My ears twitched as a metallic sound bombarded my ears. It was Maille fumbling to put the key in the car door. She'd gotten up with the sun to discover a light dusting of snow on the ground and had dashed down here in a panic.
"Little one?!" Maille cried out opening the door. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it would get so cold last night! I'm so stupid! Please, please be alive, please."
The ball she stuck me in rocked back and forth and I tumbled out onto her hands, listless, my mouth open. I felt like a popsicle really. Frozen.
I heard her breathe in sharply, a small cry quickly cut off. "I killed you. Oh I feel horrible!" she wailed, mournfully. A finger ran down my back and I cringed as she touched a tender spot by my stubby tail, making a small noise in the process. Her hands tightened compulsively around me, providing the warmth I had desperately missed as the night had brought on freezing temperatures. "You are alive?" she whispered fervently. "Little one?" the heat around my body adjusted more so my face was exposed to the cold. "Can you move again? Please. Oh, if this is just my imagination..." She was sad. I didn't want her to be sad. I also didn't want to be thought dead if I wasn't either. I forced my eyes to open long enough to see Maille's breath fogging out in front of her, and more distantly the dark circles under her vivid green eyes. I twitched my ears at her sudden smile. "You are more strong willed then the others aren't you?" She pulled me close, holding me to her chest. This was warmer, for her hands were cooling in the cold air. "Isabelle or no Isabelle, I'm taking you inside. You can't survive out here like this. Just...just well, we'll figure out how to keep you hidden from her."

Martin Elek