Fiction

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A sound of two pairs of feet on the cold frozen ground. It is dark and two men are walking in a woods at night.
They stop in a wide spot in the woods. The clouds break momentarily and the blowing snow becomes visible.
They pause.
"Has it been as you expected?"
There was no answer for a moment.
"Has it been what you wanted?"
The other shuffled his feet, tracing an abstract design on the ground with his boot.
A sigh escaped his lips. "I wish I knew."
They walked forward a few steps. "I don't know."
He suddenly stopped. "Can I ask YOU something?"
"Of course."
"Has it been as YOU expected it? Are YOU pleased? Has it been anything close to what YOU wanted?
"Ah, now that is an interesting question, lad. Has it been as I expected? What, please tell me, do you think I expected?"
In the dark, the other almost thought he caught a hint of a smile and a twinkle in the eye of the other.
"What DID you expect?"
"Why does it matter?"
"Well, then, has it been in any way what you wanted?"
"What do you think I have wanted?"
"That...that...Oh, I don't know."
"I expected precisely what has taken place."
"What do you mean?"
"I expected the difficulty of the way would compel you to come to me almost hourly to ask for help. I wanted you to have to ask me. I wanted you to need me."
The other stood there shocked silence."
"I. Wanted. You. To get to Know. Me."
"So...so...it has not been the miserable failure it seems to me?"
"Child..."

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