Chapter 1

A Chapter by Jordan Clarke

A woman meets this creature that she thinks she can go up against, but will she prevail?

The damp weather of the last few weeks had been getting to me. The wetness was one thing, but when you pile on the cold and the wind, it could get kind of bothersome. I was walking home from my driver’s ed class when I noticed a rather troubling drop in the temperature. I immediately pulled my hood up closer to my neck and got my gloves out of my coat pocket.

I was walking under a highway underpass, so I just assumed that the wind was somehow more concentrated here than out in the open. Looking back on this moment, I wish this were the case.

I slowed down a little, my tennis shoes making one last splash in the various puddles on sidewalk when I saw it. A darker mass that was standing across the road.

At first I assumed it was a dark shadow cast by some overhang from the highway, but when I examined more closely, I noticed the face. The face was the only thing I could see because the rest of the figure was clothed in dark robes, or the darkness itself. My eyes widened probably more than they ever have and I began to shiver like I was experiencing a seizure.

It took me awhile to notice that the face belonged to a body because the thing was at least ten feet tall. I don’t think this thing noticed me at first, which I was thankful for. I moved my hands up to my earplugs and pulled them out. When they fell onto my shoulder, the echo of my music went out into the night.

The creature noticed it as well, and I saw it snarl. It’s mouth curled up into a grimace I had never seen before. At this moment, the thing shrunk down to regular size and started walking for me.

I backed up a few steps, after a few seconds of frozen shock. After the creature was about half way across the road, I turned around and began running. The cold was getting to be unbelievable. My muscles were slowing down, aching at the pain caused by the temperature.

I turned my head and still the creature pursued me. I got out of the highway underpass and went to the right into the grassy area with bushes and flowers. I slowly walked back and turned my head around the corner to see what it was doing.

I could see my breathing and everything was silent, until I saw it. Him. I saw his face. A man, dressed in a suit. His face was two inches from mine. I let out a scream and started to scream for help, and I began to run away again.

“Honey, don’t make this harder than it has to be,” I heard the man say calmly. “I really don’t like the chase, just let me get you and let that be the end of it.”

I noticed I couldn’t walk anymore, I felt a strange urge to just stop and examine my current predicament.

The thing, which I had noticed in the highway, wasn’t this man, and this man wasn’t the creature. At least, that’s what my mind wanted me to believe, so I stopped and turned around.

“Who the hell are you anyway?” I asked, unsure where my confidence came from seeing as I knew he wanted to do something with me and I had no defense whatsoever.

“That question has no meaning being asked, seeing as I’m going to be the last person, if you believe I am, human, that you are going to talk to.” His words left chills in my bones.

I had never been in such an adrenaline-powered moment before, and had never experienced such energy in my life.

“Answer me this, sir,” I started to stutter because of the chill, “If you are going to kill me, which I won’t let you in the first place, what is your name.”

“Sweetie,” he started very nonchalantly, “I’m the man you read about in the fairy tales and the happy ever afters.” I soon realized this man was on some sort of drug and was probably a dealer, someone I really never cared to meet. But here I am.

“Stop carrying on about that rubbish, tell me your name.” My voice was getting shakier by the minute because of the freezing cold I somehow knew was coming from this man.

“Darling, the name’s Jack, surely you know me.”

“No, I am afraid I don’t.” He was crazy I knew it.

“The name’s Frost, Jack Frost.”