---

I kept myself from walking around. Confusion was bothering me. Why did the man vanish? He was breathing, and he had gone away. Odd, boy, odd.

I didn't really know what to do. Everything was confusing. I knew that this place was cold, and I didn't know what to do except for one thing-to lie down on the floor.

It was too late when I realized the floor was too cold for someone to recline on. Yeah, dumb me. Yes, it was colder than it was a while ago. I could clearly see the couch where the old man lay down. I wanted to lie on something really comfortable. Of course, I'd want to lie on something warmer than that floor, but laziness took over me as my eyelids heavily dropped.

---

My eyes once again tasted the sweetness of sight. I had woken up to feel how cold it was to exist here. Not to mention lonely. I should've slept a lot more.

I stood up with the usual heaviness bringing my feet down. The window looked so unclear. I could not see anything outside, but when I stood up and had a chance to look close enough, I saw tall pine trees. They were covered with snow.

I glanced around to see no one. So... I was really alone.

I wanted a... a hot soup. My tummy growled silently. I went to the small yet tidy kitchen, not knowing how to cook. The utensils hung perfectly steady, and the sink was looking good. I didn't really know anything about cooking, so I sat on a chair beside the small table with one of its sides propped against the wall. That was when I noticed a soup served on a white bowl by whoever.

This was probably the old man's. Well, I was too hungry to think about someone who was undeniably gone. My apologies for being rude.

I helped myself until the design at the center of the bowl was finally revealed-a set of flowers in the usual chinaware color scheme. Mm, mushroom.

Nice, boring house, I thought as I set my eyes on the worn-out couch. My eyes caught another window, and my hands reached for an emerald green cloak hanging on a nail beside the window. The cloak was big for me when I wore it, but well, I didn't have any other cloak to wear.

"I," I whispered to myself as my right hand searched for the tiny hourglasses hanging on my neck, "can do this." It took me moments to find and wear a pair of galoshes living under the table.

As bravely as possible, I rushed out of the door. The sunlight that looked down on me was weakened by the trees' crowns. The cold harshly greeted my skin, and I realized the cloak's size was still a big help. If the cloak fits to my size, well, I'll be shivering more, I thought as I yanked the door close.

I turned my back. It was undeniably cold, and I didn't want to keep on walking. Even though I found really nice galoshes.

As I was striding through the ankle-deep snow, my guts in continuing decreased. I don't wanna do this anymore. That was everything in my mind. I don't know what I'm doing anyway.

"This place..." I mumbled, "is totally boring." I kicked some snow off of my way as if I could remove the snow in this whole forest. Well, I could not.

I kept on telling myself that I need to go and at least find someone or something, or else, I would rot in that house. I also convinced myself that the snow was wonderful. All on a sudden, there came someone.

"Good day," he said, but I didn't pay attention to him.

I need to meet someone, I forgot. I turned my head to the boy. He returned the same stare I was giving to his eyes-to his Hazel eyes. For a moment, I stood there, still and unmoved. My heart pounded harder, and I couldn't explain the feeling. His eyes moved awkwardly.

"Err... well," he mumbled as I was gradually smiling. "I'm... aye."

Oh, goodness. What? What? "What? Sorry, I didn't hear it."

"My name is Aisle," he repeated, and his words confirmed that what I heard was wrong.

"What?"

"I said, my name is Aisle," he, again, repeated.

"No," I bluntly replied. "What I mean is, Aisle? It's your name?"

"Yes...."

He scratched his neck. He was probably shy. That made me smile somehow.

"I never thought that Aisle is a good name for a human," I giggled.

"Sorry," Aisle said, "but that hurts me."

"Sorry, Aisle," I whispered, still feeling weird with the sound of that word as his name.

"No, I say, never mind that I said that."

I breathed heavily. I didn't know what was happening. I thought it was normal to have your heart beating fast then slow when you see a creature. Wait, no. I didn't even feel that when I saw the old man in the house.

I was finally out of my thoughts when Aisle held his hand out. It was like he was giving his hand. What am I supposed to do with his hand?

"Okay, I am Aisle," he said. "It's nice meeting you. And you are?"

"Athene, I am Athene," I slowly said, and I was still staring at his hand with a-well-pretty good glove. I don't have one, I thought, envying it a bit.

"Wonderful," he whispered while smiling the silly out of him. "Handshake, Athene...."

"Sorry, what?" Handshake? What? What's that? "Handshake?"

"I said..." he paused, "handshake...."

I raised my hand effortlessly and shook it simply. He seemed serious and curious about what I did. Well, I did shake my hand. The next thing he did was a loud laugh, his breath slightly contrasting with the chilling air around us.

"What's funny?" I asked. I couldn't understand the fact that he was laughing at my deed, but seriously, was that funny?

"Okay," he said, dismissing his own laughter. How can he talk like that? "Sorry, bonnie."

He abruptly took my right hand with his left one.

"H-hey, what are you-" I stammered, but I didn't stop him from holding my hand.

Aisle held my hand with his other hand. He shook it up and down. Oh, handshake.

"I got it now," I giggled. "Handshake."

"Now, you know?" he smiled as his perfectly placed dimples showed themselves.

Slowly, he released my hand.

"You're smiling, bonnie." I stood frozen for a moment. He called me bonnie again.

I remembered something related to that. I heard it somewhere. I believe it means pretty. That was what I could remember.

"I have a name. Athene, not bonnie."

"No, I wanna call you bonnie. You're charming," he said.

Aisle just turned his back on me. That's rude. Aisle turned to me, and I smiled at his action.

"Sorry, but I am curious," Aisle said.

"Curious of what?"

"Of where you're going, bonnie," he answered.

"I'm heading to-" I stopped. Where am I going? "I'll go to anywhere. I am not really sure. Where are you from?"

"There," he said, thumb pointing to the direction my back was facing. "You'll find some nice people there."

"Goodbye. Thank you," I smiled.

"Bye, bonnie," he said before he turned his back to me.

Turning away, I walked away. Something was remarkable in that encounter. Oh, well, I don't care. I allowed my feet to just walk away without hesitation, but I still paused.

"A-Athene!"

Aisle? I looked over my shoulder, but I didn't see anything nor anyone.

"What's up," I asked while rising my eyebrows, "Aisle?"

I stopped for a while. I turned around to look for the source of the sound. I turned my head to the left, and I heard it again. Hallucinations, maybe?

I searched for the direction heading to the north. Oh, no. Where is the north? I turned around, and I didn't even mind! I sighed.

"I can't! I can't! Athene!"

There it is again. Is it Aisle? No one knows my name except Aisle, and the old man earlier-he's gone. It's impossible if that old man is the one calling for me now.

"You didn't tell me it is way too cold there," I heard. "So cold!"

I lazily turned to see who it is, though I knew I would see nothing and no one. Well, I was wrong. Aisle was there, running.

"What? Wait, why? You came back," I giggled.

"Yes," Aisle exhaled, and his breath formed smokey air that comes out of his mouth. What could I say? The best I could remember of the past was being in the tropic. No snow.

"Why did you come back?"

That question made Aisle stop for a while. Then, he exhaled heavily.

"Is that bad?" Aisle asked. His voice raised. So as one of his eyebrows. What have I done?

"Not that..." I said, "but why did you come back?"

"It's damn cold."

There was silence-silence I knew I would be afraid to break. I looked at Aisle from his undersized crocheted bonnet down to the tip of his mukluks.

"Will you help me go to wherever you came from?" I asked.

"Yeah." Aisle looked at me, directly through my eyes. "Of course."

"Okay," I said as I turned my back.

"Hey!" I immediately looked at him. He was chuckling.

I gave him a questioning look. Soon, I felt that I was already smiling.

"That's not heading to us," he chuckled. "Follow me."

He walked and walked. I followed him. I don't even know why I went outside that house.

Aisle and I walked past the dark trees of this forest. And every step I took gave me warmth and motivation to continue.

---