Shadows of the Past

Chapter Six

Cold.

So biting that it worked its way through every part of her body, chilling her with a deep aching pain.

Blinking, forcing herself to focus on something other the the freezing cold that threatened to overwhelm her, she saw white, pure and clean and it took a few seconds for her to realize that she was staring down at snow. Slowly she looked up.

The snow was all around, endless and consuming. The trees that surrounded her were covered with it, their branches bending down towards the ground with the weight. Far in the distance she could make out the hazy shape of mountains.

Deep within the recesses of her mind was a flicker of recognition. This place was familiar, though she could not say why. Along with the recognition came another feeling. A tingle of fear that told her that there was something very wrong with this place. Yet despite this she felt compelled to take a step forward, her body somehow knowing exactly where to head. With each step the fear increased but something deep within her pulled her further and further onward.

Her body grew heavy with tiredness yet still she continued walking, fighting against the pain that drove through her body.

Then she saw it. A spot of red, startlingly and unnatural against the whiteness of the ground that it laid upon. The fear that had been nagging at her leapt up several degrees and she became aware of nothing but the silence and the sensation of her heart beating in her chest.

A few more steps and another splash of red upon the ground and then a sound.

She whipped her head around, her eyes wide as she scanned the way she had just come. Fear now had her its grip, tightening around her so that every sense was heightened.

That sound again.

A little louder this time.

Like something... snapping.

Frightening though it was she clung to the thought that it just a branch breaking with the weight of snow upon it. Not wanting to admit that she knew that it was something much, much worse.

Something that was just beyond her memory, lurking in the depths of her shattered mind.

She took a stumbling step backwards, her breath coming in cold hurried gasps, the heat of it turning instantly into mist as it touched the freezing cold air.

Just as she was about to turn and run she heard a voice.

It was faint. Sounding almost like a whisper of wind and yet she knew that it was real, knew that it had said a name.

Her name.

She ran, going in the direction she thought the voice had come from. The fear still held her, kept whispering to her to turn back, fighting against the other part of herself that told her she had to find the voice, had to find the person it belonged to.

All at once she realized that the spots of red were no more and she stopped to stare at the ground that was now streaked with blood. The sound of her heart roared in her ears, deafening out the silence. The freezing cold that had chilled her body was suddenly gone replaced by a terrifying numbness.

Too late she knew that the fear had been right.

Unable to do anything she looked upwards, her gaze traveling over the blood soaked snow to the wooden pole that was embedded into the ground, to the body that was tied to it, blood flowing down its broken and battered form. Upwards to the face of a man she knew...