Winter Maker

Chapter One

Note: This is all uneditted and the roughest draft. I'm just trying to keep track of my writing for NaNoWriMo.

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The cold wind blew her long dark hair behind her as she made her way along the driftwood covered shoreline. Whitecaps covered the dark water for as far as she could see. They crashed into the floating logs, castaways from the summer storms which had raged a few weeks ago.

Cher looked up as a formation of Canadian geese flew past above her, their v-shape clear against the dull grey sky. Their deafening honking was over for this year. In fact she was surprised to see geese still making their way south this late in the year. This was likely the last times Cher would see them until they returned in the spring.

The winters in Northwestern Ontario were too harsh for many who flourished in the summer. Cher tried to imagine being a European explorer, or settler that had come here for the first time. Everything so foriegn, just trying to survive must have been a challenge. They would have to learn so much just to make it through the winter. Cher looked at the wild boreal forest to her right, and the unforgiving lake to her left. Both seemed to never end. Without the local natives, the Europeans would not have survived. Cher's own father was Métis, of mixed Aboriginal and European heritage. He was proud of his background, he had taught his children that the Métis were a distinct people with their own traditions. He taught them the Michif words he knew, a mix of Ojibway and French. Cher loved listening to her father talk, teaching her about two things coming together to create something new.

Her mother was pure Ojibway, or Anishinaabe. She had grown up on the local reserve about ten kilometers away.

Cher sat down on Mermaid Rock, the large black rock protruding out between the sand and the driftwood, as she often had in the past. Her old worn out blue jeans did little to protect her from the cold hard surface of the rock. Cher shivered as she began to remove her filthy rubber boots. Off came her knitted wool socks, a Christmas gift from her mother the previous year. Cher took her time to fold and tuck the socks into her boots. She then rolled up the worn bottom of her jeans and stepped towards the water.

The cold lake made her ankles ache. Cher didn't mind, the lake was a thing of comfort and home to her, even in the icy temperatures. She had always come to the lake, to Mermaid's Rock, with her sister Kay. It was their special place, where they could talk about anything and go home feeling better. But Kay had been gone almost a year now, and Cher was alone deliberately walking out deeper in the cold water. The warmth of summer was a fading memory, everything around Cher reminded her of the winter that was to come soon. Winter had already come in her home, there was a distinct silence and cold that hung in the air. She wondered if it would ever go away, if things would ever go back to the way things used to be. She didn't think that was possible.

"Cher!" A rough, hoarse voice called from the shore. Cher jumped and turned to find Rhett her best friend climbing onto the beach from within the treeline. Out bounded his shaggy mutt dog, Hannibal following. Rhett's long pale hair whipped wildly in the crisp wind, like the reeds in the water. "Get out of the water Cher! Do you want to lose your toes?"

"It's not that cold yet." Cher shouted back above the sound of the lapping of the waves onto shore. Rhett's tall pale figure looked out of place among the greens, browns, and greys of the shoreline. He almost glowed on the dull sand beach. Cher watched as Rhett gracefully leaped from log to log, making his way to the sand. Hannibal wasted no time on such graces much to Cher's amusement. He slipped racing over the logs, and fought for balance. A paw always going astray on the mossy logs. Once on the beach he bounded towards her in the icy water. Cher turned and braced away from the splash.

"Not that cold yet? Cher, it's supposed to snow today." Rhett exclaimed sitting down as Cher stepped back on the driftwood covered beach. "Honestly, how are you still walking even? It's fucking freezing out." Rhett shivered, rubbing his long bony hands together and blowing into them.