You could hear the wind howling with rage hitting all sides of the grand and beautiful light-tinted wood house out in the middle of nowhere. The only light visible is from the top porch of the cabin shining down on the snow. All that stood near was a completely frozen over lake, glistening with feet of snow over it and stretching as far as the eye could see.

 If you squint your eyes you could make out a girl, she looked to be in her twenties. Her skin glows as the moonlight shines on it, and her hair, silk soft stretched down to her waist and chocolate brown eyes that reflect the moon when you stare into them. Her name is Lilly. She had lived alone in the cabin since her parents and sister died in a car crash ten years ago. She’s been alone since then, and anyone, whether they know her or not, could tell that she looked lonely. Of course, she felt lonely in the enormous house with only one person occupying it. 

Lilly hears a knock at the door. She’s surprised by this because of the amount of snow outside. She walked over to the door. When opened she saw a tall man. The stranger looked to be about 6 feet tall with deep brown hair slicked back. He had very little facial hair and wore a white button-up shirt under a fancy thick long coat. He turned to her stunned by how beautiful she was, and for a moment didn’t speak a word. 

Finally, he introduced himself. He said his name was Everett and that his car had broken down in front of her house. He was trying to get to his mother’s house that was 10 miles down the road from her, but clearly, he didn’t make it. No one was able to go out and fix it for him until morning. She only stared at him while he muttered on. Then after getting a good look at him and how he was shivering, she invited him to come inside, she didn’t want to leave him out in the cold to freeze. When he stepped inside, he glanced around the grand cabin astonished. He explained how gorgeous it was and asked her why she was living alone. Lilly didn’t acknowledge the question, instead, she said that he could stay there for the night. She knew how harsh the weather was beyond the walls of the cabin and how brutal the wind could be. 

He thanked her for letting him stay, but in the back of his mind, he was curious about why she was living alone in such a grand house. They went and sat on the sofa with deer skins extending over the back of it and a sizable cloud-like blanket sitting in the middle. They started talking and Lilly asked what had happened with his car. It sounded more like an integration with questions flying up in the air as quickly as possible. An hour went by and then another. By the time they were finished talking, it was already midnight. They had lost all track of time and realized that they should go to bed. 

As Lilly started up the stairs with a blanket in one hand and tea in the other, she heard a noise from outside. At least she thought she did because when she went down and asked Everett if he had heard it he just looked at her puzzled and confused. She told him she heard a noise coming from outside. 

He threw his jacket and boots on and stared out the window for a moment before opening the door, curious as to what the sound was. He then gently opened the door into the howling wind of the night and felt the spine-chilling wind creeping down his back. Slowly, he took the first step then another struggling, with each step making a noisy almost crunch sound from all two feet of snow he was walking through. When stopped a few feet from the door, he tried listening for any out-of-place sounds, he couldn’t hear much from the screaming of the wind. Then he turned to go inside when quickly then shut and locked the door. 

He explained to Lilly that he wasn’t able to hear much from the wind, but from what he was able to hear there was nothing out there or that it may have just been an animal running by. She was certain she had heard something outside, but just ignored it and started back up the stairs for bed. 

Halfway up the glistening-wood stairs, she heard a long-lasting bang coming from outside. Everett had heard it this time and believed it wasn’t just an animal or the wind. It sounded like someone had just hit the poles of the second-floor balcony. Lilly sprinted back down the stairs. She and Everett bolted outside, quickly trying to not scare off whatever was out there. Everett opened the door, and they both rapidly ran out of the glass-paned door. For a moment they saw and heard nothing, only the sound of the wind that seemed to never stop. 

Lilly then whispered to Everett in a frightened voice to slowly turn and look out over the middle of the balcony straight out in front of them. He was hesitant for a moment before turning his head, after he turned around he had a confused look on his face. They both saw the girl standing out in the snow with matted blonde hair that had twigs in it from fallen branches. She had very little clothing on, only a light grey zip-up jacket and shorts. It was clear that she hadn’t been out there long or she would have frozen to death by now. Still, it was too cold for anyone to be wearing that in -10 degree weather with snow sprinkling down and winds as high as they were. The girl seemed to be scared. She looked to be about 15 years old and didn’t hesitate to bolt into the night when they saw her. The girl reminded her a lot of her sister that she was told died in a car accident 10 years ago. 

She then heard Everett’s voice, which had brought her back to reality. He burst inside and put on all the warm clothes he had been wearing when he arrived. She asked what he was doing, he told her that they had to go see what she’s doing out in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures. Lilly stopped and said in a serious voice that the girl reminded her of her sister who she was told died 10 years ago. He paused for only a moment before replying that they had to go out there because she could freeze to death. She rushed upstairs. 

“Where are you going, we have to go out there,” Everett yelled. 

She didn’t answer him. He started for the door when he heard footsteps. She had caught up to him with her coat on and snow boots. 

Without hesitation, they bolted out of the cabin, but they didn’t know how far she had already gone or what direction she went. Lilly yelled out for Everett to follow her around the other side of the house. He rushed over there. When they reached the other side she bolted to what looked to be a snowmobile sitting under four pieces of wood with a tin roof cover, but he wasn’t sure till he was closer because of how much snow was falling. She yelled as loud as she so he could hear her. She turned the key on and they started off into the freezing snowy white night. 

They started by looking nearby the cabin hoping she didn’t get too far. They thought that by now she would have gotten far out because of how long they took to get their gear on, so they went to look over the hill to try and see if they could spot anything from the top, but they weren’t able to see footprints so she must have not been up there. Once at the top of the towering hill, they quickly got off the snowmobile and searched for her wondering if she was still alive or if she had frozen to death. Everett tried to yell at Lilly, but she could barely hear him and he raced over to figure out what he said. He turned her body to look over the hill onto the frozen lake. She glanced over and saw that the ice had broken in only one spot. It looked like someone had walked over it and fell through. They raced back down the hill on the snowmobile and reached the lake’s end. She told him they would have to run over the lake because the ice couldn’t hold all the weight of the snowmobile. 

He took off with Lilly behind and small cracks forming in the ice behind them. They finally reached the point of breakage in the ice. They looked around to see if the girl was there. After a moment. Everett with his eyebrows pulled down and closer together and a surprised yet disappointing look on his face. In a shaky voice said it’s her. She bolted over to the crack in the ice with tears down her face. They pulled the girl out, she was freezing and looked to not be breathing. Everett looked to the girl and Lilly with the stillest face and her eyes flooded with tears and looked to him. In the most heart-shattering shaky voice. 

“This is my sister, her name was Bella,” Lilly said.