Page 25 of Snowman

My voice cracked, my pleading now reduced to guttural sobs, but there was nothing. Just silence. Silence and the faint sound of their footsteps disappearing below, taking Mel with them.

I slid to the floor, my forehead against the door. My nightmare had finally come alive for real, more alive than all those flashes that plagued my dreams. Closing my eyes made it worse.

There, a woman appeared, a woman with golden hair, her soft silhouette stepping out of the shadows into the light. A memory, a dream, something buried deep enough that it felt unreal.

I had a family once; he took me away. And now he had taken Mel too.

I pulled back, palms digging into my scalp as it all crashed down. All the years of pretending, of forgetting. It was not survival; it was surrender. He had taught me to lie, to obey, to believe that nothing more but what he had molded me into existed. And each new town, each supposed escape, not a freedom; just another layer to the chain.

He hadn't just robbed me of my family. He had stolen my future. He had broken me into pieces, molding me into a scared, fragile girl who didn't know her own name or her own worth. But something snapped in me then. I was tired of being lost. I was tired of living half-dead, walking through a life that didn't belong to me.

He'd taken Mel, and I wouldn't let him keep her.

Tears streamed silently down my face, hot and relentless. "Oh, Mel," I whispered into the darkness. "Why us?"

No answer came. Because there was no reason. Some people are just born evil.

I heaved myself up, bruise after bruise screaming in protest. My ribs were sore to the touch with each agonizing breath. I refused to stop. I just couldn't. The attic seemed to be choking me. I had to get out. Immediately, my eyes went toward the window, the very place where he tried sealing me in. I felt thecracked glass and tugged the wooden spring until it gave. The glass released, and with one last heave, I pushed it out.

The cold air nipped my face as I stepped onto the slanted roof, my balance teetering, fingers aching while I held tightly to the edge. And there below was a ladder, so old and half concealed by thorny branches, but it was the only way out.

I let out a shaky breath and started to work my way down, slow step after slow step. Scratches tore at my arms and snagged at my clothes, but I didn't care. When my boots finally hit the ground, I exhaled a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

I turned back to the house; its dark windows seemed to stare back at me like empty eyes. I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to lie down and die today. To give up. But I wouldn't. Not anymore.

"I'll ask him to return my life," I hissed to no one, sounding shrill and uneven, "and take someone else instead." With that, I ran. I didn't look back. The snow crunched beneath my feet as I sprinted into the woods, my breath escaping in short, ragged clouds. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew who I needed to find.The Snowman.

I walked an hour through the woods, though it felt like an age in the silence, the quiet snow crunching beneath each footstep,the light hum of water somewhere nearby breaking into the stillness. The sounds drew me deeper, speaking to me in a whisper as I approached the river's shore.

The water ran crimson red, jarring against the white snow around it. A scene out of a nightmare, felt like someone had painted the river in blood and let it stain the white world around it.

I moved closer, dropping to a crouch on the edge, my huff misting in the icy air. I dipped slowly into the water. For a moment my skin was shocked by the temperature, but still, as the water ran through my fingers, I understood. There was no blood. Cleaned, the water became just water over mud or rocks.

"There’s no blood here," I whispered, trying to make the words ring true. I probably wasn’t sure if I believed them or wanted to believe them.

There was a smooth rock in the river, much larger than the others, almost inviting. Smoothing my hair back, I took off my shoes and dipped a toe in them. The icy water shot right through it, and I shivered as something crawled up my spine. I let it slide anyway. The pain in my body was loud—the bruises reminded me of everyone I’d survived with.

One step, then another. The water numbed me, but I trudged forward until I reached the rock. In one quick, trembling movement, I leaned against it, first crouching before slowly relaxing to sit on my heels and let the stone warm my feet again. Then I sat still, the river whispering beneath me as if it held secrets that only it could understand.

"You're far away from home," a voice called from behind.

I whipped my head around, startled. Standing on the riverbank was a woman I recognized, the same woman I'd seen the first day we moved here. Her long hair was braided tightly and she held a thick rope in her hands, leading a black horse. Its breath misted in the cold air as it pawed the ground restlessly.

"I needed some fresh air," I said and swung my head back toward the river.

I could hear her approaching; the soft slapping of her horse’s hooves in the shallows announced their arrival.

"You good?" she squeaked, short of sleep, it seemed, as she ran her hand gently over the horse’s mane as habit had undoubtedly taught her.

"Yeah," I said, quite quietly, exhaling only so that the word might take some of the weight off me. Now I looked up, with quiet eyes watching her.

"You know the woods can be dangerous, right?" she said, spitting something onto the ground.

I nodded weakly and looked closer. Her hands were scarred, with round, rough-skinned marks that told of a lifetime of hard work. She pulled a cigarette from her pocket, lit it, and blew smoke into the air.

"It is impolite to stare, " she caught me.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, and my gaze shifted away as the cold rose to my cheeks.

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