Joe laid on his kingly bed, spending the time away chatting. He scrolled through the messages on his phone— the chats he hadn't had time to reply to, were all lined up.
Soon, he fell asleep; sleep was something every person had to obey, and the young man was exhausted.
The large clock in the hall struck 11pm and all the while it had sounded so loud, old and dusty, it never seemed to disturb anyone whenever it spoke out with its loud voice. Joe had slept soundly these past nights despite the old clock's chime. Strangely, this time around, the doctor's eyes sprung open at the sound of the round clock. His eyes blinked flutteringly, His heart raced— he could hear it beating almost as if it would burst out from his chest; but it didn't!
His eyes hung open, heavily. His dark skin tingled and ached. Instantly, he felt cold and his teeth clattered. He felt stiff, but somehow managed to come to his senses. He gasped in shock, realizing where he was.
Quickly, he stood up from the bed and staggered, wedging himself not to fall, soon he was struck by the fact that this was no longer the room in which he had fallen asleep in.
He took a few steps away from the bed, his feet left shapes on the snow underneath them.
"Ah!" He jumped in shock, his legs tangled; causing him to fall on his back. "Ooooof!" He exhaled. In anger, he laid a hard punch on the snow and sighed. He pushed himself back up, still trying to understand why he was in this strange cold place, and his feet were freezing!
He began a stroll through the snow, barefooted. His body was shielded from the cold only by a white singlet and a black pair of trousers. His short brown hair was ruffled up from the short sleep he had. His eyes were weak, still they searched the scene for a way out of the cold spooky ice desert.
Each time, Joe would glance behind him and he could still see his bed looking back at him, he decided to maintain a straight path.
"Uh– hello! Anyone out there?!" He shouted but no one answered. He began to realize that he was alone, and his feet felt dead, he could hardly walk, his teeth clattered some more. The sweat drops from his hair had turned into frozen tiny silver drops, hanging around his head.
He folded his hands around his chest; trying to hold in whatever warmth was left. He could see his breath as a cold white air every time he breathed out.
Joe had entered a different part of the ice desert, this time, the scene was darker, tall huge trees shaded the place and they made the doctor feel a tint of fear within him. He couldn't make sense out of what he saw— the trees had green fresh leaves despite the snow! He shut his eyes tightly and inhaled deeply trying to belive or understand his situation, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't. He exhaled and released his eyes, blinked until his vision was clear.
He saw something yellow, no golden and bright! He blinked again, trying to know what he saw, so he began walking towards the golden light. He could see that the light was on the snow covered ground. It wasn't still, the light always moved, it danced in a rhythmic motion, sometimes, the light was a little taller and other times it went a little low. And each time it danced, there was a spark— a burst of golden dots!
Joe dragged on his feet with an effort, he pushed forward feeling a sense of hope, but each time he thought he was closer to the light, the farther the light was away from him. Then he felt a flush of heat run through his skin, somehow the cold was fading, he felt warm.
His blinked at the light again and it became clear, he whispered the name of the light in his mind with so much joy. He felt so warm and there was only one thing he wanted to do— it was to run! So he ran, ran towards the light.
"It's fire! Yes, fire!" The joy inside him began to reflect on his face. The more he ran, he felt warmer. The icicles in his hair had melted, his feet found strength. The golden flames sat patiently on the ground, just waiting for Joe. At last! he thought. He was only a second away from the fire, he no longer felt warm, but hot! He was sweating from every corner of his body, but it didn't bother him. He came to a halt and stood in front of the dancing gold, then he knelt down in front of the fire, but as soon as he stretched his hands towards it, the fire vanished, disappeared without a trace of fire ever being there! This made Joe shudder in shock and disappointment, he just couldn't comprehend what had just happened; was he imagining the fire all along? Maybe it was a mirage, a fake! a creation from his mind, he saw what he desired the most in that situation.
He stood up still wondering, and when he couldn't wonder anymore, he shrugged the thought away. He was still in the midst of the tall trees but he decided to walk back in the direction he came; maybe he might see something helpful.
The trees began to move their leaves when there was not even the slightest wind, the green leaves slowly faded to brown and then to blue. Joe stood there watching in awe, excitement and fear. The blue leaves shifted its colour again to a brighter blue, the blue began to fade to a crystal-like colour, then the leaves froze, they stood still then slowly they whitened up. The trees had become frozen white, they gave the desert no more shades.
After watching and waiting a few more seconds, Joe took a step forward— turning his attention away from the trees. He had only taken a few lonely steps when a loud cold howl sent a shivering wave through his body. His heart missed a beat, causing him to halt his movements. Joe understood what that howl meant— he wasn't alone as he thought, there were wolves watching! Maybe they were far away, maybe they wouldn't come his way, they couldn't possibly know where he was there, could they? If they came after him, how would he fight them off? What would he use? Joe stood allowing these thoughts swim across his mind, fear was written all over him and he knew it. He decided to continue his journey back to where he came from, every hair on him stood up, keeping him alert. He kept his mind focused, eased his heartbeat and steadied his movements. His eyes searched for any sudden sound and movements.
Joe was sure he was on the right path and he was going to stick to it!