Winters Kiss

Chapter One

"Mommy! Mommy! Look at me!"

The wind blew through my chocolate frizzy hair like thick tangled streamers. Ivy and I were playing on the new swing set that dad had built. I liked the red swings, but Ivy was too scared to go on them. I was soaring through the air like a bird.

I always loved birds. They were all sorts of colors and made pretty chirps in the morning that turned into songs. Mom and I liked to lay on the ground in the morning and later in the afternoon after school and listen to them. She'd point out the different birds to me and tell me facts about them. How they flew differently from each other and why they were all sorts of colors. I always wondered what it would be like to fly like them. They must feel so free and alive.

"Be careful, Carter." She warned me from the sandbox where Ivy was playing with her barbies.

I giggled constantly as I swung myself back and forth. My hair would fly in my face sometimes and it tickled my nose. I went to brush a few strands out of my face as i swung backwards again.

And then all of a sudden, I was in the air. My body had flown forward while I wasn't holding onto the rope. A strange feeling erupted in my stomach and I screamed with fear as I helplessly watched myself fall towards the ground.

"Mommy! Carter's flying!" Ivy would scream and laugh.

My mother ran over to me with a worried look in her eyes. She knelt on the cold ground beside me as I opened my eyes to the bright sun above me.

"What were you thinking Carter?"

"I'm sorry, mom." I slowly sat up, an ache in the back of my head. "I didn't mean to."

She let out a long sigh of relief as she checked my arms and legs for cuts. "You have to be careful, Carter. I know you're young, but you can't afford to be a fragile girl in this world. I don't want you to end up getting hurt."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

Ding-ding-dong!

Ivy and I stood back and waited in front of the dark mahogany door. There were designs engraved in the golden doorknob. When we left the airport, we found a limousine waiting for us, the driver holding a sign saying 'The Masons'. It had taken a few hours to get here.

The long drive way led up to a beautiful, three story house. The stone path leading to the doorway was marvelous. Flowers of all kinds decorated the edges: lilies, roses, daisies, irises, bird of paradises, jasmine, tulips, hibiscus, begonia, and carnations. The grass was vivid green and I could smell how freshly cut it was. There were sounds of Robbins and chickadees in the distant. I spotted a hammock hanging from two maple trees on the far right and a fire pit near it.

The house was just as beautiful as the landscape. The freshly painted house was a sharp white with navy blue shutters. The 3rd floor of the house had a large balcony with hints of plants. I couldn't quite tell what was up there though.