Eyes of Ice

Aware

Ronnie successfully kept Patty and his friends' nightmares in a drawer far at the back of his mind for most of the year, until he and Foley were out in the woods and heard someone screaming the following winter.

They'd been out on Foley's property, looking at a fallen log that would need to be moved, when the piercing cries had reached them. Foley had wasted no time in making for the sounds, but Ronnie grabbed his rifle from his truck first, apprehension nagging at him as he followed.

It had been a while, but he couldn't deny the familiarity of the cries. At least it was day this time.

He caught up to Foley quickly, putting a hand to slow him so he could lead. The pleas for help grew louder and louder until they came to a clearing and Ronnie hoped he was wrong. Gun at the ready, Ronnie led the way and, sure enough, found the same white-haired man in the same dress, the same leg stuck in another fucking bear trap.

Patty caught his eye and seemed to hesitate for a moment before resuming his routine. "Please help me, I'm stuck! It hurts so much!"

Ronnie kept his rifle pointed at him as he approached. "Get lost again?"

"Ronnie, what the fuck." Foley looked as if he wanted to put himself between them, but he eyed the gun and kept out of its way. "He needs help."

"This is him." Ronnie stopped several feet away from Patty. "The guy from the dream I told you about, remember?"

"With the dress," Foley realised, "Oh my god, did you see the future?"

Ronnie gave Foley a disbelieving look. "No, it wasn't a dream. This proves it was real."

"That's ridiculous," Foley argued.

Patty sagged in annoyance. "Fuck you." There was no trace of pain or fear in his tone. "This is the second time you've got in the way of one of my hunts."

Awful realisation hit.

"Are you the one that's been killing people?" Ronnie demanded.

"Lots of things kill people here," he answered.

"The animal. The one we've been looking for for years."

"Ronnie, that's mad," Foley said, "A human couldn't do that."

The bear trap crumbled away from Patty's leg, turning into snow.

Foley stepped back. "Oh, god."

Ronnie kept Patty's head in his sights as he stood, brushing his dress off. "Are you the animal?"

Patty gave him a calculating look. "Maybe I am."

"Why didn't you kill me, then?" Ronnie asked, "I fell for your trap and you didn't touch me."

Patty walked around them to the edge of the clearing, unbothered by the rifle. "I only care about trophy hunters."

Ronnie followed, Foley close behind him. "I kill animals too." He wondered why he was admitting that. Patty was clearly okay with, and very good at, violent murder.

"You're more moral about it. You eat what you kill, you make sell whatever you can't use to people who make new stuff from them and you make sure no part of the animal is wasted. You don't turn them into tasteless ornaments. If I targeted everything that killed to live the wolf population out here would be fucked."

Ronnie lowered his gun to better see the ground as he walked. "How do you know all that about me?"

Despite his bare feet, Patty seemed to have no trouble with all the wayward rocks and fallen branches hidden under the snow. "I asked around."

"Asked who?"

"A lot of things live in the woods, you know."

"So...what are you? Some kind of forest guardian?"

"Just a ghost."

Ronnie didn't know why his chest tightened.

"Hang on," Foley cut in, "So you're..."

"I've been dead for years," Patty confirmed.

"Does everyone who dies out here become like you?" Foley asked, "Vengeful spirits in pretty dresses?"

"Nah. If the forest doesn't like you, you get a much worse treatment."

Ronnie shivered.

"And this is just what I was wearing when I died," he added, looking down at his dress, "Total coincidence that it fits the aesthetic. Do you like it?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Ronnie said, "Worse treatment."

Patty smiled back at him. "Don't worry, you guys are okay. For now, at least. It's the people I'm actually hunting who have to worry."

"Who are you hunting now?" Foley asked.

"None of your business."

"Please tell us?"

Patty gave him a look. "You'll try to warn them. I know what you guys are like, remember?"

Something clicked. "Were you trying to lure in Bob Jackson?" Ronnie demanded, "That night I found you?"

"Yeah. He was deaf as shit though. Took a few tries."

"Hey, we knew him," Ronnie said.

"Did you know about the wolves he killed for fun?" Patty shot back, "The baiting and trapping and skinning and leaving the rest to rot?"

Ronnie hesitated. "No."

"The guy I'm after now is a fucking sadist." Patty told them, "Someone's gotta do something about it and it might as well be me."

"Why? Because you're a sadist too?" he accused.

"Because I actually give a shit," Patty bit, turning to face them. The hurt in his eyes surprised Ronnie. "You guys can just look the other way when someone does something you don't like, but I have to live with all of it. I feel the trees mourn for years every time a human decides they haven't taken enough yet." As he spoke, Patty's face changed, his lips turning blue as his eyes grew pale and sank into their sockets.

Ronnie looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise."

"There's a lot you don't realise." All at once, Patty exploded into snow and fell apart.

"Shit," Foley exclaimed. He swatted at the snow falling around them with a gloved hand. "Do you reckon he's still about?"

"Who cares." Ronnie glimpsed a building through the trees and realised that Patty had led them to Foley's cabin. "It's freezing out here. Let's go inside."