Cold as Ice - (Connor McDonough)

Chapter 3 - Frozen Lake

~Paige~

I walked quickly, away from him. I don't want to talk to anyone. He seemed so friendly and kind. And I'm the exact opposite. I went to where I was suppose to be going earlier. I jumped over the fence in the park and headed towards the forest. I recalled what happened earlier. What is happening to the world?

Right, I don't really care.

Walking along the grass, stepping on fallen leaves on the way, I checked if I was far enough. Looking behind my shoulders, I saw no one. With that confirmed, I took off running. Not running, as in human speed, I mean my speed. With the wind blowing in my face, I looked back from where I ran, the leaves floating in the air from the trail I left. I looked in front, seeing the lake, I stopped right at the edge. I looked at the still water, so clear I could see what's under. This is my favorite place. Here, I can relax. Looking behind me and in front, I checked again. No one's here. Good. 

I looked at the sky, the clouds so fluffy and white. I breathed in deeply. Slowly, I stepped on the still water, the water immediately freezing at the spot where I stepped on. I walked to the middle of the lake, frozen footprints left behind me. I stopped there, breathing in deeply again. Slowly, snowflakes began to fall. I stayed there for a while, relaxing.

Yes, I'm certainly not normal.

I sighed. I have no idea why I couldn't have been born normal. Why did I have to be a freak? A freak who can't have friends because of the fear of losing them? I looked at my watch and checked the time.

1:00 pm. 

"Shit." I cursed before running away as fast I could. I stopped running at my speed when I reached the park. Still running-but in human speed-I ran inside the orphanage just beside the park.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" was the first thing I heard when I stepped inside the orphanage house.

"I was just-" I started but was cut off.

"You were just what?! You always go out and come back late! You weren't even supposed to go out!" Ms. Martimor yelled at me. Ah, yes. Agatha Martimor, or as I like to call her, Monster Mouth. She's the owner of the orphanage. I'd say she wanted to help kids have a better life, but I'm not a liar. She pretends that she wants to help kids. She takes them in, pretends to take care of them. After a few days she'll turn into a demon, making them work until their bodies breakdown. She forces kids to knit, cook, clean, and well, she basically treats them like slaves.

"Where did you go this time, huh? Where!" she screeched.

"I was just at the park!" I yelled back, only to be answered with a slap in the face. The right side to be exact. Figures, the right side of my face is cursed. Although it didn't hurt that much, I cupped my cheek. 

"Don't you fucking yell at me! And just what were you doing in the park, eh?!" Can't she stop screaming?! My ears are gonna fucking bleed!

"I just-" I was cut off again.

"What?! Flirting with boys?! No one will ever like you! Your parents never even loved you!" she yelled.

There's no such thing as love.

"As your punishment, you're not gonna have any meal." my eyes shot wide open. "For a week."

"What?!" I asked quietly, looking straight into her ice blue evil eyes. 

"Don't look so surprised. Now get out of my sight!" she demanded. 

"Yes, Ms. Martimor." I mumbled. She is an absolute demon.

With a growling stomach begging for lunch, I went to the attic. Inside, there was a mattress and a pillow, and book. That was pretty much my room. I sat down on the mattress and opened my book. Fuck my life.

 --Connor--

We set off our plan for Riley. We wait for him to come to our hotel room, then get him to buy us Starbucks. As expected, he came back to the hotel with a scowl on his face. Out of the blue, a picture of the girl I met earlier popped in my mind.

Paige.

She looked so mysterious, so full of mystery. There was something about her eyes. Yes, there were lots of secrets and mysteries, but there was something else I can't quite figure out what.

"What happened to your face?" Riley made me snap back to reality. I didn't even notice him sit beside me.

"He's dreaming about a girl he met, don't disturb him!" Toby yelled. I was about to glare at him when Riley groaned.

"What's up with you?" I asked. He began rambling on about Valentine's Day then made us laugh because he made fun of Cupid.

"Oh, Riley. You're just sad because you haven't found your perfect valentine yet." I said with a chuckle.

"I don't think I ever will." he replied.

Next thing I knew, we were at the park. Riley at Starbucks. The plan is going smoothly.

"I have a bad feeling about this." I said.

"I'm getting the same feeling too." Toby said.

"What? Earlier you were so sure, now you're not. Are you bipolar?" I joked.

"No. I just think Riley will get mad." He said and I sighed. Not long though, Riley came back. I knew that bad feeling meant something. I asked how it went and that was the worst move ever. He became suspicious until it went through his mind that we planned something.

"You guys did set me up.." he's angry now.

I felt guilty. This was all my fault. I should've never got Toby into this. Riley handed us our drinks and left, saying he needed sometime alone.

"I'm sorry Toby." I apologized.

"Nah, it's okay. He can't stay mad at us forever." he chuckled. "I'm just gonna go ride around with my skateboard. Meet you back at the hotel?"

"Be careful, little bro." I teased.

"I'm sixteen, not so little anymore!" he laughed before running off.

And so I was left alone. I leaned on a fence, spacing out and thinking about nothing. For some reason, it was getting colder. Then I saw the weirdest thing.

A snowflake.

It landed on the palm of my hand, instantly melting. Where did that come from? I looked at the sky, seeing snowflakes falling in the middle part of the forest. How is that possible? I ran towards that spot where it seems to be snowing. I ran for a while, stopping when I saw a lake. Exhausted, I sat by the edge. That's when I noticed the snow stopped falling. I looked at the lake, shocked replacing my exhaustion. 

On the lake were frozen foot prints.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~

A/N

Sorry took so long... Anyway.. what do you think is gonna happen??? What did you think of Martimor? Comment somethin please? Thanks! Hope ya like it!

Dedication: to my new fan, storiesfromtheheart . Thank you so much!

 

:)

-Naiah