There is something about a fragment of warmth that can show the coldness, something in the kiss of the sun's rays amid the cold almost-winter wind. In that moment, it was Tom's bones that felt the chill, as if he was laying in snow instead of autumn leaves and it was stealing everything that was him. It was as welcome as war to a soldier, even to a well trained warrior. Nobody wants that call, the one saying battle has come to find you. Yet at the same time there was a pride under the sorrow, a glimmer of metal to face what was to come, his anger like cheese-wire under snow. Whatever took his brother was going to have him to reckon with. That day he knew he would rise up, that his path was set, his warrior-self awakening.
Jerome walked over the damp heath like he was wading through treacle. He heaved his legs against the gale, against the pressure building on his chest and hitting his face like it intended to go right through. With eyes squinted to let in only enough light in to navigate, he never slackened his pace. Each step took him closer to home and hearth, and to Delilah.
Emma raised a gloved hand to shield her eyes. She had anticipated the coldness and the sting of driven snow on her face, but not the ferocity of the wind and how the light blinded her. It was like walking into a fresh page as the fibres are still being laid down, threatening to make her part of the scenery instead of a person in her own right. All she could do was to bow her head until her chin touched her chest and keep walking. Though her feet were beginning to freeze and her footsteps were small, sinking in past her ankles with each stride, she knew that each step took her closer to the warm lodge. So long as she stayed on the right path, it was only a matter of time before she had a hot chocolate and a bath of warm water for her feet.
Eddy didn't swim so much as drown slowly. Every few strokes he was swallowing the chlorinated water and within metres he was fully submerged. Sometimes his clawing back to the surface was so dramatic a lifeguard would appear next to him and drag him out. After another lecture about taking lessons his Mom had no money for he'd be allowed back in. Next summer he wanted to get on a full scholarship survival course, but swimming was mandatory. His teacher was YouTube and his trunks from the thrift store, but his determination was pure gold.