A cold night

“No.” The man tells me before slamming the door in our faces.

“That’s another one.” I tell Sasha as we head back to the road. “Come on.”

We’ve made it out of the town and into the countryside, but it’s getting dark. It seems like nobody wants to help us. I can tell it’s going to be a cold night.

We press on. The sun gets lower and lower in the sky. I can feel the wind picking up.

“Should we try this house up here?” Sasha asks me.

“Yes.” I tell her. It’s good to hear her talk. She’s hardly said a word since the attack.

We approach the front door. I knock three times. After a brief moment a woman comes and answers the door.

“Good evening, ma’am.” I say to her.

“Are you okay?” She asks me. “You both look rough. Where did you get that black eye? ”

“A man’s fist.” I answer. “But don’t worry. He won’t be hitting me again.”

“Why have you come here and knocked on my door?” She asks.

“We’re trying to get home ma’am, traveling on foot. We were wondering if you could help us.”

“No.” A mans voice answers sternly from inside. “This is not a hotel.”

She looks at me awkwardly.

“We have nothing, ma’am.” I tell her.

“They’re not staying!” He yells from inside.

She gives me a sad look. “I’m sorry..” she begins.

“It’s okay.” I say. “I understand.”

“Just, wait one second, okay?” She asks. She returns a moment later and puts an old blanket in my arms. “You’d better go.” She says.

I can hear the two of them arguing as Sasha and I walk back to the road.

“At least we got something.” I say. “Do I really have a black eye?”

“Yes, a bad one.” She answers. I feel it with my fingertips. “And a fat lip.”

We quietly carry on up the road. The wind cuts right through us as the sky gets darker and darker.

"We need to find a place to get out of the wind." I say. "Anything would work, even a barn."

"But nobody wants to help us." Sasha tells me.

"I'm not going to ask this time." I respond. "It's night. Everybody's asleep. We'll just find a spot, sneak in, and get out early enough to not get caught."

She nods and continues following me.

"There. Do you see that barn?" I say, pointing. "Lets go in there."

We're careful to stick to the shadows and not make too much noise as we make our way to the barn. Fortunately, it's unlocked. Unfortunately, it is so dark inside that we can barely see a few feet in front of us. We feel our way to an empty stall filled with straw, where we sit down.

"Stay close to me." I whisper to her while unfolding the blanket. "It will help keep us warm."

She snuggles into me after we wrap the blanket around ourselves. She puts an arm and a leg around me and her head on my shoulder. I'm lucky to have a friend like her, somebody that I can be so comfortable with. It's still cold, but I think we can make this work.

"What happened to us today?" She whispers to me. "Why did that happen to us?"

"I killed a person, Sasha." I tell her. "Two. I can't believe it."

She doesn't say anything, she just looks up at me.

"I mean, I guess I had a good reason to do it." I say. "But I have this feeling that I just can't explain."

"You didn't have a choice." She whispers. "And after... what they did to us...."

"They deserved it." I cut her off. We lay in silence and darkness for a moment.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get to him sooner, Sasha. I'm so, so, sorry." I whisper.

I can feel her hold on to me tighter as we drift off to sleep.