Eternal Winter

The Pond

Selene strolled down the never ending trail, the full moon guiding her as the forest swallowed her up. Even with the possible dangers ahead, Selene allowed her black sneakered feet to guide her. Once again, she came to a fork.

Immediately, Selene chose the right side, the only illuminated path. She continued with her journey, wondering if she should head back home and come back tomorrow.

Mom'll just yell at me again, Selene thought, She wouldn't understand how compelled I am to this place; how magical it feels.

Her foot caught onto a tree root, sending her toppling down the trail. She managed to reach an end and picked herself up. Selene scanned the area, realizing she was on the banks of a frozen pond

Selene blinked, standing up. It's spring time...not nearly cold enough to freeze an entire body of water, Selene contemplated in her head.

A sudden rush of ideas developed in Selene's mind, each one growing more and more unrealistic. It soon came to a pause when snowflakes spiraled down slowly from the sky, dusting Selene's black hair.

Multicolored eyes bright with some sort of random, instantaneous joy, Selene held out her hands to catch a snowflake drifting in front of her. She brought the ice crystal close to her face and was surprised that it wasn't even close to melting yet. The teen took a closer look, noticing the fine detail of the bright snowflake as it emitted a strange aura.

Selene's eyes glanced at the sky, jumping when she saw it was as clear as ever. Because of that slight movement, she slipped on...

Frost? Selene pondered, I swear a second ago there wasn't any.

A sudden glow came from the bushes on the other side. Curiosity leading her, Selene started walking towards the area and fell onto the pond.

She gulped, afraid of the ice breaking underneath her. However, there was a sense of security that kept her moving. Soon, Selene figured out the best way to cross the area was by stating. Thus, she skidded along, albeit constantly tripping, until she finally arrived at her destination.

Selene shoved her arm into the thornless bush, only to hold up a miniature ice statue of herself.

Selene's eyebrows scrunched, revolving the masterpiece in her hand. At the end, she pocketed it in her violet jacket.

Another light blue flare went off, this time a few meters in front of her on a paved path.

Selene walked to the place and saw another palm sized statue, expecting to be a similar one. Instead, it was of a hummingbird. She held onto it, moving along the trail.

This game kept going on, till Selene had sculptures of a small bunny, two candy canes crossed over one another, a dolphin made of what appeared to be grains of sand, and a crescent moon with a snowflake attached to it. Selene was also lost on the trail, having no idea where she was.

Crap, Selene mentally swore, Great, I'm lost in a dang forest.

To spook her out even more, a rustle of leaves came from behind Selene. The teen dropped the statues in her arms, turning around to face nothing. She flipped back, realizing her ice statues were gone.

However, five 3D snow images of those ice sculptures replaced them.

Selene decided, It's official, I'm hallucinating.

Before she could touch one, all five of them sped off.

"Wait!" Selene hollered, following behind the snow images.

She managed to end up at the back door of her home where her five ice sculptures were at, covered in a veil of frost. Selene collected them all, looking back at the melting ice trail that was surrounded by her mother's blooming petunias.

She shook her head and whispered, "What a strange day." Selene dashed off silently into her house, careful not to disturb her family.

Nevertheless, she never noticed the watchful, blue eyes of the winter spirit that made sure she was safe from the moment Selene stumbled upon his pond.