3 Chapter 3

The boy vaguely came back to his senses when he heard a faint sound approaching him.

He suddenly felt fuzzy on the parts where a white puppy came touching him. It was horrible losing strength at that time, but he felt somehow comforted with the little creature whimpering, as if allowed to share his pain.

He wanted to ask the puppy if it's cold and agonized, but his throat was still scorching with an unexplainable burning sensation. He could only look at the puppy with eyes of pity as if he's looking at himself right through its innocent eyes.

The rainfall was pouring stronger and the breeze was getting colder.

With his aching arms, he pulled the puppy closer and encased it within his warm embrace.

"This is all I could offer to you," He thought, feeling pathetic. "I'm sorry that I just came about and I don't have a clue about the world right now. I can't give you anything you need but this little warmth. If I die here, I'll soon turn cold, so you'll have to find some other rescuer. I wonder if you're abandoned too just like how I was. Because if I wasn't, surely, I'd still have my memories intact and everything would still feel safe and cozy. But it's not."

He somehow hoped someone could hear his thoughts even if it was the puppy itself.

His vision was getting more and more hopeless and blurry.

"Someone, help," He cried out somewhere coming from the depths where he desired to live.

The puppy was shivering and whimpering.

It's probably in pain, but he had no time to think about securing it.

He himself is on the brink of death too.

But with that set up they came about, it was somehow calm. Like they're right in front of a raging storm trying to attack them, but they're underneath the care of a good shelter.

Soon, the wooden door slid sideward, revealing an old and feeble woman.

She was very short and had lots of white hairs among the entangled ones dangling heavily on her head. She wore low-grade, yet decent and comfortable clothes underneath a thick outwear.

As soon as she glanced at the boy and the puppy, shock rippled through her nerves. She couldn't believe what was right before her eyes.

But being old and experienced that she is, she was soon able to get herself together and tend to the broken souls of those who sought shelter in a stormy place. "Young man, why are you still here?" She asked with an unwavering voice.

The boy couldn't respond with his broken voice box. He couldn't even understand what was going on or hear the old woman clearly.

All that was in his head was that salvation had finally come through.

It was exactly how he silently prayed for it along with the pain he's being burdened with.

He only looked at her with such begging eyes and attempted to move his mouth.

A tear came out of his left eye and with that, he finally fainted.

The world was blurred and then gray and then it became completely black. He was back to nowhere.

The puppy began barking with its little voice, as if calling out for the boy, trying to revive him back to life. But he's probably too exhausted.

It kept crying with the only voice it could until the old woman calmed it down.

She ruffled its furs and tried to settle down its shivers.

She decided to carry both of them inside her house where it's warm and safe for the meantime.

Using the feeble strength she has, she first brought in the boy and laid him down on a soft couch. She let the doors remain open for the puppy until it willingly came in.

At last, she looked up at the darkening sky after a long sigh. "Gods really have their strange ways in pulling fates together," She whispered. "I wonder what the good heavens are planning this time."

She slowly slid the door shut and went to tend the boy with her own hands.