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We both stand for a fewbut a pile of rubble and snow

Our bed and blankets are buried beneath it all, as ould have been too, if we’d been inside I know this, but soe I know that our cozy shelter is soine that it’s really true

Or how she knew to run

When I turn to walk away, she comes without a word We can’t e ourselves between two rocks and build up some of the snow to shelter us fro any alternative, we huddle down together We sit on the pack and wrap our arms around each other, and I don’t think either of us sleeps a wink in the few hours until dawn

The sky’s only starting to lighten when the snow stops My ar circulation, and they’re out the other side into nu back in bolts of fiery pain as I instruct my body to move

She followsShe e of ad of her jaw, a careful slowness to her move, we turn away fro overhead, as they always do after snow, and the artificial s low in the sky The world is crisp and beautiful Every step is careful and testing--you never knohat lies beneath the overnight crust of snow I sink in overbehind ress is slow

I don’t want to think about what happened, butit over and over

She saw the folks I buried

She dreamed, and knew to run from the cave

I letas a tank, then turn to lift my arms up so she can slither down to join ainst her sides, and when I rabs the fabric of h her skin’s pale with exhaustion, and her eyes are two dark, sleepless circles, her gaze is locked on mine

She wants what happened to be her proof Proof her voices are real, proof of her sanity She’s waiting for me to admit she’s not crazy, for ht was i before it happens I can’t explain it, can’t let et us out of here

I’ve been trained to closeI’ve been trained to keep aze slide away from hers, and I hear her breath catch as she stiffens I can i over, but I can’t let myself look at her She releases ht yesterday ard and too quiet; it pales against today The hopelessness in the set of her shoulders as she trudges through the snow is heartbreaking