Ice Candles

Chapter I (September 1, 1837)

She walked outside with the scarlet red candle in her hand. It was dark, very dark. The only ray of sunshine left for the day was in her precious, hopeful memories. Would the sun really be back the next day? Or would it die away before she had the ability to see it once again. That was the question. That was the reason why she was outside that night. She only had one hope for that night. She wanted to bring out the darkness and make the world brighter so she could see. That was her dream for that night, and nothing more, other than to be sure that when the sun does die, she would be able to keep the world bright. To see what was out there - the moon, its creatures, the twinkling lights in the sky - would be a miracle to her. It was what she had always wanted since childhood. Her mother thought she was outrageous for wanting to walk outside in pure darkness, when they had light inside, with their candles and such. At first, she thought the same. But now that she knew what her dreams were, what she wanted to do for the rest of the world and what she wanted to see, she decided that she also wanted to show her mother that she was wrong. The world outside could even be magical if she tried to see it.

Maybe I'll be able to see the moon owl tonight, she thought. The moon owl was a mystical creature she had heard of in many stories as a young girl. Her mother used to tell her that if you saw a moon owl at night, something new would happen. Something... different... was about to happen. She wanted to know what that was. But she could never see the moon owl through the darkness of the outside world, especially not from her bedroom window. She had to bring light to that darkness, not only so she could see the mystical moon owl, but so she wouldn't be too frightened to look for him.

Ever since birth, she was always so afraid of the dark. She was the only child in the neighborhood who was afraid of the night sky. All of the other children were outside at night, capturing lightning bugs or sleeping in trees. That was the usual thing for children to do at night in the town. But she was too afraid that she would be attacked by something, like a wolf or a bat. Too scared to leave the safety of her home, which was peaceful, protective, and warm.

But this time, she wasn't too scared. She would see that night owl, and she would conquer her fears of the darkness. She would unveil the new thing that would happen when she saw that magical moon owl flying in the dark night sky. Tonight, she would see it all happen. Tonight, she would live. She had a plan. Maybe the light could bring out what she always found was so dark. Maybe the night world wouldn't be so frightening, after all.

Shivering and chilled to the bone, she walked out into the woods with the lit candle in her hands. All she had to do was find the tree, and everything would be okay. She would be okay. That was all she had to do. The tree would protect her.

She heard the howling of a wolf and a buzzing in her ears. She was beginning to feel dizzy. Swirls of everything she was seeing in front of her began to fill her sights. Everything seemed to be swirling together like some sort of concoction being mixed together in one big bowl. It was too much - the darkness was too much to handle. She couldn't make it to the tree. She had to run back!

But something kept her feet planted in that very spot. She didn't know what. It was like she was glued to the ground. So she stood there until she calmed down. She had to see the moon owl. That was the one thing she wanted to accomplish. That was all she wanted to accomplish. She wanted to be able to tell all of her friends that she saw the moon owl. She only had one life to live, and she knew that. She was going to see the night owl fly about, and she was going to be overwhelmed with the sensation of something new happening to her. It was going to be everything she dreamed it would be, maybe even better. So she kept on walking and walking.

Just when she was about to run back to the house out of fear, the sixteen-year old girl found The Kind Tree, the tree that she had always climbed as a little girl. She smiled, thinking back to those days. When she was younger, she would play games with her friends, like Hide and Seek. She was hiding from Natasha, her best friend since diaper days, so the first place she thought of was in the cabinets. But that seemed too obvious, so she went outside to hide and ran into the woods. When she walked up to the that tree, something just seemed so... friendly about it. So she called it The Kind Tree, and the name stuck with it forever. She would climb that tree to read, to get away from troubles, to study, to birdwatch, to draw, to write poetry... she even build a swing hanging from the tree using some rope and an old tire. The Kind Tree became her tree. Nobody ever found out about it, not even Natasha, who gave up in the game of Hide and Seek and surrendered. The Kind Tree belonged to her. That tree was the most important part of her life, and it turned out to be much more important than she thought.

She looked up into The Kind Tree's branches, which looked even more kind, beautiful and magical in the moonlight. Hooking the candle onto a small branch of The Kind Tree, she smiled and looked up into the night sky, waiting for the moon owl to approach. She was proud for walking outside into the darkness, despite the woods and wolves and bats. She couldn't be more proud, as a matter of fact. Now she had to do just one more thing: she had to wait for the moon owl to approach.

She waited for what seemed like hours, but the moon owl never came. At first, she was sure that the owl would never show. It was just a story that her mother told her, nothing but a fairy tale. But she was desperate to see the moon owl. She had to see it. She refused to believe that it wasn't there.

Maybe I'm scarin' 'im away, she thought, as she walked toward her small cabin and sat on the porch, out of sight of any of the creatures that might be out there that night, and waited for the moon owl to approach.

She waited there for a while, but the moon owl never showed. Feeling discouraged, she decided to go back inside and rest. She was sure that she was wasting her time by waiting out there all night. Just as she was getting up to go inside, the moon owl appeared, with glowing eyes that somehow reminded her of fire and ice. It looked unearthly, which described the moon owl perfectly. It seemed like none of it was even real, as if it was just a fairy tale. She looked up at that moon owl, amazed by its appearance. She knew it was real. She knew. Everything about her told her to go tell her mother that the moon owl appeared outside, and was flying right there near the woods, but she couldn't miss one second of the moon owl.

She really did see the moon owl fly about. Graceful and beautiful, she believed, as she watched it beat its wings and sour through the air. She ran out into the woods and danced with the moon owl, twirling about with her arms stretched out wide like a child. She didn't care that she looked careless and crazy. She didn't care that it was dark and there were wolves and bats. She was dancing with the moon owl. This was the most magical night of her life, and she was going to make the best of it, no matter what happened. Little did she know that that night, it was what she didn't see that really counted. Because that night, just like promised by the many stories that she was told, something new happened. She had no idea what she had gotten herself into.

That cold night, there was a piece of ice sitting on The Kind Tree, right near where the candle was hanging. Only this wasn't any ice. No water could freeze into ice of this form. It was blacker than that night itself, and as she lay her head to go to sleep that night, the ice found itself inching toward the red candle, creating something completely different, maybe even dangerous.

And every night, she lay that scarlet red candle to hang in the tree. And every night, that dangerous thing was created, over and over, again and again. If only she had known what she'd done. If only she had known that she just may have created a monster.