Fall was nearing its end, with winter approaching soon, they had to find a place where they could hide from the snow and stay warm.
The fox brought Lorelei to a small cave not far from the river. It was big enough so both of them could move comfortably inside.
Lorelei brought over little by little the leaf stashes they kept near the tree, as for the fox, he went around collecting anything that was edible and could last them for the winter. Lorelei knew what the cold could do.
Back at the village, she spent all her winters hopping between houses to keep herself warm near the chimneys of other houses. She knew that breaking in was something she shouldn't do, but she had to, not by choice, but to keep herself alive. On a night that she did so, the mother woke up and saw her around the fire at the sight of her, she screamed, waking the rest of the family as they gathered around her. The elderly man in the house took a thick book from the shelf and whacked her down with it. Lorelei pleaded every time the man would raise the book and strike down again.
''PlEaSe...pLeAsE...PlEAse...'' , but all her pleas were in vain.
They never seemed to reach their ears. They did not deem her as human, so they treated her as a monster, because for them, that's what she was.
She went out looking for wood. She even knew how to make a fire; the man taught her how to, he even taught her how to make weapons out of stone, it's like he already knew that the time he was going to spend with Lorelei was very limited, it indeed was.
He taught her many things to survive in harsh conditions; they spent four winters with each other, and in those four winters, Lorelei learnt how to face these harsh conditions. She was always watching the man while he was lighting the fire or when he was gathering herbs around the house. He taught her everything she needed to know.
After searching for a while, she was barely able to find a few sticks and two stones that she took three trips to carry back. She was at her limit; she couldn't move anymore.
Her hands were almost frozen; she could barely move them, so she sat in the cave waiting for the fox, once again she was depending on another being to survive. She waited hours for the fox, but he didn't seem to be coming back.
As night fell, she decided to go look for him, but how could she even move with that crippled body of hers? She hated the way she was; she wished she were also able to help and not be the one to be helped.
She glanced over at the man's head. It was deteriorating, insects were crawling around it. She chased them away and held it in her arms.
''iM sOrrY.'' , she whispered softly.
That was all she could say. The grave wasn't yet dug; if she was going to die, she would've rather died there, where she was digging her sorrow away.
She carried the man's head with her as she went back to the grave and kept digging, digging until her hands were sore, digging until she felt it would be the end soon. As the first snowflakes fell, so did she.
The snow was piling on Lorelei's frail body; she could feel it as it kept snowing more and more. She could feel her body disappear in this endless storm. She didn't have any strength left to get up, nor did she have the will to.
So she stayed there, clinging to the man's head, curled up in a ball. She had already given up on any hope of surviving; she slowly closed her eyes until no light of hope could be seen. The fox, as he came back to the cave, didn't seem to see Lorelei.
When he peeked out of the cave, he saw a trail on the floor, even if it was dim from the snow covering it, he could still smell it, her scent, her blood. He followed the smell, which led him to the grave they were digging together.
The smell got stronger and stronger, so he dug a bit more to find, to his horrible surprise, the body of the one who saved him.
He quickly dug her out of the pile of snow and carried her back to the cave. Once he got there, he laid the branches and leaves around her body.
He then made sure to curl his body around the girl to warm her freezing body. He didn't know if she was yet dead, but he tried his best in the hope that she would soon open her eyes.