Chilling Effects

The snow crunched below my feet as we continued to wander into unknown territory. I am fourteen years old and I was fortunate enough to be graced with acceptance to one of England's most prestigious academic institutes. But looking at my predicament, lured into by a so called pupil, I now realize how loudly wealth speaks. How particularly intrepid, or simply foolish, this young lord, Benjamin Cook, is. I suppose one can afford to be foolish being the heir to such fortunes. Unfortunately several classmates of mine overheard the conversation about this mystical shortcut. At any cost, Benjamin Cook continues to staggeringly lead us further into the frozen abyss chasing this mythological shortcut of his. I suppose I am guilty of my own impatience--I would not have came if that was fallacy. I haven't seen my father for half a year now--the academy finally relieved us of our fetters mere hours ago. It is assumed that Benjamin is yanked by these same sentiments. I suppose empathy is in order. I increase my pace, nearly slipping on the snow to reach him. He immediately turns to me with a frown. He looked absolutely sickly. His pale skin is akin to the snow around him--it is barely opaque with a network of green veins. His blue eyes are glossy and worried. His nose is red tipped and shiny--giving him an elfish appearance.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that there would be a blizzard." he said faintly. I patted him on the shoulder, barely able to freely move under my coverings. My gloved fingers felt a numbing pain.
"Don't worry. We'll get there soon."
Alex, Jones, and Michael are a few steps behind us. They have lost much of their earlier energy and enthusiasm. I looked forward and could barely assess my surroundings. It appeared like a slightly diluted blotch of white paint. The wind blew violently in several directions all at once; each gust chilled me to the bone. I felt like screaming, but I had strong inhibitions: certainly more than Alex who groans whenever the wind picked up. I looked down to see that I had dropped one of my text books. I darted my head around only to see a seemingly eternal plane of whiteness. My father will be most displeased. I staggered to one knee and was immediately peered onto by the others. They all looked worried. I casually removed my bag pack and stuffed my remaining books as best I could into its maw as though that is what I had intended to do all along. I remove a newspaper from my bag and took a quick glance at the front page. 15th, January, 1935 Daily... I used it to wipe my nose and rise back to my feet.
Within moments of our continued progression my frigid ears were alerted by a thud in the snow behind me. I turn to see Alex lying face down in the snow. His snow covered head darts up and he gasps loudly and cussed. I cringed a bit at the words. He shuffles to his back and wiggles a black cloth off his boot.
"What is that?" his soft spoken decency returns.
"I don't know," says Jones, "A sheet?"
Michael picks it up and inspects it for a moment. "Robes" he whispers. He places it back on the snow and drops his text books on it. He wraps them and flings the cloth over his shoulder.
"Santa!" says Jones managing a faint laugh.
Benjamin clumsily attempts to help Alex to his feet resulting in both of them falling. They find time to romp which seemed to reinvigorate them to some extent. Amidst the commotion I notice a silhouette below a tree.
"I see someone!" I yelled. The others look in the direction of my extended finger and notices the sitting figure as well. We dashed to the location, nearly slipping multiple times. The small bodied person turns to us and stands. We look at him and he looks at us. His trousers are the same as those required by the academy; he is heavily clothed and is wearing a large scarf and a hat that covered most of his light blonde hair. His emerald eyes gives us a perplexed look.
"We're lost." I said faintly. He analyzes us for a moment and then the surrounding storm. I can see his smirk stretch to the side of his profile. He extends his small ungloved hand for a hand shake, "Then you've found the right person." I shake his hand and felt warmth through my glove. He points west of where we were heading.
"There is a small hill in that direction. Reach the apex and you should be able to visualize the town." He said in an accent. Apex, such a peculiar word. He certainly spoke unlike any other person at the all boys academy.
We slowly walked behind the boy as he led us. He skipped and pranced around--overtly overjoyed--much like we were around an hour ago when the academy released us. He turns to us and grin with teeth as white as the snow and out-of-season sun-kissed freckles. "How much farther?" whines Jones.
"Not much farther." replies the boy confidently.
There is something very compelling, even fascinating about him. However,I cannot pinpoint what it is exactly. "What is your name? I've never seen you at the academy before. Your accent is different from these parts." He looks at me with heavy blinking, curious eyes that seem to be endless in eyelashes. It could be his strange accent or unbreakable optimism. "I'm called Meap." He looks ahead and seem to light up, "There it is! The hill." I was elated to see that it wasn't much of an obstacle. We all run to the hill and begin to ascend it. Meap had much more energy than we all did. "What is your real name?" ask Benjamin. "Egri Rgr"
"What an odd name." replies Benjamin.
"That is why I like Meap." He laughs joyfully.
"Where are you from?" asks Alex
"Yorkshire. My parents are foreigners." He grins and grabs onto my arm to help me climb faster. I felt that same warmth from before. Perhaps he is fascinating because he doesn't seem very bothered by the storm or the simple fact that he doesn't look much like a boy.
"Are you Irish? Many of them have red hair." I contemplated Jonas' odd question for a moment. "red hair.." I thought. I look at Egri and yank his hat off. He looks at me and smiles for some reason, "What did you do that for?" he asks while stroking his blonde hair out of his face. We are already on the top of the hill.
"Jonas, are you blind? His hair is blonde." I said, Jonas doesn't respond. I looked behind me and saw what turn my stomach. My heart nearly jumps into my throat. They all had passed out while climbing the mountain. All face down, pale as the snow. Jonas is about 15 feet behind me, yet his voice was so close. Egri and I pull them all to the top of the hill; the town was in sight--about 1.5 kilometers away. I hit Benjamin on the cheek. He doesn't respond--none of them did. They were so cold. I wept and begged them to return. "You are much more resilient than they were." whispers Egri in my ear. I swing and hit him. He slides in the snow and grabs onto his bloodied lip. His eyes become glossy as though he's about to cry.
"Who in the world says something like that?" I yelled in a jerky voice. I could feel my warm tears run down my cheeks. He slowly stands and brushes the snow off of himself. He doesn't reply and casually walks to Michael and yanks the black cloth from his clenched hand. "Someone who is desensitized to these sort of things."
"What?" I ask. He removes his scarf and coat. Beneath he is only wearing the standard uniform of the academy. "You're going to freeze." I told him. I can feel myself slowly losing energy as he approaches me. I fall to my back, next to Benjamin, looking up at him. Our eyes lock. His expression is somber. "Do you want to ask me something, anything?"
"Who in the world are you? Father, he will be disappointed..."
"In what will be known as the second great war your father's waning thoughts will be of his vanished child. As for me, I am what some call eternity."
Category:Beings