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The spring made Adam a little happier, at least. The winter may not have been deadly, but it was far from comfortable. Traveling at night meant less people risked seeing him, and the cold was slightly more bearable when he wasn’t still.
Sometimes, even that grew to be too much, and he curled up, desperately clinging to the scraps of clothes he wore as if they could ever be adequate cover. His form shook intensely and sometimes tears would form in his eyes, but it was nothing he hadn’t experienced. He could almost get used to the cold sinking into his bones if he hadn’t been alone.
When the first rays of spring shone down upon him, Adam had sprang up with such excitement and danced and spun in the sunlight, deprived of joy and warmth for so long. A genuine, sweet smile wrinkled his cheeks and happy tears fell from his eyes. Silly giggles spilled from his mouth, unburdened, as he wiped his tears away and encouraged himself to keep on going.
He traveled for a while until he reached the edge of the forest, skirted by a river. He paused; he was strong, but the idea of crossing frightened him. However, he heard voices and startled, hiding behind a tree. His pale yellow eyes peeked out from behind it curiously. At least the sticks and leaves tangled in his hair were almost camouflage.
Adam watched as a little girl ran giggling into the woods as if being chased in sport. She looked…around his age, almost, though he was a good foot taller than her. Still, some tiny, desperate part of him wished he could join in their game. He’d even slow down so it could be fair.
What happened next, however, was far from fair. The girl’s foot slipped and, with a cry, she was plunged into the stream. Limbs flailing, she desperately tried to get out, but the current carried her. Adam felt a tightening in his chest and he froze on the spot for just one moment, before throwing out all sense of self preservation and diving in. He fought against the current, not knowing how to swim any more than she did, but a mission was set in his heart. The girl was senseless by the time he’d managed to grab her hand, but he didn’t dare let her go, even as the current knocked his head underwater.
Water rushed in his nose and he struggled to resurface, coughing desperately as he did so. Rocks scraped them both and he panicked, his movements becoming wild and panicked as he wrestled against the current. He heard shouts and could barely tell if they were growing closer or not. The girl weighed less than he did, but she was dead weight.
Though he hated to admit it, he was becoming weaker, too. He still coughed up water as the river seemed to make it its goal to fill his lungs and drag him down. He couldn’t let the girl go, though. If he could barely swim in the river, a grown man wouldn’t fare much better. It was unfair, he thought. Life had been unfair, life could make him bitter and make him want to shriek, but he wasn’t ready to let it go.
His hand grappled for the shoreline, for something to hold onto…and met solid flesh. Strong hands grabbed at his own and he was dragged to the shore. He coughed what felt like the entire river’s contents from his lungs as the girl was snatched from his arms. His hands dug into the grass, feeling as if the world was still spinning around him.
He looked up through watery eyes to see a man, he guessed the girl’s father, pressing down on her chest, murmuring desperate pleas for her to breathe. Adam would receive no such pleas, but couldn’t bring himself to leave. He coughed for what felt like an eternity, but his focus was on the girl, lying still on the ground. He was silent, but he pleaded with the father for the girl to stir, for her to breathe, and finally, she did. She coughed onto the grass with her father patting her back, tears streaming down his cheeks.
The man gave Adam a nervous look and Adam stumbled to his feet. He hardly looked better than the girl did. He was scratched and bruised from rock and sticks and soaked to the bone, but it made him look smaller as he grabbed at his cloak, shivering and taking a shaky step back.
The father soothed his girl when her coughing eased, taking her into his arms and whispering reassurances into her ear, all while his gaze was fixed on Adam.
Adam was about ready to bolt, seeing the man carried a gun, but something seemed to click for the man. He was silent for several moments, before he mouthed, “Thank you.”