Christmas Morning

Ice Doesn't Burn

Once I stepped outside, I didn't feel the cold nearly as much as I had before. It hadn't gotten sunnier, or warmer, exactly, but the air didn't feel as bitterly freezing. I smelled the faint smell of burnt leaves, of charred smoke and something else I couldn't identify... I trudged down our slush-covered front steps, my boots crunching into the snow on the sidewalk. I didn't see Thea, even though she had been standing just outside the door only a moment before. I took a few steps further out, walking towards the road, but I didn't see her. "Thea? Um... Where'd you go?", my eyes scanned the empty, silent street, but nowhere in the monotone grey and white did I see a glimpse of the pale girl's jet black hair.

"Looking for something?"

I jumped. The voice shattered the silence, and I turned sharply to see Thea right behind me. "How did you... I didn't hear you walking in the snow...", I questioned her apprehensively.

Her dark eyes glimmered knowingly, but she didn't answer the question. Instead, a smile stretched across her face. "You want to do something fun, Emma? I'm getting bored." "Sure, yeah!", I stammered, I felt a strange desire to placate her, to make her like me. Boring her was definitely not what I wanted. "Good." The smile dropped from her face. "Let's go." Thea put one hand on the small of my back and pushed me towards the side of the house. She guided me around the side, past withered snow-blanketed bushes, and soon enough I was following her at a brisk pace towards the woods behind the house.

As we passed the edge of the tree line, my nose burned once again with the smell of fire and leaves. It was no longer a breezy scent of autumn, this was thick and hot. "What is that?", I coughed. "Shhh.", She murmured absentmindedly. Suddenly, she sidestepped, and I tripped on a root she had avoided. "What the h-", I started, but then we came upon a clearing in the trees.

As soon as I walked into the circle of cleared forest, I could only notice one thing. The smoke. It was almost to thick to see through here. "Who's burning leaves in this weather?", I snarked uncertainly, shifting my eyes to Thea. But I couldn't see her anymore for all the smoke. No, not the smoke- she was gone. The space where she had been was empty, and all I could see was a thick, ashy cloud.

"Come on, Thea! Let's jump in the leaves!", an ethereal voice shouted, and I spun around just as a little boy ran out of the smoke. The dark cloud was ebbing now, and I could see a mother, a father, a photographer, and a familiar dark haired girl. It was Thea. But.... How? Her skin had been almost deathly pale just seconds ago, and now she was tanned and lively-looking. She was still wearing the same red dress, but the mother was wearing the same dress, and the father and brother were wearing matching red shirts.

"Aaron, can you stop Alex from running around, please? Theadosia, will you stand next to me like I just told you to? How can I expect your brother to behave if you're being a bad example? I swear to God, I just want one good picture of the four of us! ", the mother complained in a harried tone. Thea's family assembled into a perfect portrait pose that almost hid the unhappy looks behind each of their eyes. The photographer set up directly in front of me, so that when the family smiled at the camera, they looked like they were staring directly into my eyes. "Don't worry, we'll get a perfect photo, I promise.", Thea said, and before the camera flashed, I saw her smile sinisterly at me.

The second the bulb flashed, every thing went dark and I heard shuffling and smelled fire. Then my eyes adjusted, and I could see again. The only light came from a tiny fire in the center of the clearing. By it's flickering glow, I could clearly make out Thea's frame tying her mother's limp body to a stake, and the silhouettes of two other stakes that held up the bodies of her father and little brother. I held back a scream as she one by one stuffed their open unmoving mouths with leaves. That was when I saw something that should have made me sick. Their eyes were gone. The sockets were stuffed with dry leaves as well. But as hard as my very soul struggled to feel nauseous, or to feel horrified, or at the very least- sad, all I felt was fascinated. I didn't even try to stop myself as my lips parted and I giggled.

Thea struck a match, and began to nonchalantly laugh with me as she set fire to her families picture perfect clothing. Then the smoke and the smell was back, wrapping around my thoughts like a boa constrictor made of shadow, encasing me in what felt like the accepting embrace of someone who supported and understood my darkness. And then I comprehended the smell. Not only was it burned leaves- it was charred flesh. The flames grew higher and higher, until part of me worried that it would set the whole forest ablaze. And in the flickering light behind the silhouettes of the human scarecrows I saw a tall shadowed frame, with hollow eyes glowing red. It's arms were raised, as if it was controlling the flames themselves. Thea's arms slowly raised as well, like a puppet mimicking it's master. And then, like a baby, I blacked out.