They Called Him Ash

Prologue

Six years ago, December 4th

I remember as the cold air swirls everywhere around me, fanning my cheeks harshly. I laugh at Cleo as she tries to keep up with me, but I skate faster ahead, throwing in a spin to make her even more frustrated.

"Rosalie, you're doing this on purpose!" Cleo shouts after me, her black, thick curls flying behind her as she tries to skate faster after me, ice literally spritzing up from under her white skates.

I giggle, and twist into a firgure eight, loving the cold weather breezing against my face. "You gotta keep up," I sing mockingly, and that causes her to stick her tongue out. I skate backwards, now, my red hair flying against the sides of my face as I face her. "Liz, tell Rose to stop!" Cleo yells to Elizabeth, who sits on a tree stump within the blanket of snow, a book in her hand, not willing to participate in ice skating with Cleo and I.

Looking at us through her thick rimmed glasses, Liz sits her book down on her lap, the wind causing her short blonde hair to whip against her face slightly. "Rose, stop," Liz yells absentmindedly so both of us could hear over the other children laughing and playing. Which was seldom, because Liz's voice barely came over a mutter.

It was the day after my 11th birthday, and Cleo, Elizabeth, and I were given permission to go out to the frozen ice pond where all the children came to ice skate. I was dying to try out my knew purple ice skates that I had gotten for my birthday.

The frozen pond was located within lots of dense trees, off a back road called Graylot Rd. Not many people lived on Graylot Rd, but it was a popular activity to come to the pond whenever it was safely frozen and ice skate. It wasn't too far from my house, either.

"It's getting late, guys. Mom said I had to be back before five thirty," Elizabeth informs us, after she marks her page and closes her book. "Oh, come on, Liz, just one more skate around," I plead, looking up at the grayish white sky. My cheeks were partially numb but I didn't have a care in the world that day. I loved the freedom of skating, gliding to your next destination so peacefully. It was a hobby of mine, something my dad taught me when I was five, and I loved the month December for two reasons ever since.

Ice skating, and my birthday.

"Yeah, one more skate around by yourself," Cleo grumbles, obviously annoyed at me, her red nose from the weather a stark comparison to her brown skin as she skates over to Elizabeth, leaving me with the other kids. I just laugh, turn back around, and skate faster.

I notice as some of the parents, which were a few, grab their toddlers and help their wobbling bodies off the ice. It was only myself, a few other kids that went to school with Cleo, Liz, and I, and other kids I didn't know, younger and older, left now.

Looking away from the sky, who seemed to develop gray clouds recently, a gasp leaves my parted lips and I almost run over this boy who just seemed to stand there in one spot. "Sorry!" I quickly apologize to the boy with the dark hair. Swerving around him, I come to a stop, ice shooting up from under my skates as I catch my breath, my cheeks probably flushed. My eyes quickly roamed over his outfit in which he wore dark jeans, a black hoodie underneath his brown military jacket, and black ice skates. Why was he just standing there?

His eyes flash to me quickly, then back straight ahead. I almost stumble back on how dark and intense they were.

"It's okay," he speaks, his voice quiet but something... unfathomable layed underneath. I felt a chill run down my spine and it wasn't because of the freezing weather. I knew goosebumps were forming on my arms, although I couldn't visibly see because of my purple trench coat.