Imagining Frost

Prologue~The Boy With The Blue Hair

>Music should be played during this chapter ;) 

Also check out the picture it relates to the book quite well! :))

*****  

Heather sat on the swing, rocking gently back and forth. Her little feet didn't quite reach the ground, her still slightly chubby hands grasped the chains of the swing as she sang the song her grandmother had stamped onto her mind since she was a toddler.

"My mommy said that I never should,

Play with the Gypsies in the wood,

If I did then she would say,

Naughty little girl to disobey."

As she sung, an icy cold breeze suddenly picked up and ruffled her long dirty blonde hair, brushing it across her face. She sniffed and brushed it away, her grey eyed gaze wandering over to the woods that lined the back of her house. 

The trees were tall and dark, leaning forward menacingly, as though they were reaching out to snatch Heather up as soon as she took a step towards them.

She looked away, back towards the safety of her large two storied home. 

She would turn eight in two more weeks, her Mummy had marked it on her calender for her so she could count down. She wasn't sure if she was excited or not though, because she would have to start school. On the visiting trips, the school had seemed awfully big and there had been some not very nice girls there, who had tugged Heathers hair and made fun of her name.

Her gaze drifted back towards the forest. She wondered if being five would make the woods seem less scary. Somehow she didn't think so. 

Out of nowhere, a beautiful blue butterfly landed on the chain of the swing and  fluttered its wings gently before pressing them together in a restful way. Heather clapped her hands in delight, her thoughts instantly diverted. It was so pretty, its wings a light blue with delicate white edging and its thin body was  fluffy and white. Heather had never seen a butterfly this color before and so she stretched out a gentle finger towards it, carefully so it wouldn't get scared. She was greatly disappointed when it fluttered away, landing on a white daisy a little way in front of her.

"Wait," she cried, jumping down from her position on the swing. "Come back!" Carefully she crept forward, but every time she grew close enough to touch it, it flew a little further in front of her. 

Eventually Heather pounced and caught at it with her hands, giggling in delight when she felt the wings flutter against her palms. Carefully she cracked her hands open and peeked in before opening them wide and lifting them up in the air. The butterfly lay flat on her palms, fluttering feebly.

"Oh no," Heather whispered, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She hadn't meant to hurt it. 

She looked wildly around for someone that might be able to help, suddenly realizing that she was crouching at the edge of the forest all by herself. To Heather's seven year old brain, there seemed to be a very solid line where light merged into dark, just in front of her, where the denseness of the trees sucked all light from the surrounding air. She felt her heart beat faster as she looked up at the massive clawed and twisting trunks looming over her and suddenly she felt very very small, like the injured butterfly in her palms. 

 "I can fix it."

 Heather let out a small scream and jumped up at the musical voice. As she turned around, she came face to face with a curious boy. He was very strange looking, and he regarded Heather with a look that suggested he thought she was very strange to him too.