They'd been blessed with a late blizzard at the end of March. Ambrose had been hoping it would since September; he'd been begging for the snow to extend into early spring just so he could play in it for longer. When he woke up Saturday morning to the sight of big, fluffy snowflakes falling just outside his window, he ran down the stairs and to the back sliding door to see the backyard. Seeing a new blanket of white covering the brown grass, he ran back upstairs to his room to change out of his pajamas and into some warmer clothes.

Cecilia and her mother sat at the kitchen table watching the whole thing unfold. "Aren't you going to get ready?"

"No. I think he can play by himself this time. I was outside with him all through January."

"Oh, come on. You know how much he loves playing with his sister."

"Ugh, mom. Do I have to?"

Her mom let out a small laugh. "Only if he says anything on his way out."

As if on cue, they heard thumping coming back down the stairs. Ambrose was bundled up in his thick, black coat, gloves, and snow pants. His hat almost covering his eyes left him an inch of vision from the woolen scarf wrapped around his nose, mouth, and neck. He ran to the front door, grabbed his boots, and hopped his way over the table trying to put them on. From the scarf, they heard his muffled voice. "Come on, Cece! Let's go outside!"

Cecilia huffed and looked at their mom. She chuckled again and addressed Ambrose. "Why don't you go outside and start without her. She'll be out in a minute." Cecilia huffed again as she went to her room.

Ambrose ripped the door open and leapt off the back porch; the powdery snow cushioned his impact. He ran around the whole backyard, making snow angels and throwing the snow back up into the air letting it fall on his bundled face. Suddenly, he felt an impact on the back of his head. Not realizing his back was to the house, he turned and saw his sister leaping over the porch railing. She reached to the ground and cupped some snow in her hands, a mischievous smile growing across her face as she never broke eye contact. Ambrose ran for the tree at the center of the backyard and scooped up his own snowball. He peered around the tree to find Cecilia had misjudged her shot and hit the tree; the snowball exploding against the bark. Ambrose took that time to throw his snowball at his sister, nailing her in the leg. The two spent the next ten minutes throwing back and forth, running all around the backyard. When Cecilia decided she'd had enough of the snowball fight, she started rolling one on the ground. Ambrose saw what she was doing and followed suit.

As the two were finishing building their snowman, their dad came home for his afternoon break. The parents watched from the back door as Cecilia helped her younger brother hoist the snowman torso up. However, as they observed, there was something about the neighbors behind their house that become cause for concern.

"Ambrose! Cecilia!" Their father opened the sliding back door. "How about some lunch?" He called to his children. They walked back to the house, totally unaware of what was happening around them. As the children took off their wet snow clothes, their father nodded as he closed the door.

The creature at the top of the tree responded with a nod of its own. It leapt down and jumped into the neighbor's yard, trudged through the snow that turned deep red with every footprint, and entered the house.