It was -17°C, she was holding her 5 crying children lying in a hole shivering from hunger and cold While walking in the park near our house, we accidentally heard the cries of puppies. Following the sound, we found a hole that had been dug for planting trees. Looking inside, we saw a mother dog and her newborn puppies. There were 5 puppies in total and they seemed to have been born just a few hours ago, the fur of the five puppies was still wet, their bodies were shivering from the cold. The 5 puppies cried loudly because of hunger and cold, she helplessly hugged her five puppies tightly to try to keep them warm. It was winter now, the temperature during the day was -17°C and would drop further when it got dark. Snow was falling heavily and covering everything around. The harsh weather was almost unbearable even for her…
It was -17°C. The air was sharp as knives, the kind of cold that cut through clothes and skin alike. She crouched in a shallow hole dug in the frozen earth, her arms wrapped tightly around her five children. They were all crying—soft, choked sobs that came more from exhaustion than noise, because even crying took energy they no longer had. Their small bodies were trembling, not only from the brutal cold, but from hunger that had gnawed at them for days.
The mother’s fingers were numb, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was keeping her children as warm as she could. She pulled their thin coats tighter, pressing them against her body, trying to form some barrier between them and the ruthless wind. Her own stomach ached from emptiness, but she had stopped noticing that days ago. What consumed her now was fear—fear that she wouldn’t make it through the night, that her children might fall asleep and not wake again.
There had been no shelter nearby, no food, and no one left to ask for help. They had fled with what little they could carry, but now even hope seemed to have frozen with the ground.
One of the youngest whimpered, her voice barely above a whisper. The mother kissed her forehead and whispered soft words—nonsense, lullabies, anything to distract her from the cold. Tears froze on the mother’s cheeks as she looked around, searching the dark horizon for a sign—any sign—of safety. But there was only snow, wind, and silence.
Still, she held on. For them. Because in that hole in the ground, even with death close by, a mother’s love refused to give in. Even in the worst kind of cold, she kept her children close and her will to protect them burning.
