The Keepers of Winter

Part 6

The night was cold and Luis found himself shivering as he walked. His arms covered themselves as he brushed them in a vague attempt to keep them warm. He felt a cold spot on his shoulder, as if it was wet. it wasn't raining and Luis thought it made no sense. He felt another cold spot on his nose and looked up to see small rain-like things falling all around him. To Luis, it seemed as if the clouds in the sky had come to chat. He rather liked the idea and decided he liked the white rain. It was one of the few things that comforted him in the grassland.

The white rain began to cover the entire ground and within minutes came up to his ankles. The coldness of the white rain was beginning to take an effect on how fast Luis was walking and he finally came to a stop. He fell to his knees and let the white rain cover him. He decided that he had come far enough. He would never find another cave like the one he had and the person in his dream would never find him. He had finally given up hope, the land had beaten him and it sent the white rain to tell him he didn't have to endure any more. It brought him back to his cave on the nights where the wind would blow in just enough to chill him down to the bone.

Luis let his head fall back and held his mouth open trying to catch the white rain. He sat like this for a minute before he heard rustling behind him. Luis thought he must be imagining the sound and that it couldn't be real. He was alone in coming out here and he had been alone for as lone as he could remember. There would be no reason any other animal would come to his aid now. Yet to his surprise, another person just like him stopped right next to him. It was the person from his dream and Luis didn't even have to guess to know.

She too dropped to her knees without even acknowledging that Luis was next to him. The snow had covered his waist but the person next to him seemed to be untouched by the snow. The air was thick and it was getting increasingly hard for Luis to see. The person turned to see Luis as if for the first time and squinted as if trying to see more clearly.

He should try to get her attention he thought. Yet, how would he do so? Luis stared at her deep in thought. "Luis" he finally said. The other person raised her eyebrows and said: "Janet". He knew Janet was the other person in her dreams and suddenly he remembered that this is exactly how his dream was carried out every time. He had a small sliver of hope that one day she would find him, and she had found him in his worst state.

Janet fell back and Luis became scared. What is going on he thought! Is she hurt or is she ok? He looked over to her and found it rather difficult as the white rain had almost encased his entire body. Janet was moving her arms and legs back and forward as if enjoying the white rain. Luis looked in front of himself again and saw that the world around him was beginning to clear up. He could almost make out a shape just a few feet in front of him. It was another person. There were structures all around and more people began to show up as well. Almost his entire body was encased in the white rain and wondered if Janet was seeing what he was. She had suddenly stopped moving.

For a second they were both still, then without a trace, both Janet and Luis vanished. Only the shape of Janet's arms and legs, as well as the pile of white rain Luis was in-cased in was left.

In the early morning, the people of the village went up to the spot where the two vanished. It was later declared that two angles came to visit. One in the form of a man and the other a woman. It was then declared that this would be a new tradition. Each year all of the kids would go out to make snow angels and snow-men. The two had been the keepers of winter, and winter could keep them no longer.