I don't know who I am or where I am. All I know is that I just woke up, and I'm cold. Normally, Mom is always with me, but she's not here this time. And I'm scared. Yes, I'm very scared. I open my eyes, but she's not there. I close them, but nothing changes. It's still just as cold. I open them again and all I see is white. White as far as the eye can see, but my vision is still blurry. Mom should be there. How did I get here? Why I don't remember anything? Mom, I'm cold. And I'm hungry. Oh yes, I'm very hungry.
Mom won't come. I decide to get up, but I'm numb. I remember snow. It was cold and wet. Mom didn't like it when we played in it too long. She said it could hurt us a lot if we stayed outside too long. She told us to get warm before dark, and that's what we did. But I loved the snow! It was beautiful and bright. The sun was hitting it and the light was reflecting. I liked to watch the snow with mom. In the evening, I waited for her while she went to look for food, but now that I'm alone, I have to manage to find something to eat … I don't know how to do it, Mom didn't teach me. Besides, home is far away now. How to find it? Everything looks the same in the snow.
Mom always said, “Trust the forest.” For what? She also said never to go beyond, never to go beyond the clearing and the forest. “Never go behind the hill, that's where the wicked live, K'eyi,” she said. But I no longer see the hill, and I am no longer in the clearing. Why can't I remember?
Oh no, it's coming back to me… We were outside playing, Mom said to me, “Stay here, don't move, I'll be right back.” And I stayed there, just a few minutes. But I'm still so small, what do you want? A bird flew over my head and I started running after it. I ran away from home, I ran away, away from Mommy! I'm fast, very fast, Mom said. She said that's what saved my life when the bad guys went over the hill and grabbed Thaelab because he wasn't running fast enough…
Thaelab was my big brother. He was as handsome as Mom, but she still worried about him because he was sick. He couldn't run far or long. Thaelab was not fast enough when they came. The bad guys also took Dad before I was born. And maybe they took Mom? No, Mom was not taken! Mom is waiting for me at home because I left. Mom must be so worried. But I don't see the hill, I don't see my forest or my clearing.
I turn around and look at my tracks in the snow, then I look away. I understand why I don't see the hill, the forest, and the clearing. I remember how far I ran. The village of the wicked is there, in front of me. Mom told me not to go beyond the forest, I remember. I ran after the bird again and again! I went over the hill and lost my forest. Now I'm close to the bad guys.
So I run, over and over again, but I can't run fast or far, and my vision is always blurry. I am scared. Mom should be here, but it's all my fault. It was I who left when she told me to stay there and not move. It was I who followed this magnificent bird far from home, and it was I who ran so far. I'm stupid, stupid K'eyi! now I'm alone, away from Mom, and close to the bad guys. I'm cold, I'm hungry, and I'm scared. I have no food with me and the sun is going to set soon. Mom won't pick me up tonight, Mom is scared, just like me. And I have no shelter for the night, there's only snow, and I'm too small to dig like the bad guys do to survive the night in the snow.
Then an idea came to me, a stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless. I remember Mom saying bad guys don't come out after dark. So I'll sit and wait for the sun to go down. I will find shelter in the village of the wicked and I will wait for the morning to go back to see Mom! yes, I'm sure it can work. Mom said I'm crafty, I hope she was right. I'm small, I'll find a warm place and wait. I'll wait for the night to pass and leave before the bad guys come out.
I sit in front of the village and wait for the sun to come down from the sky and turn red. The night is coming, Mom used to say that when the sun disappears behind the forest, the night is coming. I stand there and wait. I don't know how much time has passed, I don't know the time, neither does Mom. And then that's it, night fell and the village of the bad guys lit up like the sun! Lights everywhere, so many lights. I wonder how can they be so mean, they who tamed the sun? At home, we don't have any of that. We don't even have enough food for a day with mom.
I walk slowly, the night hides me, and then I'm small, they won't see me. I arrive at the entrance to their village, it's beautiful, so beautiful. I get lost. I run. I stop. I think I got lost again. And there, I see it, my shelter, under the stairs. I'll be cold, I know it, Mom won't be with me, I know it, but I'll survive, and I'll show her that I'm the best! I'll show him that I'll be back.
I'm cold, less cold than yesterday. Something is wrong, I can feel it. I didn't wake up before the sun appeared in the sky! Woe to me, why can't I open my eyes? I'm tired, and I'm so hungry … Mom, I'm sorry I left.
“Hello you,” said a child's voice in front of me. “Where are you from?”
I finally open my eyes and I'm scared. Oh yes, Mom, I've never been so scared. I failed, Mom. I won't come home tonight, I won't come home anymore. I'm sorry, mom. I ended up like Dad, like Thaelab. I am in the hands of the wicked. I am petrified. A second voice appears.
“Who are you talking to, Sewi?” she asks.
“Come and see, Dad! Come.”
And now a second villain descends in turn. My fate is sealed, Mom.
“Look. It's a fox!”
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