the final mission

02

Winslet dominated the snow.

The flurries were all around her and were getting worse by the second. Her horse, Vild, was having difficulty navigating through the pastures as the air became denser and the temperature decreased. Winslet squinted in attempts of finding her tvilling, but to no avail.

"Wickham! Wickham!" The cold air painfully seeped into her throat every time she yelled, but she deemed searching for her twin brother more important. "Anstalt! Vild! Anstalt!" She pushed the horse to sprint faster than it ever had before.

Winslet jumped off of the horse and threw the back door open, screaming for her parents as she did so. She had seen them an hour ago lounging in the den, but the room was empty when she reentered.

"I will." Winslet had told her parents when they told her to stay safe in the raging weather conditions. She wished she would have taken their advice more seriously, but it was too late for Winslet to go back.

"Farsa! Moder!" Winslet's voice cracked as her knees buckled beneath her. "Farsa? Moder?"

They were gone.

★★★

It was a week later.

The snow had let up and the sun began to shine once again. The local police station had contacted Winslet a few days prior about her family's disappearance. Her hands shook in anticipation of assurance of her missing family.

"Hallå, jag heter Winslet Carlsson. I'm here for the news about my family." A lot of the cops looked up from their posts at the girl. Many recognized her as being the eldest child from the richest family in the country. Winslet was reserved, a contrast to the rest of her bubbly family.

"Hej. I'm Officer Tor. Your family's case was assigned to me. Let's have a seat, ja?" Winslet was quick to sit down, anxious to hear the news. The lazy grin that rested on her face slowly faded away as the seconds of silence ticked by. She had always enjoyed quietude, but not like that.

"We received a report of suspicious activity outside of the city. Your parents and your brother were discovered," Winslet's eyes crinkled and her lips swerved upwards. "just not alive."

Winslet's entire world crashed from around her. Her light blue eyes became lighter as tears fell carelessly to her cheeks. All the eyes in the room turned to her as her shoulders shook and her face dropped. Winslet hated attention. She shot out off of her chair and dashed onto the street, where she sped walk to the center of town.

Winslet crashed straight into someone and lost her balance.

"Yikes, you look rough." Winslet glanced at her hands, which were scratched and bloody. She did not care. She wanted to die at that point.

"The ground seems like a beautiful place, but so does that coffee shop over there. Let's get you cleaned up." The stranger held Winslet's waist as she staggered. The two walked to the coffee shop and sat at a table. Winslet was numb as she allowed the stranger to clean her wounds.

"Roddy! The IKEA over there had the meatballs!" A brunette took a glance at the pretty blonde that Roddy was tending to. "Sorry. I'm Raina!" She stuck out a hand towards Winslet, but Winslet was not in the mood to make new friends, not when she had just lost her closest three.

"Not a talker? That's alright. Raina can do enough for the both of you." Raina gasped at the jab, preparing herself to bicker with Roddy. Winslet's shoulders slightly straightened and her tears slowly diminished as she heard the two fight over silly things and she began to enjoy it after awhile. After only a few minutes, her lips curved to where there was a slight smile. Roddy noticed this from the corner of her eye.

"I'm Roddy, nice to meet you." Roddy stuck out her hand once again. Winslet weighed her options, realizing she had nothing to lose. They were both Caucasian, yet Winslet's pale hand created a yin and yang effect with Roddy's tan one. She raised her hand and shook it with Roddy's.

And then they became three.