Touched by Lady Winter

Prologue

*Image is not mine; credit goes to the owner.*

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It all started on that cold December night.

-

Cold.

That was the only word that was registering in my mind. The "Terrible Three" had anticipated the time I would crawl out of hiding and slink home. They had stolen my winter coat, and I was left in my thin clothes, shaking furiously.

I missed my coat terribly. It was below 0°F and snow was falling all around me. My teeth were chattering, and I was numb from head to toe. Just taking a step was hard, and my legs were stiff as sticks. I kept on going, though, determined to get home.

I can't collapse now. Who knows what will happen if I fall and never get up?

My body began to shake. It couldn't stand the temperature anymore, and simply shut down. I collapsed in the snow, shivering pathetically. A blurry shape formed in front of me and touched my face with an ice cold finger.

"G-get away," I said, blinking furiously to identify the shape. The figure's face became visible for a second, revealing a wicked smile with blood red lipstick before it went out of focus. This was it. This was the end, where I got murdered by a psychopath.

What a dumb way to die, collapsing from coldness then getting killed by a crazy person, were my last thoughts before I blacked out.

I awoke in the same spot, covered in a blanket of snow. The sun was just beginning to show over the forest of trees, and my eyes widened.

Oh no, it's dawn! Mom must be worried!

I shakily stood up, brushing off the snow. I was surprised when I didn't feel the biting coldness of the air or snow. Instead, it was just... chilly. In a good, refreshing way. No harsh coldness.

I'm probably just in shock or very numb, I decided. After all, I'm not dead and that figure is gone.

I began to walk down the familiar path I always used to walk home. Taking a deep breath of the cold air, I started to think of an excuse to tell to my parents.

---

I slowly opened the door, wincing as it creaked. I heard a thump, then heavy footsteps heading towards me.

"Sam?" a slurred voice said. "Is that you?"

I mentally cursed. Mom had probably already gone off to work, and Dad had taken that chance to drink from his secret liquor stash. This was the time I usually tried to hide from him, but I had forgotten in my haste to get home.

"Y-yeah, Dad," I stammered, scared of what he was going to do.

"Where were you, you dirty slut?"

He was now in front of me. I let out a muffled shriek as he slapped me, and flinched when he raised his hand again to deliver another blow. Just then, the door opened.

"Hey, honey, did you unlock the door? Anyways, I forgot- Oh my god!"

Mom was in the doorway, frozen in shock at the sight of the red hand mark on my face.

"C-Chelsea, I can explain-"

"Damn right, you need to explain. Both of you, into the living room."

Mom was glaring at Dad. Even though he was drunk, he had enough sense to obey her orders and plopped down on the couch.

"So, Frank, how are you drunk? I leave for five minutes, and there's no way you couldn't have gone to the liquor store that fast."

"Well, Chelsea- heh heh- I have this grrreat place to storrre my liquorrr."

He had slurred all of his r's, smiling stupidly.

"And, where is this special place?"

His smile vanished. "Well..." he began, stretching the word.

Mom glared at him, and he swallowed loudly. "Speak now, or else..."

"Okay, I storrre it underrr ourrr bed inside of the old AC box," Dad confessed, his face growing red with anger, influenced by the booze. "Is that a prrroblem?"

She walked up to him and slapped him, the sound echoing through my ears. He was quiet with shock for a moment as she sat back down, eyes alight with fury. "What the-" I covered my ears for a second, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. "-was that for?!"

He stormed up to mom raising his hand to slap her back.

No... not Mom! "Don't you dare touch Mom!" I yelled, grabbing his hands roughly. He yelled with a mixture of pain and surprise.

"Let go of me!" he growled, throwing me to the wall. "God dammit, that hurt like hell."

I winced, feeling pain throb through my head. My vision was hazy, but I could've sworn I saw blood running down the side of Dad's arm where I grabbed it, and a glint of something white.

"What the hell? When the-" I tuned out that word, closing my eyes in an effort to soothe the throbbing a little bit. "-did you get these icicles? Do you really dare to use that against your dad?!"

I felt rough hands grab my neck, cutting off my supply of air. I was too weak to even try to pry them off of my neck, and my body went limp. I could hear Mom screaming at Dad to stop, but he just slapped her head hard, knocking her to the floor with something red running down her head. Blood? I refused to believe it.

"This is what happens when you defy me, bitch."

The last thing I remember was the glint of a knife.

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*Hey guys, hoped you liked the prologue! Hopefully, I'll update this more often than Love's Not a Fairytale.

I'm very excited about continuing this story, and I'm going to try to remind myself to update it.

Until the next update!
~Ice*