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The wind blew icy breaths at Annie as she ran and played in the cold yet bright forest. Icicles clung to tree branches and shimmered across the newly fallen snow. Annie lept and fell into the piles of white fluff and exploded in a fit of laughter. The ten year old did nothing except visit the forest, she spent hours a day playing in the vast meadows of lush green grass or, in this case, jumping in the snow and chasing the odd animal.  She took a breath of icy air, filling her nose with the calming scent of pine needles as she remembered all her troubles she had left behind. Her life at home wasn’t terribly bad, but it wasn’t as glamorous as the other kids in her neighbourhood, who had nannies, maids and enough money to buy a whole forest of their own. Annie’s mom was a hard working therapist but never seemed to have the time for her own daughter, her father lives in New York, him and Annie had a good relationship but he hadn’t won custody over her at court. Annie only gets to see her dad once a year, on either Christmas or a week in summer.

A white rabbit skimmed across the top crust of the snow, leaving behind only it’s small foot prints. Annie raised her head and pulled her pink hat tighter over her blond mess of hair and chased after the bunny, now in a hopping frenzy. She dashed through the snow, lifting each leg clumsily out of the snow as she went. Under the mass of snow was a small boulder that Annie had not seen. As she hurdled forward her small booted foot caught the rock and she fell into the snow. During her fast descent she hit her head on a low hanging branch, which knocked her unconscious in the forest nearing dark.   

Annie’s eyes fluttered open to reveal only a black sky scattered with thousands of twinkling stars. She sat up and looked around.  She was in a clearing, a frozen pond lay still in the center cattails came through the frozen layer. All she could tell, was that this was one of the far clearings, the one she wasn't allowed to visit. Snowflakes danced in the sky and fell, covering her tracks from her fall.Her breath grew faster and her heart thumped in her ears as she realized that she was lost. Annie jumped up,

“Help!” she yelled.

Her mind wandered to the recent news broadcasts about a murderer on the loose. But all the attacks reported were far from here, almost in the other town.

Annie ambled forward to study the perimeter of the frozen meadow. Near a patch of icy saplings she saw an ideal cave to spend the night. The rocks came together, forming a teepee with long frigid green vines hanging from the roof of the entrance. Annie ran towards the cave, stopping to snap off a dead tree's branch to use as a sword in case the cave already had visitors. She hit the stick on the ice covering rock, but nothing was inside. She peeked in the shallow cave, which only went a meter deep, but there was nothing. She decided it would be fine for the night and crawled inside. Except for the occasional spider, the cave was alright. Thoughts whirled around in her head, she didn’t know what to do. Annie closed her suddenly heavy eyelids and drifted to sleep.

The sun shone in Annie's eyes forcing her to squint at her surroundings. It was a clearing, one she had never seen before. Tall green grass lined the sides of the circular field. Short grass with beautiful wild flowers, some pink, purple and even blue, grew in the middle. A white cabin sat, looking peaceful in the very centre, vines growing up the sides. The cabin looked like a house of a grandmother, one who makes cookies and loves gardening. The house looked innocent, so Annie walked towards it, and with each step she grew more and more excited that she found a person. As she neared the pleasant house, she saw something hidden in the tall grass. The mysterious object was only a few feet away, she pushed the grass aside revealing a body of a girl. Her skin a light shade of blue, icicles hanging from her hair, an odd thing since it was sunny in the field. Annie took a step back, screaming as she realized that the body was her own. With every step she took she couldn’t get further from herself, until she fell. She landed in the arms of a man. The air felt heavy, making it hard for her to look at the mysterious man. She briefly saw the man, in a dark hooded cape, but her eyes closed, to expose only darkness.

Annie gasped for air and quickly sat up, her dream leaving her frightened. Her snowsuit was damp and cold, her head wet from the snowflakes flying through the gap in the rocks. Rubbing her eyes, she wasn’t able to shake the picture of her dead body from her dream. The air was still, the snow was fluffy but deep. She crawled out of the cave and scrambled forward. The snow went up past her knees, making it hard for her to walk. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, maybe a hunter or camper? She had heard sometimes that people camped in this forest, but not likely during the numbing winter. Her hopes of getting rescued quickly evaporated. She traced her fingers along the top of the snow, leaving her tips damp.  Wind  swirled, picking up the light snow, and dancing with the loose ends of Annie’s hair. The once soothing forest was now all Annie wanted to get away from, even the wonderful way the snowflakes landed on her eyelashes and the wind that seemed to sing to her. She would give anything to go home and see her familiar pink wallpaper and lovable cat, Thomas.