PHQ-Nickname:
Szaladin
Halfquake:
Seventh Heaven
Level:
29
Total kills:
595,623
Birthday:
October 16th 1990
|
|
| Ticking Clocks 01 - Sikand |
| Mood: | neutral |
| Type: | Story |
| Added: | December 22nd 2009, 21:47:16 |
| Visits: | 1438 |
| Series: | [ Ticking Clocks ] |
| Rating: | 4/5 (Votes: 1) |
|
At the end of one day I found a little house in the middle of all this snow and mud. More a shelter than an house, I hoped to spend a night in something else than my tent. So I knocked on the door. It opened and my glance fell on a man shaped by the rough surroundings: Sikand. He let me in, surprisingly without asking any questions.
After offering me a coffee we sat around an oven in the middle of the building. The interior of this place was pretty civilized, even electric energy was available. We started to talk straight away.
'So, what brings you here? So far outside?' - he asked.
'If I knew.'
'Mhmm.' - he nodded calmly, understandig that this topic was taboo. I did not plan to ask him about his presence in this cold place so I proceeded with asking him how to survive in the Cold.
'You got yourself a nice home here - how do you manage to survive here?'
'I buy my supplies from traveling merchants that make their way out here to my castle. They know I'm always buying a huge load of stuff so it's profitable for them to come out here. Firewood, food, water, everything is practically delivered here. Always.'
'Always? Don't you farm when the winter's over?'
He laughed.
'Didn't you notice?'
'Notice what?'
He laughed.
'So far outside, here won't be no spring. No summer. And surely no winter. It is just cold.'
I could not believe that.
'Not as cold as the areas you are heading. There are warm periods alright. But not regular. The wind is always blowing - that is where I get my electricity from. Wind energy! My own construction!'
Now, as I recognized a lot of technical finesse in Sikand's eyes, suddenly a lot of his 'constructions' became visible to me in his shelter. Small inventions helping him to survive out here. Or to distract him.
Lonely.
-
He offered me to sleep on a matress, I accepted. A wonderful feeling not to hear the blasting of the wind against the canvas.
-
The weather became more and more problematic over the night. At dawn we came to the conclusion that it'd be suicide to move on outside. More noitangats. Waiting.
-
I stayed there for quite a time. We kept a distance between us, but I thought of him as a good friend - the only friend so far out here.
Several nights I woke up and saw him sitting on the radio, talking to folks I did not know. I couldn't help but listen to it. Others like him were living outside in the Cold. They seemed to know each other well, like a clan or a community of Sikands. Their conversations were surprisingly shallow and sketchy (at least considering the topics I could understand) - and frequent.
-
I decided to stay for some more time. After such a long time of wandering through the Cold, I needed more rest than I realized first. Like I've been on my way for decades.
-
Sikand became sick for three days, suffered from a strange disease. His body and mind became more and more sensitive to the Cold outside, to every noise and every shadow inside. He became slower and slower. He tried to keep it a secret but as the first day ended he wasn't able to do anything properly.
He survived.
And I moved as fast as possible forward.
I wish I'd know why.
I'd have been warned.
-
As I went outside the shelter, a 'warm period' - as Sikand described it - had started. I have been down there longer than I thought.
On the horizon a small white line was visible.
I never wandered through the Cold all these years-decades-hours-
The Cold was yet to be reached on my way.
Turning around was impossible. I'd have died even before making the first step back. |
muddasheep
December 24th 2009, 23:52:43
|
Keep it up!  Would like to know where this is going. |
| You need to login to add comments and ratings.
| |
muddasheep
