When I opened my eyes, it was as if the whole world had become several times larger.

…… Or rather, Russell has become smaller.

He was not as tall as the dinner table at the moment, only about five or six years old. Or maybe even smaller.

He was standing on the stool he had brought over, leaning against the frosty window and looking out.

The snow was falling and the streets were empty.

The snow-covered winter day has frozen the silence that flowed into ice.

The heating pipes in the home were also frozen, but the door was locked with a monitoring system and could not be opened from the inside.

The windows were also locked with a system, and the overly soundproofed windows kept his shouts at bay.

It's useless to shout. He shouted.

He has no neighbors, and the building is home to less than a quarter of its residents.

The family did not have the money to buy medical security services, so they could not call for emergency help through the chip...... Not to mention, he didn't even know all the words that came to mind.

It's been six days since his dad left home, and the snow hasn't stopped.

He may have died.

Such a thought crossed his mind.

He's already seen dead people...... His mom was dead before that.

Dad said that to die is to never come back.

Daddy won't be coming back.

…… For some reason, I feel like I want to cry.

Maybe he's cried already.

The funny artists on TV were still making jokes he didn't understand, and the audience was still bursting into shrill laughter, but it somehow made him sick.

This home is like a cage. Or maybe it's a cage.

The meal that Dad had prepared when he left the house had already been eaten.

He had stocked up on snacks for the third and fourth days, and the last pack of biscuits had been eaten the night before when he was too hungry to die.

He ate the lettuce from the refrigerator with honey in the morning, but for some reason he had diarrhea. I'm hungrier now.

And the snow hasn't stopped.

What should I do?

Should I call for help?

Who should I turn to for help?

He remained silent.

He had long since lost the strength to shout.

Stepping on the cold, ankle-freezing, painful floor, he searched his home in a bit of a daze.

There was still some bread on the top floor of the fridge, which had been frozen stiff. After all, it's been more than a week.

But he couldn't reach anything too high, so he didn't even think about taking it down at first.

Although he still has flour at home, he doesn't cook it. There were also some raw eggs, but he didn't cook them. He didn't even know why, but when he broke them, they turned into a puddle of liquid - he had the impression that eggs were supposed to be white solid.

He tried to eat the flour, but it didn't taste good at all, and his stomach hurt after eating it.

The kitchen knife was too heavy to pick up. And he couldn't reach the chopping board.

Honey is a good thing, but there is not much in stock. I have eaten all the vegetables and cookies before.

These breads are already the last food.

Otherwise, you can only drink flour with water.

There was also half a bag of flour and a lot of water...... Probably a long time to live, he thought.

He couldn't reach the top of the fridge and had to step on a stool to get there.

So he put himself on a stool and took out the bread that had been sitting for more than a week.

When he closed the refrigerator door, he accidentally knocked himself off his chair and fell to the ground.

The child's body is quite soft, so he didn't actually fall and hurt himself.

It doesn't hurt to say it......

But as an inexplicable grievance hit his heart, he couldn't help but huddle on the cold ground and cry out while holding the frozen bread.

It's like being abandoned by the whole world;

It's like you're the only one left in the world......

- In the past, whenever I cried, my mother would come and comfort me.

When Mom died, Dad would pick him up.

But this time he cried until he was tired, crying until his throat was hoarse, and no one cared about him.

Vaguely aware of what this meant, he suddenly cried more aggrieved and sad.

He cried until his whole body began to convulse and he couldn't cry anymore, and then he slowly got up from the ground.

He sat on the ground, holding the cold bread, and ate it slowly, bite by bite.

It has changed its taste and is not tasty.

No hot milk and porridge, no eggs and butter...... Only the same ice-cold water can aid swallowing. But it at least fills the stomach.

The bread was bigger than his head, and he could eat several meals if he saved it.

He thought optimistically.

Maybe in another half a day...... One more day, another day or two.

…… Daddy is coming back?

As he thought so, he couldn't help but shed tears silently.

He himself didn't believe it.

Dad probably died outside...... He'll never come back.

"Am I going to die too......"

He let out a low murmur, "Will I starve to death?" ”

Dad used to tell him that if he didn't eat well, he would starve to death.

He only now knows what it means to be "hungry".

But he wanted to eat well...... It's that he can't find anything to eat.

When the bread is finished, you can only go to eat pills to cushion your stomach. He thought to himself.

Before that, he took advantage of the strength he still had to turn out all the pills at home.

Toothpaste should be edible. Toothpaste has a fruity taste...... Although Dad won't let me eat it, it should be okay now.

So he thought about it and took out the toothpaste. The last reserve is the flowers raised at home. They should also be edible.

But shortly after eating the bread, he began to feel a pain in his stomach.

When he's sick, he's going to take medicine — thinking so, he took all the medicine he could.

But the body is more uncomfortable.

There was a chill on his body, but his eyelids and ears were hot. My limbs hurt so much...... Out of breath.

He curled up on the couch, and the shrill laughter on the TV was disgusting to hear. Headache of stinging.

But he was relieved......

I'm going to die.

He thought reassuringly.

When you die, you don't go hungry......

Just then, he heard a voice coming from the door.

"-Fila!"

It was a crisp sound.

It was the voice of his playmate Shirley.

"I'm ......"

He barely bred up his spirits and replied weakly, "I'm so uncomfortable......"

"Are you sick? Didn't you eat? Can you open the door now! ”

Her voice was hurried and slightly tonguen.

There was a cry in his voice: "I can't open it...... The windows are also locked...... Locked ...... from the outside"

"You wait!"

Soon, Shirley's voice was gone.

He actually wanted to say, you are here to talk to me...... But he didn't even have the strength to say it.

I could only whimper, muttering gibberish that only I could hear.

He felt his head start to get dizzy and his body started to heat up. I felt a very uncomfortable feeling in my abdomen.

The whole person felt like he was in the abyss, and he felt the sofa start to spin.

He didn't know how long it had been before he heard a knock on the window.

"Fila, you're here!"

"Shirley, you come down, danger!"

The voices of Shirley and a grown man rang out from outside the house.

Fira reluctantly looked up and looked out the window.

I saw a Malta girl with black hair, and somehow jumped out of the window of his house.

But his house is on the fourth floor......

Shirley lifted a rock and slammed it against the window.

The window was covered with iron bars, and she had to put her arm in to smash it.

The window was not shattered, but the alarm was triggered.

The shrill whistling finally caught the attention of the neighbors.

"Shirley, come down!"

"Daddy, put the ladder up!"

"Daddy come open the window, come down!"

"What's going on?"

"The boy's father on the fourth floor was arrested by the company, and he was trapped at home alone for almost a week......"

"And this?"

The noise outside gradually became noisy, and the silence of winter was broken. But Fira slowly lost consciousness.

He looked out the window one last time.

Outside the birdcage-like window......

The snow is about to stop.