Frozen Summer

Chapter 32

The wind was so strong the top of the trees were swinging, only the moonlight was helping Isabella see. She didn't know why but she was running, why was she running ? It was like she was looking at herself from a third person. She was holding on to something, she couldn't see what she was holding. She was desperate to reach her destination, the further she was going the more the forest seemed against her, dense bushes of vines and thorns were ahead but she did not care. She kept on moving, despite the many scratches and thorns getting stuck into her skin she kept on moving. Whatever was after her seems to be getting faster.

" Richard ! Richard, where are you ?! "

No one was there, she was alone chased by this dark shape. She kept on running, what she was holding was the most important thing to her, it had more importance than her own life. The closer what was chasing her was getting, the colder the air was feeling. Everything behind her was getting frozen. She could see her breath being condensed in front of her, her lungs were burning up but she had to keep going. Suddenly, she fell to the ground, she felt a sharp pain in her right leg, when she turned around she screamed in horror as she saw her leg had frozen and stood in place. What she felt was her frozen leg breaking, now she could only crawl, looking forward she saw what she was carrying : a small round package that was wrapped in cloth. It seemed almost alive, as if it was breathing. She did not unwrap it, she just took it against her and kept on crawling. She was freezing more and more until she could not even blink. She was now unable to move, her vision was getting cloudy, she then saw barefoot walking in front of her, the person crouched and slowly took the small package away from her. All she could do was huff in pain, words could not even come out of her mouth. The person seemed to be a woman, with skin white as snow and so was her hair.. She turned around and held her hand towards Isabella, an ice spike formed at the tip of her hand and before it launched she could hear the woman whisper something but most of it was muffled.

" .... child ... "

The next moment, the ice pick pierce her head. She then woke up gasping for air and feeling extremely cold which was unusual for her. Next to her, Richard was sound asleep. " this nightmare, I never remember anything from it but I know it's this one." For years now she has had this nightmare, ever since she lost her mother. " It's that time of the year again isn't it ? ". She decided to go wash herself in hope of warming up. She went upstairs and used her magic to pour warm water into her bath, the water felt great and soothing on her cold skin. She laid back and thought about all the things she had to do in the upcoming days. Once she was done, she got dressed and decided to brush her hair. While passing the brush through her hair she tried remembering parts of the nightmare. " I only remember the sensation of despair and cold, it's bothering me. " All of a sudden she realised while looking in the mirror that she had a white strand of hair. " Where did I start having those ? ". She simply decided to cut it off and kept on going with her morning routine. When she came back downstairs she found Richard shirtless and looking through the window, the sun was entering the home and projecting his shadow over the wall. She walked closer to him and hugged his muscular back.

" Good morning my prince "

" Morning princess, how terrible for me to wake up without you at my side. I felt completely lost. "

He turned around and gave her his usual charming smile. Even if she saw it hundreds of times by now, this smile was always making her feel better. He leaned forward and gave her a small kiss on the lips. She leaned on him and looked at the sun rising in the distance. While looking at her, Richard noticed how troubled she seemed.

" Is something wrong ? "

" It's nothing, just a nightmare I had. "

" Again ? "