of panic between us.

"No!" Hetti wailed, pressing her nose harder into my leg.

The orcs were almost upon us, sniggering and shouting at eachother, pushing and punching their way forward from only a few carriages away. A smashing of heavy weaponry against the walls followed by guttural howls drove us into an increasingly fatal alert.

Hetti released a high pitched girlish scream and dared to lean her back over the train's edge while holding onto me, eyes pinched shut.

"Hetti!" I clasped my little sister tighter, taking in her wispy blonde hair and delicate milky skin as she peered out. Testing the waters.

Aggressive laughter barked through the carriageways.

I was frozen in place; body and mind. I was catatonic. All of my instincts had gone into hibernation, having been overwhelmed. The jump, I thought... was all I could think. I heaved in a huge breath. I stood, sternly. I held Hetti. Releasing my breath, I glanced down, down, down.

There was clattering of iron torches nearby and in an instant, a sudden smash of glass only metres away. The orcs had found us. It was over. The last two girls wiped out; no survivors.

Deep snarls and fits of giggles in the doorway had us pivoting, terrified in its most absolute sense. They each glared with predator-like small black eyes and carelessly sniffled their downward pointed noses at us. The shorter one standing to the side of the group began to stretch its mouth, with its lips pulling taut over its abnormally long dagger teeth. My own image reflecting in those shining yellow teeth back at myself tore through me.

The orc standing at the front of the circle slid its fingers through its long lustrous hair, its unmoving eyes continuing to penetrate me. It grimaced playfully while slowly creeping forwards, hunching its reptilian back in advancement. I may aswell have just died right then. God only knows the height of terror my sister must have been feeling.

My limbs began to tingle and my heart skipped beats. The two of us stood wide-eyed.

Wind scoured our backs unceasingly as we stood in a daze, but this time, it felt... inviting. Flagellant-like. Enticing.

Hetti questionably looked up at me as if to ask if this was all that was left of us. I shared a glance with her while loosening my grip from the door frame until only my fingers were holding us over the edge of the doorway. The sweat on my fingertips had me sliding uncontrollably faster backwards over the drop, almost losing grip. Not a second later, the weight of our bodies tied together pulled us further over the step, causing our backs to hit the bitter air more piercingly than ever, our feet falling from the carriage.