Frozen Heart

Chapter One: Late Night Struggles

Why was it so cold?

My body shivered so much that the blanket slowly slid off the bed.

Jeez, I hate winter! 'Tis the season to be Jolly?' What a load of bull! Yes, Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year but the cold, it ruins everything.

My family embraces the cold instead of shutting it out under a warm blanket like I do. What is with them? It is below zero degrees and they don't turn on the heater! No wonder I get sick all the time.

Outside it was pitch black, indicating that it was probably really late.

Slowly I jumped out of bed and tiptoed down the hall, towards the thermostat. If I could just turn the heater on without my dad seeing me then maybe, just maybe I would live through the night and wont turn into a human Popsicle.

It was kind of hard to act all ninja like while shivering my ass off, plus I was wearing my bunny pajamas, which included the fuzzy bunny slippers. Not to mention the dark blue beanie that covered my wavy hair. Some people say that I resemble my mother because of my big green eyes and small mouth but others say I look like my dad since we both have auburn hair and a nose with a slight curve. I guess I am just a mixture of both, unlike my younger brother, who looks exactly like my mother.

"Aneira, what are you doing up so late?" My first instinct was to run for my life and pretend that my mother didn't catch me trying to turn on the heater but unfortunately she grabbed my collar before I could go anywhere.

"Do you know what time it is? You have school tomorrow! Back to bed right now!!" Before I could say a word she shoved me back into my room and slammed the door shut, probably waking my brother in the process.

"What the~?" I whispered, my nose inches from the recently shut door. All of that sneaking around just to be shoved back into my cold room.

Damn it! How am I supposed to get some sleep, I'm bloody freezing my ass off here!

Grabbing my robe, I shoved my arms into the fluffy sleeves and fell onto my bed. Man, I can't wait for the holidays. One more week of boring schoolwork and then my days will be filled with sleeping and hanging out with my friends. Just thinking about it made me giggle with excitement.

Resting my head on the soft pillow I gazed out the window, silently admiring the white snow. Even though I wasn't a big fan of the cold, I did enjoy the snow. The way it cloaked the town in a large white blanket was just extraordinary.

When I was little, I used to wake my parents up really early just so we could play outside in the snow. It used to annoy them but I guess seeing the grin on my face always made their day. Sometimes when they were busy, I would go out to the front yard and make little creatures out of the snow. Before they could even glance at my masterpieces, the little snow creatures always seemed to disappear. I would take my eyes off them for a second and then when I turn back, BAM! Their gone! Being a little kid the first thing I did was run to my parents saying that someone stole my snow art. Of course they just laughed at me and commented on how large my imagination was. Knowing that they wouldn't believe me, instead of telling them that my art disappeared, I decided to catch the thing responsible for stealing my property. I must admit for a nine-year-old girl, I was freaking stubborn! It took eight days of jumping around and screaming at thin air until I finally gave up. Thinking about it now would send me into a fit of hysterical laughter; luckily for me I was so tired that my body wasn't even capable of one little giggle, instead I settled for a small grin.

Yawning, I took one last look at the window, to my surprise there was a beautiful design made of ice, the window was covered with snowflakes, swirls and winter flowers. I didn't know the cold could freeze up a window leaving mystical designs behind, can it? Or did something or someone do that? But how? And without me noticing? All these questions were making my head hurt.

"Man, do I need some sleep. I'm so tired that I'm hallucinating." I yawned and turned my back to the magnificent window. Slowly and quietly, I drifted off into a dreamless slumber.