Come Back Witch

The freezing cold was eating away at his limbs. Every step felt worse than the one before.

At first, it was manageable. His first step nearly let him sink to his knees in the snow. It was by far the easiest one. Getting out of the hole just to climb into the next was each time more exhausting, seemingly a never-ending task.

But even then, the physical demands were only the tip of the iceberg. The cold was the real enemy. Each time his legs touched the snow, giving up seemed to be the better choice than continuing even one more step. His toes had already gone from numb to pain to numb so many times that he started to think his legs weren't even his own anymore.

He had already walked for a few minutes, but time itself seemed to be against him. The town looked no closer than it had when he started. When turning around, he was still able to even see the place the witch had left him to die.

Lifting his right leg once again to move forward, he got stuck and fell face-first into the snow. His face, already numb from the freezing air, couldn't feel the snow anymore, but he could feel death slowly approaching. Even with the right equipment, it would've been nearly impossible to return to the village alive, let alone before the witch's time limit expired.

He knew if he were to stop even for just a moment, he would collapse and not even make it from the mountain top. With the last of his strength, he crawled himself up again, shoving himself forward each step. His mind seemed to go blank. Only the words. "Walk, walk faster, just a bit more," kept repeating in his head. His vision started to fade, but even blind, he continued to walk. A faint memory pushing him forward.

''Wake up,'' somebody said, waking him. "Vinces, it's time for the ski tour you promised." Vinces opened his eyes at the familiar voice. It was his brother, who had died long ago in the mountains. But Vinces just couldn't seem to focus on the fact. No, his death must've been just a bad dream he had. Looking at his brother's face, he saw the short brown hair and green eyes he inherited from their mother. The tiny scar on his left cheek from falling down a tree as a kid. ''Ski tour? What are you talking about?'' But after he said it, he seemed to remember.

Just yesterday they were talking about it at dinner. Since Mom and Dad were away for work, they decided to celebrate his acceptance to Mathley Colles University with a small trip as brothers. ''Are you still sleeping or what, Vin?" His brother shook him once again. "Time to wake up. We don't want to miss the bus up, or do you want to walk?'' Everything felt wrong. It all felt like a déjà vu, but every time he tried to think about it, his thoughts slipped away.

''I'll be ready in five minutes, Matthew; you can go get our skis.'' His brother was nearly exploding with excitement and hurried out of his room. Vinces just closed his eyes for one more second.

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''Last stop, kids; get out.'' An old lady's voice rang out. Vinces looked around, confused. He had probably fallen asleep on their way up the mountain. Matthew was already standing next to him waiting for him to follow. "Oh, sorry, ma'am, I was just resting my eyes for a moment. '' Something was wrong, clearly wrong; he just couldn't grasp it. He still decided to follow his brother outside. The cold air felt good in his lungs.

''Vinces, I heard they opened a new route just over there." He pointed excitedly toward the distance. Vinces knew something was wrong with the route and just wanted to tell Matthew they should head somewhere else. His body seemed to speak on its own. ''That sounds nice; let's check it out.''

He blinked again and found himself skiing down a slope with Matthew. He felt amazing and his brother also seemed to enjoy the new route. His worries had been wrong; taking another curve, Matthew accelerated. He followed his lead, not noticing a hump, flying over it and losing control as he crashed off the slope.

Matthew instantly noticed he was missing and slowly turned off the route, searching for him. ''Yo, Vin, are you fine? Where are you?'' Vinces wanted to stand up but felt his leg giving up each time he tried, as he held his breath in pain. ''I'm over here, but I think I've broken my leg.''

Matthew hurried over to him, helping him up. ''That doesn't look good; we should return as fast as possible." Matthew broke off a few sticks from a tree nearby and took off his jacket, using it to make a temporary leg splint.

"Aren't you cold?" Vinces asked his brother, who simply shook his head. ''We will be much faster down now, so I will only freeze a bit.'' His tone still carried the excitement from their trip, and Vinces couldn't bring himself to argue with him.

''We should hurry towards the bus station; we don't want to miss the last bus back, right?''

They continued their way down, still joking about the whole situation. Vinces stopped for a second, relaxing and closing his eyes as another painful memory flooded his mind, knowing this could be the last happy moment between them.

When he opened his eyes once again to thunder rolling down the mountain, the sky had turned dark. They arrived just in time at the bus station, but to their horror, it had already left because of the abrupt storm. Both of them knew that staying on the mountain for the night would be a death sentence, so they started the descent, like they had already done a few times in the past.

But misery just kept following them. Trying to climb down a small cliff, his brother lost his hold and fell a few meters down. At first, he stood up perfectly fine but collapsed again a second later. Blood was flowing from the back of his head.

Vinces decided, even with his broken leg, to carry his barely conscious brother down. "It's just a bit farther, Matthew. Hold on for me.'' Tears of pain and terror ran down his face, freezing before they could land.

But his strength was slowly leaving him. Both of them knew that if nothing changed, both would end here on this mountain, becoming just another landmark for climbers.

Matthew shoved himself from Vinces. ''I will rest for a bit. You go on… I will catch up to you.''

Vinces knew what Matthew was doing but just couldn't find another way. Even with his broken leg, he was faster than his brother, who was slowly drifting away from consciousness.

''I won't leave you here, no matter what.'' Vinces' voice was filled with fear and uncertainty, never wanting to leave his brother behind.

"You're not leaving me behind, like I said… I will catch up." He shoved him forward. Vinces' mind was blank with fear and exhaustion from the climb, so he found himself trusting his brother.

Continuing his descent slowly, he could hear the last words he would ever hear from his brother. '' Walk, Vin. Walk faster. Just a bit more,'' he said as the powerful wind slowly drowned out his voice. Each step hurt more than the last, not because of the broken leg or exhaustion but because of the feeling of leaving something behind worth much more to him than himself.

Opening his eyes and escaping from his memories, he found a sparkling green forest awaiting him ahead. Turning his head slowly, completely numb from pain, he saw the towering mountain behind him, though he could no longer see the peak from which he had come.

''Thanks, brother… I finally made it.'' He collapsed onto the warm forest floor, covered in leaves.