On That Winter's Night.

1-The First Snow.

On the first evening it snowed in early November, seventeen year old Katherine was holed up in her room, her nose in her book. She didn't really get much opportunities to read, mostly because she had her heart set on getting high marks when school was back in session in January and she was starting at a lovely new school and that meant a ton of studying. Another reason was that Katherine had to listen to her mother's constant ramblings about how being alone was better than having a friend. When she got to the last word, she always started crying and mumbling "We shouldn't have done it." Over and over. Katherine had always done her best to listen, but part of her believed something was off about these ramblings, like there was a big secret that her parents were trying to hide. However, the more reasonable and unsure part of her mind knew better than to ask. 

"Remember honey, like I say-

"Stay away from people, it's better to be alone and be back at the right time." Katherine finished her mother's sentence as she left the house to go for a walk in the winter wonderland outside. She locked the front door, let her light coloured hair come undone from it's braid, tightened her earmuffs over her ears then set off into the snow.

The landscape of the first snow of that year was, in a word, stunning. The snowflakes fell softly, coating the land and trees, making it all look almost silver in the setting sun, plus the sky above was turning darker as the sun sank lower behind the hills. As she walked, Katherine let out a small laugh and her blue eyes widened a little as she admired the wintery world around her. It reminded her of the wintery scenes in Narnia, a famous novel she'd read a few months back. Without the magic wardrobe of course. Absorbed in her imaginative thinking, Katherine didn't realize she wasn't paying attention until she bumped into someone. "Oops, sorry, wasn't thinking." She said apologetically, steadying them both. 

"No that's okay." The girl answered, lifting her head and giving Katherine a small smile. The girl was the same height as her, with milk and honey hair a bit darker than Katherine's and her eyes were a pale shade of green. There was something familiar about her, Katherine thought.

"I uh, didn't catch your name." She said, trying to cover the awkwardness of the moment. 

"That's because I never said it." The girl easily responded. "But I'm pretty sure everything will make sense soon enough." Then, still smiling, she turned and began to wander away. She stopped once, looked back over one shoulder and almost hesitantly waved to Katherine before she vanished into the trees.