To Jen

CHPTR 1

"Are we close?"

The words kicked me out of my half driving and half head in the clouds state, I glanced over at my daughter. She had her arms folded over with her hands obscured in her pockets of the oversized black 'Nirvana' hoodie I had bought her for her birthday. Her short black puffy hair covered most of what I could see but in the midst of it I saw white bluetooth headphones and a Golden piercing of a harp on her left ear, same as the one I had on my right. I sighed and went back to face the road painted over with snow.

"we cant be far now Blair, when we get close enough I'll tell you so you can put on your hat and coat so worry less about the road and more about getting some rest, 'kay?"

She sighed and put her hood up, resting her head on the car seat

"Fine."

She had the same temper as her mother used to have. It was odd not having her mother around to make jokes about my poor navigation skills before kissing me on the cheek and verbally helping out, well, when she wasn't spaced out staring at the tree lines. She always had a habit of staring into nothingness, but she wasn't here anymore. Her two Golden ear piercings divided between her daughter and her husband keeping a little part of her memory alive to carry through life with. Not soon after I spoke to Blair I felt a head hit my shoulder and glanced to my right to see my daughter fully asleep leaning her head onto me, She had bearly slept on the drive up to that point so I was glad to see it and slowly pushed her to her side and stopped the car to get a blanket and a pillow from the booth to make her more comfortable.

I opened the door of the car and was hit with an at first unbearable cold which settled after a few seconds but still remained freezing.

"shit."

I mumbled to myself quietly closing the door and making my way around the car to the booth. After I grabbed the pillow and blanket I shut it and made my way around to Blairs side and opened the door. I moved her car seat a little further back so she had more room to lay down and relax her legs, afterwards I put a blanket over her body and raised her head gently before placing a pillow underneath. I kissed her forehead and closed the door temporarily stopping to take a moment to enjoy the enviroment. Freezing as it was, It was a beautiful sight. An inky pitch black ocean flowing with grey clouds above leaking white snow over head painting every tree and blade of grass it touched a bright white hue which glistened with reflected light which sourced from the headlights of my car. Jen loved it up here, every December we passed through these Woods to get to her parents house with our Daughter to spend the Christmas but this would be the first year we would be visiting without her. While making my way back around I wondered how her parents were taking the passing but just before I opened the door to re-enter my vehicle I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around reacting to a sound.

"hello?"

I shouted to the darkness behind but got no response. I know I heard something close by crunching the snow but maybe it was just an animal or a twig falling. Nothing to get worked up about. So I opened the door, got in, and shut it behind me before starting the car once more and putting my hands on the wheel. Before driving off further I glanced at the outside mirror and was half expecting to see some glowing eyes staring back at me but I was greeted with nothing. Just darkness taunting me with its blanket covering up whatever might've made the noise. I put my foot on the pedal and drove off continuing the trip.

After about two more hours of driving the thought hit me that we should have seen a town by now. Or even lights or some sign of life but the road remained desolate. I reached for my phone on the dash and was relieved that I had signal this far into the Woods. I dialed Blairs grandmother and instantly was greeted with the voice of a happy old woman