Snow

1

Mark stared out his bedroom window, watching as white flakes swirled from the sky, blanketing the grass and trees. Night had fallen, the lack of light adding a sad and lonely touch to the weather. He sighed and rapped a knuckle against the cold glass, the window seat seeming to hold the air from outside.

If he focused on the reflection in the window, instead of falling snow he would see an empty bed, the comforter thrown across it haphazardly. He was tired but restless, and knew sleep would be a long time coming that night.

He stared out across the back yard, toward the trees that lined the back of his property. Without knowing why, he rose and padded barefoot from the bedroom. He went silently down the stairs, not wanting to wake his brother, who slept in a room at the other end of the hall. He stopped to tug on a pair of boots, ignoring the fact that he was wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. He unlocked the back door and stepped out onto the deck, shivering as the icy December air wrapped around his bare chest and arms. The wind picked up momentarily, blowing his long dark hair back from his face. He squinted against the flying snow, peering across the snow covered yard. The swimming pool had been covered several months before, most of the water drained from it. It was nothing but a sunken square of white in the middle of more white.

Snow shifting underfoot, Mark stepped from the deck and onto the grass, the cold air making his eyes water. In moments he was past the pool, nearing the tree-lined edge of the back yard. He had no clue what was drawing him there, to the woods. He'd explored them many times, and could have probably found his way out no matter where he was.

His steps faltered before he could duck between the low branches that marked the beginning of the treeline. Mark halted, peering through the darkness, wondering what he could possibly be looking for.

A hand fell on his shoulder, pulling him from the trance like state he'd been in. Mark turned his head, not surprised to see his brother. Glen had taken the time to put on a flannel shirt, but he was dressed in a similar fashion to Mark.

"What is it?" Glen didn't have to raise his voice over the wind to be heard. Mark was no lip reader, but he knew it was what he would have asked if their roles were reversed.

"Trouble." Mark replied slowly, not knowing how he knew, but knowing that it was true.

Glen nodded helplessly. "Tonight?"

"Soon." Mark sighed and forced himself to turn his back to the trees.

Glen shivered and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes went to the woods, taking in the way the leafless branches seemed to reach to the sky, a thin layer of snow coating them. There was nothing in the woods that could harm them.

"Not yet anyway." Glen muttered to himself, smirking at the thought. He turned and followed his brother toward the dark house, ignoring the snowflakes that landed on bare skin and melted.

Glen headed back to bed, but Mark was still restless. Even more so that usual. Things like this had happened before, and they'd dealt with the problems that arose. This time it felt as though something were different. He wished he knew what the difference was.

Mark went to the kitchen and rummaged in a cabinet under the sink. Usually he drank beer. Tonight he had a feeling something stronger was in order. He finally found an unopened bottle of Maker's Mark. Grabbing a glass, he headed for the living room couch.

**

"Shit, shit, shit."

The Jeep sputtered uselessly, refusing to start no matter how many times Jamie cursed at it. She'd just had the damned thing serviced a week before, and already it was giving her issues.

Jamie knew she should have just bought a new car. It wasn't like she couldn't afford it. But the Jeep was the only thing she had left of her brother, and she could not bring herself to part with it.

John had bought the Jeep the year they'd graduated high school. It took him all summer working two jobs to save up enough money to just pay for it outright. He'd driven it everywhere, logging more miles than the vehicle could keep up with. Eight years after he'd bought it, John had been killed in an accident. He had worked in construction. Although he was smart, and could have done anything he put his mind to, he loved to build things. His idea of the perfect day had been twelve hours straight working high above the ground with power tools.

Unfortunately, his passion for building had been his undoing. He'd gotten complacent, had lost his concentration, and fell to his death from the tenth floor of a new skyscraper.

His death had hit Jamie hard. Their mother had put both of them up for adoption just weeks after they were born. Unfortunately, the home they'd been placed in was not equipped to deal with a set of twins. They'd learned over the years to rely only on each other. At eighteen, still with six months of their senior year to go, they'd both gotten jobs and an apartment near the school. It had been rough, but better than going 'home' to screaming adults, crying children, and fear of having any of it aimed at them.

Shaking her head, Jamie tried the key again. The engine clicked, coughed, and died. She sighed heavily and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel, feeling near tears. It had been a rotten day, and this was just the cherry on top. She was a waitress at a bar. The job was totally her own choice. She had gone to college, had earned her nursing degree, had worked in the ER of an extremely busy hospital. And when John had died she'd lost her passion for it. Just like that. As if a light switch had been flipped. He'd been the one to talk her into pursuing her degree, to cheer her on when she got discouraged.

The bar wasn't bad. Normally. Most of the time she enjoyed the patrons, and there was never a dull moment. The money was decent as well, although she could have made much more using her degree. She was lucky that she was generally a witty, personable waitress. And all-right looking. Some men had called her beautiful but she'd laughed them off. It was easy to see beauty after drinking four or five beers. The tips rolled in anyway.

At any rate, the day had started off like any other. She got up at ten, ate breakfast, did her shopping for the week. It wasn't until she got to work that trouble started. It was a Tuesday...not necessarily the day for dealing with trouble makers in the bar. A group of men were sitting in a booth at the very back corner. Jamie wasn't their waitress but for some reason she got the feeling they were trying to get her attention. Any time they tried to flag her down, she told Angela, the other waitress, to deal with them.

It had worked for a while. As the bar started to fill up, the men got rowdier. There were five of them. They all gave Jamie the creeps. At one point one of them, a hulking brunette, had cornered her on the dance floor. Jamie tried to move around him but he refused to let her pass. His friends had gotten a laugh out of it. Jamie grit her teeth and stood still, waiting until he proved what a 'man' he was. It was just Angela, herself, and two other girls working that night, so any problems like this they had to deal with themselves. It didn't mean Jamie had to like it. She wished fleetingly that she worked at the kind of place that had six or seven well built bouncers on payroll, but hers was a fairly peaceful place.

Soon their regulars were leaving in disgust. The five guys were hitting on every woman who dared venture too close. They got so bold as to practically strip the shirt off of one young lady. She had gotten mad, and slapped one of the men, leaving a red hand print on his face.

Finally Jamie had called the police. They'd shown up just as the five men were surrounding another customer, ready to gang up on him and beat him up for defending his girlfriend. The cops dealt with the trouble makers. Everything after they'd left was subdued. Tips were horrible. Several small arguments erupted. It was a relief to finally close down for the night. Jamie was off until Friday. She just wanted to go home and soak in the tub and forget that this Tuesday had ever happened.

Of course the Jeep was acting up, ruining that plan.

Jamie raised her head from the steering wheel and looked around the deserted parking lot. Everyone else was gone. She had been the last one out, depositing the night's money into the safe, setting the alarm, locking the door. There wasn't even a car moving on the main road, thirty yards to her right. At some point during the evening it had started to snow. Huge flakes swirled from the sky, piling on the roads, blanketing everything in pristine white. Normally Jamie would enjoy the wintry weather, but not tonight. She was facing a two mile walk home in sub freezing weather. It definitely was not conducive to a good mood.

She reached out and tried one last time to make the Jeep start. The engine practically groaned before coughing and shutting off once more. "Damn it..." She muttered, wondering if maybe she had flooded the damned thing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone pounding on the window beside her head. Jamie let out a startled shriek, nearly jumping out of her skin.

It was the hulking dark-haired guy from earlier.

He stared in the window, face a careful blank. "Car trouble, darlin'?"He said it loud enough to be heard. Jamie nodded slowly, scared out of her mind. What the hell was he doing here? She looked past him and saw that his friends were gathered together near another vehicle. It hadn't been there just a few minutes ago, she would have seen it.

Thank god she had locked her doors when she'd gotten in the Jeep.

He was looking at her critically. "Pop the hood."

Jamie pressed the button before she realized what she was doing. The guy nodded and opened the hood to her Jeep, his upper body disappeared into the space so he could see what he was doing.

She nervously tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, wondering if she should run for it while the guy was occupied. They had been trouble in the bar earlier, they had been kicked out hours before, yet here they were again.

"Try it..." His voice was barely audible. Jamie obediently reached for the key, and turned it. The engine sputtered and caught, roaring to life. The heater blew cool against her face for a moment before the air warmed up. She rubbed her hands together as the warmth washed over her.

The guy slammed her hood shut. He returned to the window. "Loose spark plug cable. You might want to get those checked."

Jamie smiled at him for the first time, grateful she actually had some heat now. "I will. Thank you."

"Anytime. Careful goin' home, the road is slick."

Jamie nodded, almost afraid to hope that the guy was going to just let her go. She put the Jeep in gear and he stepped away, all but disappearing in the whirl of falling snow. She carefully guided the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.

**

"You're crazy. How the hell did I let you talk me into wanderin' out here in the middle of the fuckin' night anyway?"

Kayla turned to peer at Jeff, shining her flashlight at him. "Because you love me, that's why. Or the thought of me wanderin' along in the woods was too much for your maleness to handle. You decide." She smiled sweetly.

"Do you know where we are?" He asked, stopping beside her. Even though he had put on a heavy coat and gloves, the cold still bit at him through his clothes. He rubbed his gloved hands together, wishing he knew why the hell his cousin had wanted to go for a walk. At two in the morning. Through the woods.

"Sure...your house is back that way..." She pointed north. "The river is there." Another point, this time west. Kayla wasn't wearing gloves. Or a coat. She had on a warm-up jacket. It was her only concession to the weather.

"You're going to die of exposure." Jeff said with a smirk, pointing out what he thought was the obvious.

"Don't you wish. Let's go this way." She turned and headed east. Jeff shook his head and followed her. "You know, you could go home any time."

"Yeah, like I could find my way out of here." Jeff said shaking his head. The woods were thick, and with the falling snow he'd lost all sense of direction.

"You've lived here how long and you don't know where you are?" Kayla laughed.

"I don't come out here. It's kinda creepy." Jeff laughed at himself.

"If it wasn't for Justine, I'd think you were a hermit."

Jeff smiled. Justine was his girlfriend of four years. She was the reason he'd bought the house. At the moment, she was on a business trip. Ten days in New York. Jeff missed her, but having his cousin visit helped keep his mind off his loneliness. It had been a few years since he'd seen Kayla. And he wasn't surprised to find she hadn't changed a bit. Everyone thought that Jeff was a risk-taker. That was only because they'd never come up against Kayla when she was in the right mood.

"I'm freezin' my balls off." He said conversationally.

"Gross." Kayla giggled. "It's not really cold out here. Your mind is just equating snow and the arctic circle."

"Yeah, sure." Jeff rubbed his hands again and put his gloved palms to his face. He couldn't really feel anything. "Ok, this is ridiculous. Let's go back. I'll make some hot chocolate."

Kayla stopped. Jeff thought he'd finally found the right bribe. But she didn't turn around. Instead she held herself still and seemed to become fascinated with snow falling in front of her.

"What is that? A house?"

Jeff looked where she was looking. He could see nothing. Trees and snow. And darkness. "I dunno. Can't see a damned thing." He stomped his feet, knocking snow off his boots.

"I didn't know anybody else lived out here."

"I didn't either. It's a big place though." Jeff said with a shrug. "Come on, let's get outta here."

"You go."

"You come with." He shot back. Kayla finally looked at him.

"You're started to get an icicle on your nose."

"I'm surprised my whole face isn't frozen." As if to punctuate the remark, Jeff's teeth started to chatter. Kayla smiled and turned, and Jeff sighed in relief when she began leading the way back in the direction they'd come from.

"Are there coyotes out here?"

Jeff snorted. "Coyotes? Does this look like the wild west?"

"Ok, how about wolves?"

"Not that I've ever heard of. A couple of years ago there was a family of bears, but the wildlife people moved them farther north." Jeff said with a shrug.

"Oh."

"What? Why?" Belatedly he thought to ask.

"No reason." Kayla said with a smirk. Jeff sighed again from behind her, and she guessed he was wondering why her brain wandered in the directions that it did. She didn't want to tell him the real reason, it was better not to freak him out too much. Jeff wasn't a coward by any stretch of the word, but sometimes the strangest things set him off.

Kayla didn't let Jeff see her looking, but with every sweep of the flashlight, the light picked out strange tracks in the snow. Paw tracks. Too small to be a bear. They looked like dog tracks, but if there was a wild dog wandering the woods, she hadn't heard a peep out of it. Jeff would not have freaked out over that. Animals wandered forests throughout the world. It was the fact that the tracks followed along beside their footprints in the snow that would get him. As if something were stalking them.

Kayla wasn't scared. She had the big flashlight after all, it made a better weapon than a baseball bat. Plus...there was really no reason for a dog to attack them. The woods were full of rabbits and skunks and squirrels, plenty of smaller prey for it to have for dinner. She felt fairly secure.

She planned to get back to Jeff's house, indulge in a huge steaming mug of hot chocolate, and come back outside as soon as Jeff passed out for the night. He'd freak out if he knew, but oh well. She was a grown up. She would do what she wanted. The woods called to her like nothing else she'd ever felt before. She had to see what it was that kept pulling her toward the dark trees.