Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-44887769-20200121123248

'''The cold wind nipped at my face and the snow whipped around in a restless rage and cut my flesh like broken shards of glass. My hands were frozen by a thick layer of ice when I looked up I could see through the ice, I was able to see that my hands had turned black. My stomach churned and I turned my head away. I shivered violently as the wind howled loudly. I weakly looked around, the area I was in was a cave-like prison made of solid ice with large stalactites as well as stalagmites and from what I could see some were stained faintly red. An icicle close to where I was, due to its weight, broke and shattered against the ground causing me to snap my head up and look around anxiously to see if anything or anyone was there. From the corner of my eye, I would catch a glimpse of movement from the light that shone off the walls. Faintly I could hear the malevolent chuckle of a woman and the sound of jingle bells in the distance which would most of the time follow this flash of movement. This only caused my anxiety to heighten and made my heart leap into my throat. I didn’t know what she wanted...I didn’t want to know. The crimson-stained snow and ice had said everything that it needed to. The thought of wanting to die quickly was coursing through my mind, but I knew this would not happen. She wanted me and whoever else to suffer. Though it wasn’t clear to me why, I could hear the faint blood-curdling screams, the pleas, and wails of others she had captured before ultimately it had become silent signaling she had claimed another victim.'''

'''It had all began in December I had been on vacation with my parents in Russia to celebrate the holidays with our relatives who lived there. Though I enjoyed spending time with my family that I rarely got to see. I didn’t enjoy the cold weather they had during the winter. I was used to the warmer weather Florida had year-round. So the transition from warm to cold wasn’t pleasant. The only thing I enjoyed about the cold was mountain climbing. You could see some of the scenery Russia hid on level ground and always seemed to give me a sense of tranquility. It was a week before Christmas when my mother asked if we had wanted to go mountain climbing before the storm that was scheduled to come the following week. Most of us said yes besides my grandparents and younger cousins. My grandparents used to love mountain climbing but due to their old age, they had retired that hobby for good but still enjoy the pictures of the scenery whenever the rest of us would go. Early the next morning we grabbed our gear and equipment and headed out towards the mountain we commonly would climb on. Once we arrived, we did our routine stretches and we headed up the steep mountain.'''

'''It was around four hours or so before we had stopped for a break to rest our feet. My mother laid out the blanket we normally used when we went mountain climbing and set up our picnic. I had walked away from the group wanting to see the scenery even though we hadn’t made it that far. I could hear them faintly talking and laughing as I walked. I looked over the edge of the mountain taking in the view below. Soon it had become quiet, the laughs of my family were replaced by the sudden howl of the blistering wind. I turned my head confused. Panic began to rise in the pit of my stomach seeing that my family was no longer where they used to be even the things we had laid out were gone. I called out to them...No answer. I called again...The only thing that had answered was the wild howl of the wind. When did they even leave I didn’t even hear them get up. I walked to the spot where my family used to be looking at the snow. To my shock, there weren’t even any footprints aside from my own. No footprints from where we came from and no footprints leaving the area. I frantically called out again, the feeling of wanting to cry made my throat ache. I began to walk away from the area as I began to search to see if I could find them. It had begun to snow heavily, heavily enough where I couldn’t see where I was walking and I became lost, trying to squint my eyes to see past the heavy snowflakes. Through the screaming of the wind, I thought I was able to hear soft whispering and laughing. I turned my head in one direction then they would move in a different direction. A roar broke through the howling wind cause me to freeze. Following the roar was low growls and the laughing seemed to have grown louder and seemed to surround the area. The wind became harsher as if trying to knock me off my feet. '''

'''I shut my eyes tightly and crouched down into the snow, my hands over my head as I waited for what was out there to jump through the blinding blizzard. Then finally everything went silent, the cold wind had stopped and the snow had slowed down enough to be able to see more clearly. I looked around confused wondering what had happened A small chipper girl’s voice soon spoke up. '''

'''“Hello? Who are you?” '''

'''I snapped my head to look behind me, and there stood a little girl. She was bundled up tightly in a white furry coat with a hood that had no arms and her black booted feet poked out a bit. Her mouth was covered a bit by the collar of her coat and her hood hid her hair so all that showed was her extremely pale skin and coal-black eyes she had looked around 7 or 8 years old.'''

''' “U-Um.” I stuttered out not entirely sure what to say not expecting the sudden appearance of the small girl. “Nice to meet you Um.” '''

'''The girl giggles. She tilted her head to the side when she stopped laughing; her black eyes held a sense of curiosity. '''

“So why are you out here all alone?” she asks.

''' “I could ask the same to you. What’s a little girl doing up here? Especially, in this weather.” I was answered by her laughing again.'''

 “Well I live up here of course,” she says.

 “Oh really?” I said tilting my head.

''' “Yeah! Come on I’ll show you!” The little girl says with a wide smile appearing on her pale face. She suddenly grabbed my hand before I could even protest started leading me further up the mountain. A feeling of uneasiness began to well up when the girl smiled. There was something odd about the smile, maybe it was how wide it was or that her eyes showed no emotion not even sparkling; but something about it felt...evil. Her hand felt ice cold compared to that of my littlest cousin's hand, which was always extremely warm. But I decided to try and push this feeling down.'''

'''Before I had time to ponder any longer we were in front of a small log cabin. Puffs of smoke coming from the chimney and the smell of clove and peppermint seemed to waft and lace itself with the smoke making the notion that the person inside was baking something. A soft woman’s voice singing Winter Wonderland came from the cabin. The remaining feelings of anxiety slowly washed away and were replaced with a warm and happy feeling.'''

'''“Come on mother is inside making gingersnap cookies.” The little girl chirps as she opens the door dragging me along with her. The cabin was dark with the light coming from the fire within the fireplace. There was an old vintage couch which was covered in a thick layer of dust and littered with holes. The stuffing was  poking out of them and an old rotting wooden rocking chair which looked as if it was ready to crumble as soon as a person was to sit on it, sat slightly ajar from the couch. There was an old cracked coffee table with a poinsettia centerpiece and  a dark red candle sat in the candle holder. The candle didn’t look as though it had ever been lit.  I looked down at the little girl with a concerned look.'''

“A-are you sure this is-” I was interrupted by a woman’s voice.

''' “Welcome home sweetheart! I see you found someone on your walk.” It said. A slender woman walked into the firelight. She had long platinum blond hair, she wore a dark red dress with white lace accents and a white apron that had yellow flowers embroidered on it. On her round face was a layer of bandages that covered her left eye. Aside from this she had a warm pleasant smile on her face. The little girl smiled brightly '''

'''“Yeah! I found him out in the snow!” The girl chirps causing me to blush in embarrassment. '''

'''”Oh, I see well make yourself at home dear.” The woman says smiles as she turned to the little girl. “Why don’t you go play dear and let your new friend rest and...warm up.” The woman says with a bit of hesitation. The little girl nods before giving me one last smile and running off in a different direction. '''

“Go ahead a sit wherever my dear.” She says as she beckons to the chair and couch.

''' I nod, “Thank you very much…” I say, cringing slightly as I sat down causing a cloud of dust to burst causing me to cough. The woman only smiles “The gingersnap cookies will be done shortly.” She says as she turns and walks off, which I had assumed was back into the kitchen to wait for the cookies to be done. But after a while of silence, something seemed off. I turned my head towards the kitchen but to my surprise the woman wasn’t there and the smell of something baking in the oven was no longer there. I let out shiver soon realizing how cold the cabin was I walked closer to the fire wishing for warmth which I did not receive. Confused I raised my hand out to the flames. To my surprise the fire wasn’t giving off any heat. I got up slightly freaked out and backed away from the fireplace. I decided to see if I could try and find the little girl or woman to see why it was so cold and how the fire wasn’t giving off any heat.'''

'''I looked around the small cabin in hopes that I could find them. I checked the two bedrooms, under the table, out the window and saw nothing. As I was looking, something had caught my attention. A door made completely of a different wood (which looked somewhat like ebony, while the rest of the cabin was pine) sitting close by the stove in the kitchen. Curiosity flooded through me and I walked towards the door. Slowly I reached for the doorknob and slowly opened it making it creak loudly. Once opened all the way I let out a sharp gasp. The door led to an entrance to a solid ice cave which was overcast with shadow due to the lack of light, and what was in front of the entrance of the cave made my stomach lurch. A giant icicle protruded from the ground forcing its way through the cracks, and impaled by the ice stalagmite was another person. The person’s body was bent forward so I couldn’t see any of the person’s features. Blood rolled down the icicle and dripped onto the ground as if it had just happened. I slowly began to back up preparing to run out of the cabin before I backed into something or someone. I felt a sharp pain in my neck as hearing a smooth woman’s voice says with a low growl. '''

“Welcome...to my Winter Wonderland…With your hostess...Polar.” Soon everything went black.

'''When I awoke, I was in the icy prison I’m currently in. I weakly looked around the room trying to find a way to escape...but found nothing. The entrance to the room was closed off by a thick layer of snow. Soon I heard the same woman’s laugh. I slowly turned my head forward and felt a tinge of fear the flooded into my heart. It was the same slender woman as before except her skin was now a lighter pink with what looked to be frostbite on her fingertips and her long blonde hair was now a very pale blue. Dark blue devil-like horns protruding from her forehead and she had fluffy white earmuffs over her ears. She wore a blue tunic-like jacket with a train, fluffy hooded collar, long kimono sleeves, and white fluffy trimmings along the ends, a brown corset belt, and two large silver jingle bells hung by a minty green ribbon connected to the back which rang when she walked.'''

'''She had a sinister smile on her blackened frostbitten lips as she stood there with a hand on her hip. She tilted her head before she turned around and walked to a row of large hanging icicles. She looked at each icicle carefully as she softly and slowly began singing “Winter Wonderland” once again. She broke the largest icicle off; she slowly turned slightly as she raised her arm as she examined her new weapon. Children's laughter soon grew louder began to echo off the icy walls as small children similar looking to the little girl from before began poking out from their hiding places all of them with wide smiles on their faces and some of them laughing. My eyes shot around each of the kids wondering what they truly were. Their eyes were not like human eyes but where black dots the girls having an eyelash on each side to indicate as such. They reminded me of the coal eyes of a snowman. Their skin was a similar color to the woman with an orange triangular carrot for a nose and small blue horns poked from their fur. I soon heard the sound of ice on ice. The woman...no demon was now fully turned towards me and the icicle she held was now lightly touching the frozen ground. Her smile was even wider as she slowly began to walk towards me the icicle dragging on the ground at an angle making it’s point sharper. I tried to struggle to free myself from the ice that encased my hands that I could no longer feel. I yelped in pain as the deeper cuts from the snow stung horribly. The demon finally stopped the tip of her blue boots in my vision. I looked up slowly seeing the arm with the icicle raised above her head, her mint-green eye glowing as she gave a sadistic toothy grin exposing her upturned sharp canines which poked out from her lip slightly. Before she could bring her arm down a sudden wave of heat ignited causing the woman and the children to scream and hiss before once again everything went black.'''

'''I could hear the yelling of my name as I slowly came to. I cracked my eyes open to see my mother by my side crying. I looked around there were paramedics all around me. We were still on the mountain and it was still daylight. I could hear the blades of a helicopter nearby. I tried to sit up only to find that was restrained to a stretcher. I finally looked at my mother. '''

“W...What happened?” I asked hoarsely.

''' “You collapsed suddenly when you went to look over the edge of the mountain. You fell off the edge but luckily not too far down. The doctor says that you only have a couple of broken bones which is good...But.” My mother trailed off. '''

'''“But...What?” I asked, watching as my mother tried to stifle a sob. '''

'''“The doctor says that your hands are severely frostbitten...Completely black...He said that they will have to amputate both hands.” She croaks. My eyes widened as I strained my neck to see my hands tightly bandaged up with blood staining them. “I’m not sure how because you had your gloves on...but your father says that when he retrieved you after you fell that you didn’t have them on, he even looked for them but couldn’t find them.” My mother says shakily. She soon broke out in tears but I couldn’t hear it at all I could do was stare at my bandaged hands. '''

'''‘I-It couldn’t, how could that have been real.’ I thought and tried to reason with myself until I heard the soft jingle of bells. I snapped my head in the direction of where I thought I heard it. Behind the crowd of paramedic preparing to get my stretcher ready for the helicopter. There stood Polar Demon leaning forward on a snow-covered rock with her arms resting on the rock as she rested her head in her hand. A smug grin on her face as she reached behind her pulling out my pair of now-frozen and tattered gloves before throwing them behind her. As the paramedics began to hoist my stretch into the helicopter. Polar smiled violently once again before she waved. I could hear her humming as a sudden gust of wind blew up some loose snow and once the snow had settled she was no longer there. Lying in wait...for another unsuspecting rabbit to come into her awaiting claws.'''  