Sveta's blue eyes glowed with happiness. The heavy door swung open. Her father grinned, gesturing for her to go. Without a second thought, she dashed off into the snow-filled landscape. "It's Beautiful" Sveta squealed in excitement as she bolted from her log cabin, rushing through the pure white snow.
The snow hardly slowed her pace; as she trekked towards her favourite place in the thick woods. Time seemed to have stopped until Sveta reached her destination. Within the centre of this opening was a fallen tree's stump. Brushing the powdery snow off it, she sat and breathed into her hands, clasped in prayer. Puffs of steam rose from her gloves. Sveta loved the quiet. It gave her time to think. This wasn't the first time she'd seen snow but it was the first time she'd been allowed to traverse the tundra alone. The bitter Siberian wind began to pick up bringing a nipping cold with it. Despite this, she was happy to get out unsupervised.
Sveta shivered as a breeze caught her unaware and whipped up under her heavy winter coat. Tucking it back in, she was surprised by a collection of high pitched mewls.
"A Rabbit!" she yelped in excitement. "Stew for dinner!"
Grinning, Sveta rushed off towards the noise, her boots sinking deeper with each step. The trees around her darkened, the snow thickened and her pace slowed. Shortly the feeling of excitement faded, replaced with an undeniable insecurity. Attempting to shrug it off, she blamed it on the newness of her separation from her parent. Her loud shriek echoed through the woods as her boot fell through the deep snow plummeting her body into it. She hit the ground and felt as if her entire body had been flung against a wall. The snow stung her cheeks and ran down her sleeves, crawled up her pants and slithered its way down her back.
The cold tore at her body like a rabid animal. Laying on the ground her body quivered as cold gnawed at her bones. Her reactions were slow but she managed to pull her self from the jaws of the monster and shook the snow from her coat. Ignoring her better judgement she became more determined to find the snare. Sveta began the agonizing trudge towards her farther's traps. The hike seemed endless until finally, she came upon the snare and a sea of surprise washed over her.
Staring at the small pool of warm blood and tufts of hair, Sveta expected to see a fox. Yet the sight that met her eyes left her blood frozen. The grotesque severed head of a small rodent lay oozing blood onto the white snow, tattooing it a dark red hue. Someone had killed it and left the head. Was it to spite her? Anger boiled up from deep in her belly.
"I was going to bring that back for Da!" she muttered stamping her foot.
A muffled snap of wood rang out grabbing her attention. Shocked, her head snapped towards the sound, "Maybe it's the person who took my rabbit!" she murmured. Unlike before, the girl followed her better judgment and chose not to follow. The loud growl from her stomach tore her attention from the noise.
Although shaken, Sevta found somewhere dry to sit and gorged on the sandwich her father had packed. Sitting on the cold ground the food supplied little relief to her impending sense of doom and even less for the ravenous hunger clouding her mind.
The icy grasp of pure fear tore at her heart as a dark figure appeared out of the thicket, Meandering towards her. Sveta spun on the spot and scrambled across the packed ice and snow.
Gaining her footing she began to run. As her legs gained rhythm a chorus of inhumane wails erupted from the thick woods around her. She realized too late that the noise of her footsteps had drawn undesired attention to her plight. Running had only delayed the inevitable. Exhaustion caught her off guard and her vision blurred. It closed the distance in mear moments. She sunk to her knees as its presence enveloped her. She looked back hoping to see the face of her pursuer. Gone, It was gone. Had she imagined it all? She can't have.
" Sveta !?" her father's booming voice came to greet her. She sighed in relief pushing her aching body from the ground. " Sveta !" He called from distance.
"IM HERE!!" She responded hastily. Stumbling through the falling snow dilutional. Her father's voice had led her to a clearing. It seemed familiar yet she couldn't place her finger on it. "DEDA? WHERE ARE YOU!?" The girl shrieked
"I'm here Sveta, I'm Here!" his voice came from behind a tree stump
"DEDA!?" She screamed, "I CAN'T SEE YOU!"
"I'm here" he whispered in her ear. Spinning around the black shape met her with cold indifference. Millimetres from her face...they air around them cooled as she stared into the blank shapeless face. "I'm here Sveta " it whispered again. A warmth flowed down her back, and a dark red pool stained the snow beneath her body. She gargled and fell through the shapeless mass. Rolling over into red pool melted the snow beneath her. The white snow slowly drifted from the dark sky landing on her body.
"I-It's Beautiful...."
