FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A dark winter evening, black clouds covering the sky while blizzard-like winds gush over the landscape. A constant stream of snow fills the air and turns the usually pleasant sight into a terrifying nightmare. Layer by layer the ever growing blanket covers the world in it's cold embrace filling even the slightest gaps and turning the once cosy village into a surreal, even hostile place.

"Good thing not to be out there", Laurie thought. A quick glance outside into the grey uniformity told her, that her preparations finished just in time. The small cottage lay a good step outside the actual village, or rather a loose collection of farms and a humble market, quite a rare sight these days.

The nearly fifty years she had lived here since her early childhood were way longer than she would voluntarily admit. But so she knew, that it would become increasingly hard to leave once the narrow road was locked down, not to mention the insane idea to take a chance over the fields where holes and bumps could very suddenly end the trip.

But for the moment a reliable supply for her fireplace would keep the cold outside, with the orange flames bathing the room in a comfortable light, casting restless shadow dancers on the walls. But what had started as a mystical show soon had lost its magic. And as any outside communication had died about an hour ago, the worst book of all times had to keep up the mood, not really a choice but rather a lack of alternatives.

At some point the polar fox gave up and made her way upstairs as she saw a dark silhouette outside. Almost invisible despite the proximity, but definitely approaching. "Who on earth would be out there?" she thought, rushing to the door. In the hallway she took a quick look at her trusty rifle on the wall. Although she actually didn't need it very often, it was a nice-to-have. Hopefully she wouldn't need it this time.

She pulled the door handle and the door whipped open. Wind and snow immediately started rushing inside and gave her a cold welcome. While the raging storm barely pierced her fluffy pelt and coat, the real issue was orientation as everything lost its shape and disappeared just after a few metres. Luckily she found the figure and pulled them inside without much of a fight.

The door snapped shut behind them and Laurie could finally get a look at the reckless idiot she just picked up: a cheetah, young adult, clothes and pelt covered in snow and ice, who immediately collapsed in front of her.

"Are you ok?" she asked as she bent down to give her a lift, but the answer was obvious. The girl even was unable to stand and nearly fell again. While removing the definitely too thin jacket to let the warmth inside, she took a closer look. Besides the exhaustion, her visitor had some nasty scratches and a hard to ignore bloody line made its way down her icy cheek. She wanted to remove the dampened, nearly frozen clothes as well but was met with a weak yet fierce resistance. "Hey, it's alright. But we need to get you out of this. You gotta warm up. It's your choice to freeze to death after all, but I'm afraid you're not in the condition to refuse help." she commented soothingly.

No further persuasion was needed and soon her defrosting guest sat in front of the fireplace, covered in as many blankets as she could find. When arriving with a first aid kit soon after, life was slowly returning. Laurence sat down next to her and gave her a concerned look, "You know, I don't have many visitors, but they rarely have a similarly dramatic arrival as you. But we will get you afloat again. Tea is almost ready. The name's Laurie by the way."

It took some time but finally her guest proved to be able to speak, "Thanks for everything. I'm so sorry for-" Another shiver harshly interrupted her. "You don't have to be, nameless young lady. Well... that depends on what you've done out there and in turn, I risked my life for," Laurie smiled heartily. After a short introduction Holly continued, "I can't remember, I... I could swear there's something important, but... My brother. Oh no, he's still in the car! I wanted to get help!"

She jumped up in panic and headed for the exit before being stopped by her host. "Where?" "We had an accident, about a kilometre up the road. We-we need to get there now!" "You are definitely not going anywhere." "But-" "No. You nearly didn't make it here. So sit down, I'll handle this. All you have to do is to keep the fire going. And maybe get some fresh clothes. Upstairs. Wardrobe on the left," she replied harshly. Before Holly could complain, the vixen had left.

She really didn't need an inexperienced bystander to drag along. Luckily the snow hadn't piled up enough yet to stop her off-road vehicle while the lack of sight caused her to nearly drive into the ditch multiple times. But finally she arrived. It was hard to miss anyway.

A smaller tree had snapped and now blocked the road. Half hidden under the branches was named car, partially crushed and slightly sunken into the ground. A motionless figure laid on the back seat. Laurie climbed through the treetop and ignored the countless branches grabbing after her. Once through she reached out for him and dragged him out. The unconscious boy was way younger, maybe about half the age of his sister, but luckily he was light enough to carry.

With respective more effort she made it back to her vehicle. The weather became even worse, the snow nearly blocked the tires entirely now. As finally the dim lights of her house came into sight, the engine started complaining, but still did its best to keep going. It eventually gave up completely, just as they arrived.

Inside Holly came rushing towards her, "Is he alright?" "Thanks, I'm fine too darling. Anyway, you're back on track I see..." Laurie sighed exhaustedly, "He's fine, just a bit cold as far as I can tell, slightly injured but nothing too bad. We'll have to see once he wakes up though. There's nothing more we can do at the moment anyway. The road's shut by now."

The girl carefully took her brother and put him on the couch as if he could crack every moment. "At least he didn't take a little walk through the snow like you," Laurie smiled, "Speaking of. Let me take a look at your cheek." "I'm fine. It's... it's nothing." she replied unconfidently, but was promptly ignored. "It looks horrible and you know it. Yeah, it's definitely bad, nothing I can't fix for the moment, but... we'll have to get both of you (!) to the hospital tomorrow."

After disinfecting and taking care of the wound, Laurie stayed with them for a little longer, but it was late so their host soon left upstairs. "You two are terribly exhausting," she noted before calling it a day.

The next morning, the sky was clear blue, no sign of yesterdays terror. Just the white cover on pretty much anything reminded her. And the cheetah siblings cuddled together on her carpet. As she returned to the living room, the younger one woke up to the sound of her steps. "Morning." she greeted, which had quite the opposite effect than intended.

He stared back and nervously hit his sister until she awoke with a discontent grunt. "I really don't look that terrifying, do I?" Laurie joked, but it didn't seem to help, either. A little check-up on him, filled with lots of persuasion techniques, proved him to be more or less fine and after a quick breakfast the host asked Holly, "Why did you even take the car yesterday? What on earth made you drive out there? I mean... You're were severely under equipped, you're definitely not built for this climate..."

She sounded more concerned than accusatory, but Holly realized that she owed her an answer. An embarrassed silence followed before she replied, "It's my fault actually. See, I had to pick him up from a birthday party. They even warned us about this, but no, I felt confident and took the risk. How could a short two hour ride hurt us? If I hadn't insisted on driving, it would all be so much easier. And I am so sorry for the trouble I caused you."

"No disagree from me, but it's not my job to judge. You should probably call your parents. They must be properly anxious by now."

"Guess I have to..."

"Don't worry, I will tell them how heroic you were, stupid but brave until the end."

"Thanks..." she replied with a weak smirk.

Luckily it didn't take long for the road to be cleared and their parents arrived soon after. The expected exchange of worries and admonitions followed and soon their parents lost their reticence towards Laurie, the stranger who had taken care of their children for some reason while they themselves had found no sleep. She declined the gung-ho gratitude, pointing out her lack of real alternatives, but soon came the time to part and she wished them best of luck. "Interesting family. Wonder what brought them here." she thought amused, while watching them drive off into the distance.

Seeing her temporary guests leave gave the vixen a strange sting, happy yet painful, for as short as it had been, it was exciting to see her home filled with life again. It meant, that now everything would return to its usual dullness.

While wondering whether they would return some day, she realised, that something had to change in her life. It had been too long without someone else, some refreshing chaos. She liked the idea.