#freezingcold

They had only been here a couple of days, and this new master had seemed nicer than the last one. They hadn’t whipped them or cut them. In fact, they had fed them and bandaged them. Even this punishment wasn’t so bad, they told themself. It was just the cold, and they had deserved it. They should have payed closer attention to what their master had eaten the past couple of days.

The snow they sat in melted, soaking slowly through Whumpee’s clothes and chilling them to the bone. Whumpee closed their eyes and felt the snow melt on their face. Their fingers began to go numb.

Whumpee jumped to their feet as the door opened behind them.

“Whumpee!” Whumpee flinched at the harshness of their master’s voice, but when they looked, their master didn’t seem angry. They seemed... scared? “How long have you been out here?”

“I... Maybe an h-hour, Master?”

“I- you don’t have to call me that. Please. My name is Caretaker.” Caretaker descended the steps and took Whumpee’s hands. “Why didn’t you knock on the door? Oh gosh, your hands are ice! Come back inside.” They led Whumpee back into the house, closing the door softly behind them. “And your clothes are wet too- okay.” Caretaker took a shaky breath. “Go change into some dry clothes and then come back, alright?”

Whumpee nodded and hesitantly went to their room. When they came back, Caretaker hadn’t moved. “Come sit down.”

Whumpee looked to the ground, shaking a little as they sat on the ground next to the couch where Caretaker had gestured.

“No. No, I mean sit here.” Caretaker sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to them.

Whumpee looked up at them in surprise. “M-me? Sit there?” Caretaker nodded and Whumpee reluctantly moved seats.

“Okay, tell me what happened. Why were you outside?”

Whumpee swallowed. “I-I went outside to get the mail for you, and when I came back to the door I was locked out.”

“Why didn’t you knock?”

“I th-thought you locked me out on purpose..? Didn’t you?”

Caretaker put their face in their hands. “Oh gosh... Listen,” Caretaker met Whumpee’s eyes and Whumpee shrunk back a little. “I didn’t lock you out of the house. You weren’t even locked out, the door just sticks from the outside sometimes, okay?” Whumpee nodded slightly. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help you.”

“H-help?”

“Yeah. I don’t know where you came from before, but I’m not like whoever had you last. While you’re here, with me, I’m not going to hurt you, or lock you out in the cold, or starve you, or anything like that, understand?”