A Heart Left in the Snow

The snow fell softly, almost tenderly, but each flake was like a blade. Rosemary Winters stood at the edge of an abandoned village, peering into the charred ruins of a church that had once served as a shelter. Her fingers trembled in the thin leather gloves, and her heart beat slowly, as if afraid to wake the ghosts of the past. She came back. After fifteen years. – You knew I’d come, – she whispered, as if to the wind. *** Her childhood was strange and unnatural, like an experiment gone wrong, a blurry memory of hands that held her but whose face she couldn’t remember. Her mother had died when Rose was very young. And her father… he had died so that she could live. Ethan Winters. His name was never spoken out loud in their house. Even Chris Redfield, the one who had saved her and raised her as his own, avoided the subject. As if the memory of him was dangerous. But Rose could feel something of him inside her. Not just blood or Megamycete cells. Something subtler, a voice that whispered in the darkest hours of the night: «I’m with you. I’m never really gone.» *** The church creaked in the wind. The stairs had collapsed, but she managed to get inside. The smell of mold, smoke, and dried blood hit her nose. She walked inside, turning around – and suddenly… froze. There was a note on the altar. The paper was old, charred at the edges, but the handwriting… she knew it. The handwriting she’d once seen in an old file from a destroyed Umbrella vault. «For Rose.» Her fingers trembled as she unfolded the paper. «If you're reading this, then you've grown up. I don't know who you've become, but I hope you're happy. I couldn't stay with you, but every step I took in this hell was for you. Rose, I loved you from the first moment. Let the world forget my name - remember only one thing: I did everything so that you could live. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you. Love you forever. Dad.» Tears rolled down her cheeks - hot as blood. She didn't sob, didn't scream - she just stood in silence, like a tombstone. *** – Why didn't you let me remember you? – she whispered. – Why did you disappear, leaving only fear? Something rose from the depths of her mind. A feeling - as if someone had woken up inside her. Warmth. A voice - not a voice, but a memory buried deep inside: «You were too young, Rose. I was afraid Megamycetes would ruin everything. I… was afraid for you.» Her knees buckled. She sank to the floor among the ashes and shadows. For the first time in years, she felt like she was not alone. *** Night fell quickly. Wolves howled somewhere on the slopes. She walked out of the church, holding the note tightly. There was nothing left behind. No hope, no warmth, only ashes. But she knew: her father was not gone. Not entirely. Megamycetes held fragments of consciousness, shadows of souls. In this cursed fungal sea lived both pain and love. Rose knew that one day she could dive into the depths again, if she dared – and maybe there… find him. She walked away from the village, not looking back. Behind her, the wind whispered. Or maybe it was something more. «I’m proud of you, Rose.»