Winter Has Come | ✔ #1 Winter Series

Chapter 10

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The continuous high-pitched beeping of my alarm awakes me. I blink into the darkness whilst fumbling for the button on my watch to turn it off. It does, and my ears are welcomed to complete silence.

Here goes the plan.

Quietly, so as not to make any noise, I get out of the bed. The floor is cold under my warm feet and I suppress a shiver. That reminds me to get some socks on. I grope around the bed for them—they always fall off in the night—and slip them back on my feet until the cold tingling feeling goes.

My fingers brush the backpack on the floor next to me. I lift it up, hoisting it onto my back but it doesn't weigh anything. That's going to change tonight. My bag is going to be full of food tonight.

When I creep down the stairs, I pass Joshua's bedroom. It's silent and that makes me smile because what would I do if I knew he was awake?

Again, the flowers on the walls are staring at me, as though accusing me for theft. I turn away from them and concentrate on the kitchen in front of me instead. The light is off. Everything is completely dark and the least thing I need right now is for me to get spooked by paintings of flowers.

When I'm finally in the kitchen, I debate with myself whether I should turn the light on or not. Eventually I decide against it because it could wake Joshua up.

I rummage around in the fridge, pulling out whatever my hand finds first and stuffing it into the rucksack. Then, I check the cupboards, which are mainly full of pots and pans. Where does he keep the tins? I keep opening and closing and then re-opening and re-closing cupboards, trying to keep quiet but some I don't time correctly and go slamming quite hard.

When I don't find the tins, I decided to leave them and just go with the food already in my bag. I close the last cupboard gently and creep through the hallway once again, past the strange flowers and to the front door.

Just a warning, Amelia. You might freeze to death.

Actually, you probably will freeze to death.

I open the door a tiny crack, expecting a full blast of wind to come through. My eyes are closed and my mouth sealed, preparing me for the bitter wild wind to come gushing in.

It doesn't.

I pull open the door wider in confusion. What? Why aren't I freezing to death? But then when I expect to see a large blanket of snow covering everything, I find nothing, just a path leading to a gate overgrown with weeds.

The snow is gone.

"Amelia," a voice says behind and I know that voice all too well.