Silent Night

               Frankie knew his sister had been angry for a few days at that point. She’d gone back to being quiet. Right when he thought for sure he was making some headway with her and her unwillingness to tolerate people. But something had happened, and the current snow situation wasn’t helping.

                They’d trekked back up to go and see their adoptive parents a week ago and had spent a good few days with them. On their way back to the coast they had stayed in a few other places so Frankie could meet up with others that he knew and say hello to them. That’s when they’d gone to the city. Frankie had gone out to meet his friends while Cleric had gone to see what she could trade for, and when he’d come back to the building they had taken over, Cleric was there and she was angry. Then it had started to snow, and they had both agreed to stay in the city until the storm passed.

                But then it didn’t. For a whole day the snow came down, dumping a good foot of the white powder in the city. Frankie could only imagine how much had fallen out in the wilds. It would make travel nearly impossible. 

                So they stayed in the building.

                “What happened.” Frankie asked on day two of them being snowed in. 

                “I’m fine. I’ll get over it. I can’t dwell on shit all the time.” Cleric replied, currently curled up by one of the windows and was watching the snow fall outside. 

                “It’s been two days, dude. If you won’t tell me, then what will make you feel better? I hate seeing you like this. It means someone else fucked up and now I need to know who I need to fight.” Frankie said, half joking as he patted the ground beside him to beckon her over to snuggle up with him. 

                She didn’t move. 

                She didn’t speak.

                Frankie allowed the silence for another few minutes before he finally got up and went to look around the building a bit more. If there was one thing she couldn’t resist, it would be a warm nest. Made from blankets and pillows. So he looked for whatever he could find in the building, desperate to make his sister feel better. 

                As he looked around the building he got the feeling it would be a bust. It was mostly paperwork, chairs, and desks. Whatever the creatures that lived here before them had used this building for, it wasn’t made for comfort. Frankie couldn’t help his mind wandering as he explored. Very few things ever got to him, but whenever his sister was upset, then he was upset. He just didn’t understand how she could be so introverted. It seemed too much, even for an introvert. The older they got the more it seemed as if she just genuinely hated other dinosaurs. As hatchlings she was the one to always say others were good people. She never thought anyone could do wrong willingly, and would always listen to what others had to say. Cleric had always fully believed that people had her best interest at heart, as well as their own. 

                But to say she hated all dinosaurs was a lie. She did have some she talked to regularly that she could tolerate. She smiled, truly smiled, on occasion with some. But a majority of the time she wanted nothing to do with others. She would leave social situations at the first opportunity and would refuse to go to things Frankie planned for them. To him, it was as if the more of the world she experienced, the more bitter she became. 

                It killed him a little inside. She was a kind soul. He knew she was a good person. But was something wrong with her which made her so against people? Or were people the problem? Apocrypha would say the truth lay somewhere in the middle but Frankie didn’t want to believe there was something wrong with his sister.

                Blankets and pillows would only solve the issue for so long. A Band-Aid over a missing limb.

                For now, however, he’d take the bandage. 

                When he returned with a few dusty blankets and a pillow, he found Cleric in the same place he’d left her. He smirked a bit as he got to work, arranging the blankets into a little nest by unfolding them and shifting them around with his feet. The pillow he dumped into the center of the nest before he trotted over to grab a few of the chairs that had wheels on them and brought them to the nest as well. Those he knocked over and placed around the outside, enclosing the nest so that the closeness of everything would make Cleric feel safe. If only he’d been able to find another blanket, he could’ve made a little fortress of comfort for her. 

                “Hey! Look at this! A nice warm, snuggly, nest. All to myself! It’s too bad there’s no one that wants to share this nest with me.” Frankie said as he hopped over one of the chairs and landed among the blankets and pillow and plopped his butt down to look at Cleric. 

                That got an instant reaction. Her head lifted from the windowsill and she turned to look back at him to see what he was talking about. She glanced over the nest without a word before finally standing up and made her way over. She hopped over the barricade of office chairs as well, settling into the nest beside Frankie. With a sigh she lowered her head, resting it on his hands as he laid down as well, putting his head on her neck as they snuggled.

                He could feel her as she relaxed, closing her eyes as she seemed to be on the verge of taking a nap. 

                “I’m tired, Frankie.” She said, moving her hide her face under him more. She was tensing up again. And try as she might to breathe normally, he could feel her breaths starting to stutter ever so slightly, followed by the feeling of his neck where she was hiding her face becoming wet. He wouldn’t bring up her crying. He knew better. So he just moved an arm over her, hugging her closer to him.

                “I know. We’ll be home soon though. I’ll get you all the fish you could ever want! It’ll be nice.” Frankie replied. But he knew.

                He knew the tired she spoke of was not a tiredness of physical exhaustion. As he looked out the window to see the snow finally stopping, and the sun threatening to peek out of the clouds, he wondered what he would need to do for her. If there was even anything he could do.