Reyna could hear them calling for her again. The wind rustled the trees overhead. A soft buzz filled the back of her mind as she stepped further into the woods. A walkie-talkie crackled in her hands as she heard the small crunch of dried leaves and snow beneath her feet.

Instinctively, her body tensed as she looked up at the abrupt call of a crow flying above her. The black feathers stood out harshly against the almost grey sky. Though it was just after sunset, the pretty colors of golds and red no longer lingered in the sky this night.

A shiver crawled up her body as she rubbed her arms. She needed to hurry up and find him. Jackson was a jerk. That was to be expected from little brothers. He had given her his stupid old walkie-talkie, insisting on her using it if he didn’t show up back home later that night. Reyna almost refused the request, too used to his silly antics and attempts to scare her. Something in his eyes made her do a double take. An emotion akin to fear shone under the surface. She should have believed it was just rubbish, another trick to convince her into going somewhere alone where he could scare her. Something in her refused to accept what she was hoping, refused that the look in his eyes could be anything but real.

Now she regretted it. As usual. The buzzing stopped and her eyes flickered to the walkie-talkie. A small frown formed on her face as she lightly hit the side. “What the hell?” Her breath could be seen in the air as the question filled the newfound silence. She turned it over in her hand, trying to figure out what stopped it’s sound. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She flinched at the feeling of something against her clothes, spinning to look. A branch… the bark must have caught on her sweater. She could see the blue thread against its stark brown… was that red?

Reyna cautiously looked closer, shining her flashlight at the wood. Dark red was stained on the tree. A soft drip left it. She followed the movement, eyes landing on the red stain growing in the snow near her feet. This was recent.

Dread clawed at her throat but she swallowed her fear as she called out for her brother. “Jackson?! Come on. This isn’t funny. If you got hurt, I’m gonna kick your ass.” She carefully ducked under the branch, searching around for any sign of more blood that could lead her to her brother. Reyna did her best to ignore the icy fear gripping her heart as her face paled. She found footprints. She knew whose they were because the stupid heart he carved into the rubber under his shoes always left a weird glob in the boot. He thought it was romantic to his girlfriend. Sarah proceeded to dump him a week later. Reyna thought it was irony. He proceeded to prank her three times the week she told him this opinion of hers.

That didn’t matter now though. She followed the footprints carefully, breath catching as she saw him. Jackson was limp on the snow’s hard surface. His body was pale, hues of blue and purple spreading across his knuckles and his face. She moved over, shakily checking for a pulse. Only after feeling the faint thump did she allow herself to breath once more.

“Jackson, wake up. Please wake up! I can’t carry you,” she begged as she shook his shoulder. The walkie-talkie slipped from her grasp. She didn’t notice it’s static pick up once more, didn’t hear the whisper of, “he’s coming.”

Reyna attempted to lift her brother, holding the wall to keep her balance as she did so. “Jackson, come on. Wake up.” She stumbled to another tree, guiding him back as best she could.

A shiver crawled up her spine once more and she looked around instinctively. What had caused her brother to be in this state? She reluctantly looked towards him. “Jackson?” Her voice was a whisper as she lightly moved to open his eyes. Her body froze as she saw nothing but white staring back at her. His pupils were frosted over with a crackling glaze of white. Her grip loosened instinctively, him falling to the floor.

This wasn’t just some random thing. This was someone much worse then this. This was Jack Frost. She could do nothing but scream for help as she ran back home.