Of Blood and Snow

Sea of Blood (2)

The knife, freezing to the touch, finds its way into Mina's right hand with only one purpose: to kill. Her thoughts spin, her adrenaline pumps, and the blood boils. Solely based on instinct, she violently twists around in the pure darkness now facing the radiating heat that previously came from behind. With quick slashes of the knife in the midair, Mina finally catches material causing the sound of blood to rapidly drip onto the snowy blanketed surface.

"Mina! Mina! It's just me!" yells Peter in pain. Crouching and fumbling across the snow for his lantern, he slowly twists the knob, igniting a single flame that highlights the features of his jet-black hair, honey-colored eyes, and the six-inch long gash that now runs across his left forearm soaking with blood.

"Peter, by god! I could have killed you!" Mina shoots back in aggravation. Quickly wiping off the knife and inserting it back into its rightful spot, Mina runs to Peter immediately tearing and applying lengths of cloth from her white dress to the incision in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

"If you ever do that again, I will kill you," Mina grunts in annoyance and slight angst. After tending to his arm, Mina quietly walks across the forest to where the lantern light no longer shines. With her back to Peter's face, Mina slowly crouches in the snow with seemingly inaudible whimpers and sobs. Peter, now realizing the extent of damage that he has caused, slowly makes his way over to Mina, and places his uninjured arm on her shoulder. Little did he know that she too was a master of games, for while she genuinely had full-fledged tears running down her cheeks, her hands were gathering one hell of a sweet revenge.

"Mina, I'm sor-," he attempts to say but instead receives a 3-pound snowball filled with gravel and twigs to his face with full power and bust.

Laughing with hands on her knees, Peter crudely wipes off the remnants of the blow, revealing a face plastered with mud and a devilish grin dripping with naughty intent. "Mina," he yells, "get over here!"

As the game of cat and mouse begins, an ear-piercing shriek stops them dead in their tracks.

"Did you hear that?" Mina questions in outward confidence, but shakes with trembling fear within.

Just moments later, the 30 year-old, ancient bells bring about a bombardment of ringing enough to awaken a whole village and cluster of hibernating animals from their deep, heavy slumbers.

"Is that what I think it was?" she continues to ask as if no one is listening. Knowing in disbelief that the bells mean the beast has returned, Peter's first instinct is to get Mina back to safety.

"Come on, let's go," he says as he grabs the lantern, clutches Mina by the left arm, and guides her forward with a moving purpose. Although the cut on his left arm begins to soak through the makeshift bandages, he pays no heed as he silently uncovers and unclasps the woodsman hatchet that hangs peacefully on the side of his leather belt.

With each footstep they puncture in blanketed forest floor, the heavy, wintry mix of wind, ice, and heavy snow immediately seem to fill in the holes that man has wrecked upon its balanced complexion, leaving no trail, no trace, and no evidence of anyone having stepped upon its surface. The flickering light that emits from the weak and fickle flame no longer remains the only source of illumination, for a sea of light begins to radiate from the small village in the distance. As the bells roar and vibrate madly throughout the vicinity, one by one a lantern of light adds to the village's previous brightness. One by one doors begin to open. One by one sounds of turmoil and wakening villagers rapidly ascend in crescendo. 

Upon arriving at the backend of the village, Mina and Peter find themselves looking at a chaotic storm of people with pitchforks and torches exiting the main entrance of the village gates. With the bells still blaring and the sentries only focused on the commotion upfront, Mina and Peter stealthily make their way through the loopholes and cracks of the village walls. Before merging with the crowd and making their way to their families, Peter halts Mina, pulls her aside and quickly offers a meaningful kiss to her lips while slipping a small necklace attached to a rose-scented ruby stone into her palm.

"What was that for?" Mina blushes in surprise.

"Just something to remember me if you decide to go through with the arranged marriage," says Peter in a saddened tone.

Caught in a whirlwind of emotions, Mina can only mutter a simple "I love you" before Peter kisses her one more time on the forehead and says, "Mina, go. Our families will be looking for us, especially the sentries. We don't want to be caught for suspicion. I'll see you around."

With that being said, both Mina and Peter cautiously blend into the frightened and curious mob of villagers making their way out the village gates and into the woods where the scouts have located the source of the screams.

In the dim flickering lights, the necklace, especially the ruby jewel, glitters like a sun-kissed summer lake lapping the sands; the brilliant red hue shines so vividly that its luster remains how she imagined crystalline blood to appear if such a thing existed.

"Where have you been? Your father and I have been worried sick! Where is your sister? Is she with you?" whispers her mother in a harsh tone who grabs her by the shoulder and jolts her backward, causing Mina to tear her attention away from the jewel and hide it quickly in defense.

"I'm fine mother," Mina mutters reassuringly, completely avoiding the first question. "I thought Lucy was with yo-" she continues to say as she stumbles and runs into the person in front of her who has, for some reason, halted.

Planning to push in front of the man who she had just run into, Mina realizes that the whole village had also come to a stop in the same manner.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Mina questions in curiosity and annoyance.

Just then, heads begin to turn and the smell of sorrow soaks the air as sympathetic eyes pierce those of Mina and her parents. Stepping aside, the villagers bow their heads as Mina and her parents solely make their way to the front through the tall haystacks and the growing evergreen lavenders.

At the end of the path, a body lay sprawled and bloodied to the point where the snow continues to bleed outward, contaminating the white blanket with a sea of frothing red. Monstrous claw marks, deep enough to see bone, visibly streak the body across the chest, head, and limbs, confirming the gruesome and unpleasant cause of death. Shreds of bloodied cloth and paper speckle the ground as Mina, upon seeing her sister's flayed, steaming corpse, falls harshly onto her knees and sobs uncontrollably, headfirst, into the cold, white snow.