Of Bones and Darkness

Run Away Frost

~Two Years Earlier~

The world around Catherine was imprisoned in a glare-white silence. Nothing sounded, nothing stirred, nothing sang. Winters slavering touch had come and gone. Its lacerating winds had stripped the last leaves from the trees, leaving them naked and brooding in a harsh world. They were wrapped in their blanket of snow, groaning under the weight. Occasionally, a limb would creak, crack and collapse.  Other than that, the world was entombed in a dome of silence. Winter's deadly clutch had strangled and stifled all life from the land.

High in the sky, the last of the morning stars were winking out sadly. They flashed their last, like silver grains of sand in the dawn sky. Their brilliance fading into nothingness was a wonder to behold. A ghostly, orb-white, winter moon hung there, imitating a pale strobe light. A corona of shimmering yellow ringed its dying glory. The sky around it was a wide sheet of grate-grey, hemmed in the horizon with a plum-purple tinge. The night held a storm that was dying off as the sun began to rise. The last of snowflakes fell, and as they landed they glinted like diamond dust.

Off in the distance, coils of smoke drifted up from sleepy houses. The sleepy town was cocooned in silence as the sun rose, as so did some of the people. The silence disappeared slowly just as the sun rose. In the distance, the peaks of the mountains were covered in frosty blankets of snow. The sun was coming up behind one of them, looking like a glowing torch as it was blocked by the mountains size. It threw down its watery shards of sunlight in vain. Nothing it could do could banish the wonderland of white beneath it. Its only effect was the wonderful striations of yellow, pink and orange.

As the grey sky began to gain a spectacle of color, Catherine stumbled through the powdery snow towards the apartment buildings. She peered up through her auburn hair that clumsily landed in her face, covering her eyes as the wind blew across the town. The building creaked from the whispering wind that crept inside as snow from balconies billowed away as the wind swept up some of the dancing snowflakes. The snowflakes sparkled as if they were diamonds before they tumbled to the ground as the wind died down before starting up again.

Catherine looked towards the third floor and saw the window was opened to her father's study that he kept hidden from everyone, but her. He trusted her with his wildest beliefs of the shadows that lurk in the open, in front of everyone, but yet no one notices them. He had books and papers all written about the witness accounts of seeing the shadows walk among everyone and how the reason they were in hiding was because of the shadows. Her father always told her to be wary of everyone, that trust can be someone's biggest downfall.

Catherine smiled and saw her father's figure walk past the window before back tracking to the window.

"Oh, my dear! Have you found the books? You must be freezing, though I am sure glad you took my advice to wander at night instead of during the afternoons with wondering eyes prying at the package you are holding. Now hurry up, the sun is rising which means the sleepy folks of this town are soon to be stirring from their dark abyss of sleep," her father instructed before disappearing again past the window.

Catherine nodded to herself before hurrying inside. The frigid air made her bones numb with coldness, but the brisk wind did not help. She shook off the snow that began to pile up on the hood of her jacket as she bustled up the stairs. The stairs creaked and groaned as she made her way up to the third level. She peered down, seeing the door open again and a gust of wind with snow fly in, covering the cement ground with a white layer of frost. The door slammed shut as she saw the boots of a man lean against the door, complaining about the harsh winter that was set upon them. Catherine shook her head, her auburn curls bouncing behind her as she continued up the stairs. As she approached the third level, her father had the door to their apartment open, beckoning her to hurry.