PlutonianOpal wrote:Thank you for hosting this competition! I hope you like this story and good luck to everyone else!
The snowflakes drifted slowly, almost lazily, onto the ground. A child, barely seven years old, looked out of a frosted window, going on tip toes just to see the falling snow better. “Khione!” The child called, bouncing with excitement. “Let’s play in the snow!”
Khione’s ears perked up. Her master, or rather best friend, had called her. Immediately, she trotted over to Louise. “Let’s go,” she barked. But of course, humans didn’t understand her language. At least Louise knew what she wanted most of the time so they did get along very well.
Together, they rushed out of their house on the mountains and into the snow.
It had been barely a minute since they touched the soft snow, yet Louise had already fallen. The child giggled, the sound echoing throughout the air. “Khione! Come over here!” Without missing a beat, she leapt onto Louise and licked her face. The child laughed again and tried to get up. “That’s enough!” She told her while trying to push her away. But Louise couldn’t hide the giant smile forming on her face. She really loved her dog. No matter how naughty Khione was, she could never find fault with her.
Khione jumped off of Louise and shook all the fallen snow from her pure white coat onto the ground below. Louise’s mother always jokingly called her “Snow White” due to her coat. But she did learn that Khione was the Greek goddess of Snow’s name. Not that she knew what that meant. But it also meant that she was named after snow after all. So why would she give her another name? “Come on, Khione. We’ve spent enough time out here.” Louise told her. The snow was still falling but the sky was getting darker by the second. She really wanted to stay in the snow for longer but Louise’s lips were turning blue. The wind was getting stronger and no matter how much she wanted to stay outside, she would not disobey her best friend’s wishes.
“Louise! Khione!” A familiar voice called out from their house. “You’re back!” Louise’s mother stood in the doorway, arms extended to hug her daughter.
“Mum!” Before Louise could hug her mother, Khione stole the hug by leaping into her arms.
“Khione!” Louise said with mock disapproval. “How could you do that?”
She drooped her head sadly but then she smelt something amazing. Dinner. Without thinking, she immediately dashed into the kitchen, straight towards the food. “Hold on, Khione!” Louise’s father laughed, “Wait a little!” As he said that, Khione sat in front of her bowls and wagged her tail eagerly, barely able to contain her excitement at eating dinner. Her scarlet eyes watched the food, as if it was about to grow legs and run away.
After a while, everyone was finally ready to eat. Unusually, Louise’s father started dinner’s conversation with a story. “Now that we can finally eat - I’m sure that Khione’s really excited.” He shot Khione a glance. Make a sound, the glance seemed to say to her. Except there was no answering bark. She was too busy eating. Disappointed, he shook his head. Louise and her mother, Evangeline, suppressed the urge to burst out laughing. “Anyway, let’s eat!” Between bites of food, he began to tell a story.
“Years ago, before I was even born,” he began. “Someone, in these same mountains, spotted a monster.” he paused, waiting for some sort of shocked reaction from Louise at least. But Louise just stared at him expressionlessly.
“So?”
Now that was unexpected. He cleared his throat and continued. “They say that the monster was absolutely terrifying. It was large, even larger than a full grown man. It had long, shaggy brown fur and it’s claws were razor sharp. They could slice through you with one swipe. One swipe and goodbye Louise.” He waved at Louise. She looked unimpressed. “It was wider than the two oldest trees in the forest added together. It’s strong limbs could easily tear a human being in two. And some people say that it can cover over 40 metres in 3 seconds. You don’t stand a chance if it decides to come after you.” His blue eyes stared intently into his daughter’s. “So don’t go near that cave that you want to explore. You might encounter a nasty surprise, Louise.”
❆ ❆ ❆
“Come on, Khione! Let’s go find the ‘monster’!” Louise told Khione the next morning. She didn’t really understand why someone would go searching for a terrifying monster from a tale, but she did get to go outside and into the snow. So, when Louise went outside to search for the monster, Khione was already steps ahead of her, leaving paw prints in the snow. “I mean,” she panted as she caught up to Khione. “I don’t believe what Dad said but I kind of do want to know if that monster exists.” She responded with an answering bark as they neared the cave.
“Does the monster really exist?” Louise asked excitedly. Just in case, they moved inside the cave cautiously. Inside the dark cave, they could hear the sound of dripping water resonate throughout the cave. “This is getting creepy.” She whispered to Khione. Suddenly, they heard a sound that indicated someone - or perhaps, something - was snoring away inside the cave. Startled by this sound, Louise lost her footing and slipped on the wet rocks. “Ow...” She sat up and rubbed her elbow. “I think I hit my elbow.” And that was when Khione started growling as the snoring stopped abruptly.
“Run, it’s dangerous.” Khione tried to tell Louise. “There really is something in this cave.” Louise must have noticed something was wrong as well and had already started moving towards the entrance. In the few seconds it took them to get back to the snow, the thing was already up and moving. They could hear it’s loud footsteps echoing and it only made them run faster. Suddenly there was a thunderous roar coming from the back of the cave. Because of the sudden occurrence of the sound, it surprised Louise and by the sheer volume alone, a human would be absolutely terrified. It was then that a creature with long, shaggy brown fur and sharp claws. Except it wasn’t a monster. It was a bear. A huge bear that was chasing after them.
“Honey, did you hear that roar?” Evangeline asked her husband.
“Yes. It sounded nearby,” he responded.
“Louise and Khione just went out in that direction.” She said worriedly, as realisation slowly dawned on her. “Could it be that she went looking for that monster you were talking about last night?”
“She can’t be...” He put his coat on, readying himself to go outside. “She didn’t believe me remember?”
“You know how curious she is...she must have gone.” She hurried to put her jacket on. “We need to go check.”
They stepped out into the snow to find their beloved daughter and dog.
I have to protect Louise, Khione thought. I cannot let her get hurt. She barked at the bear and ran away from where Louise lay as she had fallen before. She decided to distract the bear so that her best friend could have a chance to escape. But she was no match for a rampaging bear. It caught up to her easily and roared again. She growled back. Then she attacked by biting one of it’s arms. The bear immediately swiped back, opening a wound on her body. The fight continued for a while, with the end result being the bear walking away victorious and Khione laid in the snow, bloodied. Her blood dyed the snow and her coat crimson. Goodbye, Louise. She thought, her eyes closing.
“Louise!” Evangeline sprinted towards her daughter, ready to hold her in her arms.
“Where’s Khione?” Her father asked, glancing around.
“I don’t know...” Louise whispered, tears threatening to spill. “She was trying to save me because I slipped in the snow. And the bear, it...it...followed her!”
“I’ll go find Khione. She’ll be fine, I promise.” Evangeline gave Louise a tight smile and left them hugging in relief in the snow to look for her.
“Khione...” Am I dreaming? Khione wanted to ask. “Khione!” She tried to move her eyelids but they wouldn’t budge. “Snow White!” The person was getting impatient. And the voice...it sounded like Evangeline. She tried to open her eyes again and succeeded. All she could see was a white, glowing human figure with wings standing before her. Her musical voice continued talking, “From your heroic actions to save your master, Louise, you have been gifted with wings and becoming completely healed of your wounds.” She glanced around , searching for something. Her eyes found a holly bush. “This shall be what your wings are made out of. Do you accept this gift?”
“Yes...th...ank...you...” Khione whispered.
The next time Khione opened her eyes, she was back inside her home. Cautiously, she stretched herself and noticed something on her back. Wings made of holly. Had an angel really visited her and gave her these wings? “Khione! You’re awake!” Louise ran inside her room and hugged her. “Now that you have these wings, maybe we should change your name to something that suits your wings.” She smiled.
“Holly.”
THE END
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