Location: North Star Lighthouse When: Mid-morning Status: @morayblackmore
When Elistra had woken up that morning there had been frost creeping at the edges of her window. A thin layer of snow blanketed the decaying leaves and stung her skin as it fell from the gray sky above. As she walked towards the lighthouse she looked out towards the horizon and the water below. It no longer looked inviting, like it had a few months prior. Elistra knew that once she slipped beneath the waves the water would be so frigid that all the air would be crushed from her chest in a violent gasp. She also knew that it would likely be her last gulp of air for days.
Trotting along in front of her was Excalibur. He seemed well suited to the cold, unlike her in her thick knitted scarf and hat. Excalibur didn’t know that they were nearly an hour late, that Elistra had stalled nearly all morning, eating slowly and mindlessly, her thoughts elsewhere. In the crook of her elbow was the usual basket, but the contents weren’t the same. Along with some hand cream she’d picked up at the drugstore in the next town over, there was also the stuffed toy she’d won at the halloween festival for Excalibur, his bowl, and a package of the food the vet had suggested for the elderly dog.
When she finally got to the cottage door she raised her hand to knock. Then she hesitated. Elistra looked down to Excalibur who sat at her feet, looking up at her as his tail swept away the snow in lazy wags. “You behave yourself, okay? Make sure nothing bad happens while I’m gone. Promise?” There was no reaction from Excalibur, who couldn’t possibly know what she had planned. So, having stood in the cold for long enough, Elistra sighed and through the cloud of her condensed breath, knocked on the cottage door.
