u/Short-Procedure1853

I think it was early January when it happened. It was freezing cold outside. Whenever I went out, I could instantly feel myself start to freeze from the inside out. It became excruciating just having to leave the house. I can’t imagine anyone going outside willingly when it’s just so unbearably cold outside.

So, when I saw her out there, I just had to help.

 It was a Thursday night, I felt lazy, so I ordered some pizza and rested on my couch all night just watching some TV. The window behind me was foggy so I decided to draw on it. I used to do it a lot as a kid.

Drifting my fingers across the cool glass planes, I drew a little sun, a simple start. Clearing up the fog on the window I spotted something outside. No, someone.

She stood at my sidewalk completely still. She was wearing a parka; her hood was covered over her face so I couldn’t even see her face. I cleared up my window a bit more. She didn’t move, speak, or do anything. She was just frozen still. I don’t even think she was breathing.

Maybe watching some random woman on the road is weird but she was the one outside my house, she was the one who wouldn’t leave, she was the one who started watching me first.

Right beside me was my phone. I quickly picked it up and called my best friend, Matt. It rung for a few seconds whilst I just sat there talking to myself. “Come on man, pick it up already!” I whispered to myself, my eyes staring straight down at my phone. A chill crawled up my spine and refused to leave. It felt so cold.

“Sorry, but the number you’re calling is currently unavailable, please call again at some other time.”

I almost cursed something underneath my breath, but I quickly calmed myself down. It was just some girl outside my house. She wasn’t doing anything harmful, so I had no reason be afraid.

And yet I still felt that chill creeping on my back, urging me to stay on guard. Taking a deep breath, I turned to my side and looked outside my window.

She was gone.

No footprints were left behind, the snow remained flat, it was like she was never there at all. I rubbed my eyes and yet nothing was there. Nothing else changed.

Slightly startled, I rested against my couch arm and looked back at my ceiling. “Maybe it was just my imagination,” I told myself, “Yea- yea it was just my imagination.” I repeated it to myself over and over again, hoping to find some sort of rationale over what I saw.

Someone knocked on my door. I shot up from my couch, silently panicking. But I quickly reasoned with myself. It must have been the pizza guy.

Walking downstairs to my front door, I extended my hand to reach the doorknob, but I froze. I don’t know why, but something urged me to be cautious. So instead, I looked through the peephole on my door.

She was there again.

I stumbled back, quickly catching myself before I could fall. A sudden chill pierced through my heart and pulled me back towards my door. I rested my hand and forehead against the wooden door, looking for stability. I couldn’t look up.

She knocked, waiting for a response. But I couldn’t speak. She knocked again. Icy mist flooded the halls, the cold crawling inside the room, slowly reaching me. She continued to knock whilst I stood frozen still.

“Focus, Luke.” I think to myself, trying to find reason. “It’s just some girl, what can she do to you?” ignoring the chill crawling on my back I forced myself to pull myself together. I stood up straight, put on a jacket, and opened the door.

Shiny white stars sailed in the pitch-black sky, clouds covering the moon. Plain white snow blanketed the land outside, tall spruces trees sprouting out.

She left.

I stepped outside house, my breath freezing in the winter. I turned left and right for any sign of her. Just like before, there was no traces left behind. It was like she was never there at all.

Slumping against the door behind me, I held my face in my hands, confused. At this point, I started to think I was imagining things. That was the only logical solution I could come up with.

Watching my breath start to freeze in the cold, I pulled myself back up and walked towards the edge of my porch, propping my hands atop of the metal gates, looking around the snow that surrounds me, struggling to keep my eyes open.

That was until I saw it.

An arrow paved in the snow.

How did I miss it?

I don’t know why I decided to be stupid, but I swore at that moment spoke to me. Maybe it was the chilly wind that whispered me to follow after the arrow. Maybe the arrow itself called my name. Maybe I was just talking to myself, telling myself it was natural to be curious. But whatever made me do it, made me do it.

I locked my door and followed the arrow, feeling myself be drawn along like a puppet on a string. Turning around the edge of my house, I find another arrow at the side of my house, curling along in the snow leading to my backyard.

Following the next arrow, I quickly found another right after it. This time leading to the forest. I froze in my tracks and facepalmed.  Looking down at my hands, slowly growing numb to the cold, and thought to myself, “Am I really that dumb? Am I seriously going to go there in the middle of the night?” I ran a hand through my hair, tapping my foot on the thick fluffy snow below me.

The wind started to howl, it started to beg.

Turns out I am that dumb.

I continued following the arrows and entered the forest behind my house. Tall and dark spruce trees aligned the path, thick layers of snow blanketed their dark green leaves and slowly fell off. The moon started to slip past the clouds and shone it’s light across the woods, it felt like it was following me. More arrows were engraved in the snow, trailing one after the other. I could feel the chill crawling up my spine piercing even deeper inside my skin, trying to freeze me. However, the cold wind felt calmer.

It gracefully brushed against my sides, almost holding my hand right before slipping into the sudden void ahead of me. It felt so cold.

It was so cold.

Cold, cold, and cold.

I kept my head down as the trees looked down on me. Another arrow came one right after another, I hugged myself, wondering when the path will end. At times I found myself frozen, telling myself to go back. But whenever I took a step back, the wind started to howl or the trees would start to look down at me, the moon would leave me without light, and she’d start to call out for me.

I continued to walk.

It got darker, but the moon stayed by my side. It was freezing, but it was calm. My breath started to freeze during the cold. At one point I stepped on a twig, it was enough to startle me.

But eventually, I reached an end point.

There was a cross engraved in the snow.

I kneeled down at the X, breathing heavily. The misty wind spiralled around me softly, it wanted me to dig. She wanted me to dig. To find her. At times she cried, but then she was quiet. At times she clawed at the snow, but soon she was frozen still.  I had to find her.

Using nothing else but my hands, I started to dig in the snow. My hands started to freeze, slowly growing numb to the cold. But I had to get her out.

I dug. It grew colder. I dug. It got darker. I dug. I felt so tired. I dug. I dug until I finally saw her face. Her frozen, pale face. Her pupils were pure white, indigoish-blue streaks painted her skin, her veins visible. Frost crawled from her fingertips; blood spilled from her lips.

I found her.