A bouquet Of Roses

He found shelter inside the broken-down carriage with a frozen horse for company. Lighting a fire was useless and dangerous as it is a carriage not wood for a bonfire. His coat was already very damp since he was dragging and pushing it forward whenever the carriage was stuck inside a tiny ditch covered by snow. The oil lamps that used to give them some sort of warmth flickered out and Benedikt did not have a lighter with him to ignite it again. He tried the caveman method of lighting it with two stones but his fingers just bled instead.

He trembled violently like a leaf and Benedikt huddled towards himself turning him into a tiny ball to preserve as much body heat as possible until his master arrives.

'I am really not going to die, am I?' He thought when he realised nobody is going to come get him from this raging storm. He couldn't really believe it himself! He is going to die here alone, in this desolate wasteland with no soul in sight and not even a single person to bury his remains and mourn for him.

 Another hour passed.......

His consciousness slowly dipped, hypothermia seeped into his bones both his feet and his fingers became ice cold, his breath came out as short gasps and everything around him was really hazy. Death slowly loomed over him cajoling him to close his eyes and sleep.

Perhaps he really shouldn't have agreed to follow his master to this trip it was already a very bad omen to travel when the weather was rough just like this one. He didn't believe much in god but certain superstitions still stood out, like a sour thumb and followed him everywhere. He could have stayed at home pruning the branches, talking to Yelena in his free time and finally drinking tea by the fireplace with thick blankets covering him waiting for Igor to come back home after work or better yet not accepting the deal altogether that gave him such a wonderful life till now? Would the circumstances be slightly different?

'You would have died a long time back if you hadn't accepted the offer silently' his inner voice chided him for that stupid question.

"I KNOW OKAY!" He shouted to nobody in particular. His energy was slowly sapping and sleep creeped into his eyes. From his peripheral vision he spotted somebody approaching him. Before he could comprehend as to what was going on he was enveloped into a very warm embrace heard a zipper opening and an extra heavy set of coating was draped over him covering him from head to toe like a soft blanket. He felt that the person could be.... Crying?

Who was this person?

why was he crying?

Did he do something wrong?

He wanted to ask these questions since he couldn't see that persons face properly but he couldn't anyway as he had lost consciousness by the time he was going to ask them that.

'I don't want to die...…' Benedikt said to himself as all thoughts left him before he crossed into oblivion.

A total of six hours had passed by then......