Tears in the Cold

• Fiction
• Short story
• Drama

								
A small child, mourns in the frozen cemetery over the loss of their mother. Their appearance is dirty, their fingers bloody…far too overworked for someone their age. The howl of the outside winds echo through the tomb and the melted snow drenches the soggy wooden floors.

The child continues to cry, their face upon the grave of their mother. A figure soon enters the door. Their figure tall and hardy. As they stand at the entrance, they soon see the almost pitiful sight. 

The Captain: “Ah…I figured I would find you here. Elena, is it? The miners reported to me that you had run off from the stations”

Elena wipes her tears quickly as she turns to face the captain. 

The Captain: “That isn’t good you know? There is still plenty of work to be done.”

Elena: “I…I don’t want to do this anymore… I wanna go home! I want my mommy! I don’t want to go back there and be cold anymore..”

Elena is no more than 9 years old. A child, forced to work hard to provide retrieve coal from the mines in order to have resources needed to power the generators. She tries to wipe her tears, her efforts only smearing more of the dirt and grime on her face.

Elena: “Please Captain! Please don’t make me go back…I…I..”, she begins to cry harder, “I don’t want to go back…please!” 

The Captain, face obscured by a warm mask and goggles, walks towards her. Her crying pleas bounce off the walls of the tomb around them as he stands in front of her. Though his face is obscured, it only adds to the coldness of his question as he gazes upon her.

Captain: “So…you wish to not help us to keep warm? You….wish to see everyone freeze then?”

Tears continue to fall down Elena’s face as she manages to get her words out.

Elena: “NO! I…I don’t want anyone to die! Mommy is gone and Hendricks and Victor are gone too. And…and… I hate this! I don’t want to be cold anymore! I don’t want to be hurt anymore! Please!”

The Captain says nothing at first, then sits next to the crying child. “Elena..” he sighs out.

The Captain removes his mask and goggles. He places them on his lap as he breathes in the cold air. He looks at the ceiling as he exhales, his breath fully visible in this cold weather. The man begins to speak.

“I’m sorry for what happened to your mother. It’s a terrible thing to lose those you love and I understand your pain…”

Elena sniffles and wipes more tears from her face. He continues on.

“I had people that I truly loved and cared for. My mother however, had long passed before the cold befell us. Though much like how little Hendricks and Victor were for you, I had friends of my own.”

His eyes gloss over a bit, a faint glimmer of emotion flickers within them.

“Alan, Hazel, Rider and Naheer. Within the first two months of us trying to find a new home, Hazel and Rider..they died out in the cold. Alan died not too long after, starved to death. Naheer…Naheer lead a scout party a while after we got this settlement established. He was part of the search party that found the surviving group you and your mother were part of.”

Elena looks up, “But…on our way back…the bears..they....”

“I was devastated..” he continued, “Those I cared for, the people I loved, gone. The only one left…me. All alone.”

He looks at Elena, who had finally stopped crying, and then looks away.

“Elena…I wish…I wish I could tell you that first thing tomorrow morning, the sun will rise and burn brighter than ever. That the snow will be melted away and that you would no longer need to worry about the deadly cold of the outside. I wish that I could tell you children that the worst is over and that you can frolic and play out in the grassy fields, free from any labor and pain. I wish…”

He reaches out in an attempt to embrace the child. He pauses, looks at the items on his lap, and sighs. As he stands back up, he puts back on his mask and goggles. 

The Captain: “However, thats all just a dream. A lie. What I can only tell you is the TRUTH. We work hard every single day, ALL of us, to ensure that we may survive this frozen hellscape for the next day. It takes the efforts of the many to make sure no others have to die. We have ALL had our losses, we all want it all to stop, but if we let them affect us….if we let what we WANT to do get in the way of what we NEED to do…then Hendricks, Victor, your mother Alina, all of them…would have died for nothing…and all of us buried beneath the snow.”

The Captain begins to walk towards the exit as Elena sits in silence, looking down at her lap.

The Captain: “If you wish to be spared from this burden, I can grant this. Free you from your labors.  You can be let go and spend your days tucked at home…away from the pain. All you have to do is say the word, I can just find another to take your place.”

The Captain walks out of the tomb and is soon out of sight. 

Elena sits, still in silence, then gets up. She faces her mother’s grave, then looks upon two other graves a short distance away from her. Elena wipes her tears and makes way for the exit.
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