Ani The Wight

## Lost In The Snow by LostWight

It's 3am and I still can't sleep. Actually, I haven't been able to relax at all since we got back from our camping trip. My mom keeps telling me that I'm still in shock from everything that happened, but I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I gag every time I think about seeing Jake's body, and the thought that Ani could have suffered the same horrible end makes me want to break down in tears. But, that isn't what's keeping me up. Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning. Maybe you'll be able to see what I mean.

"You're sure you have everything?" my dad asked as he helped stuff the last of my bags in the car, being careful not to drop anything in the snow.

"For the one hundredth time, yes" I answered, slightly irritated. My mom reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the car keys.

"We're just worried, Kate" she said handing me the keys, “camping during the winter is a whole lot different than spring or summer."

"Mom, It'll be fine. We've all done our research and are beyond prepared." My mom smiled and gave me a hug.

"Just use good judgement and always make sure your phone is charged" my dad instructed "you remembered your portable charger right?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes dad, I got it. Along with five back ups just in case."

"That's my girl!" he chuckled.

After going over my checklist one final time, I said goodbye and drove off.

I started going camping with some friends from my high school back in ninth grade. Our group consisted of the nature loving power couple, Steven and Margaret, myself, and our friend Jake.  Up until now, we had only gone on short weekend trips at nearby campgrounds. Steven and Margaret were the ones who planned everything down to the very last detail. Actually, they were the ones who started the whole camping thing to begin with. I was pretty stoked when they first had the idea, but lost some interest when they told me Jake would be joining us. I didn't necessarily hate the guy, after all he was always nice to me and my friends, but it was the way he acted around other girls that just rubbed me the wrong way. I would see how he treated girls in the halls at school, barely showing any interest in what they were saying yet somehow manipulating them into wanting to go out with him, and it just made me uneasy. After going on a couple of trips with the guy, I have to say I got used to him. Then again, it was always just him.

Jake had been dating Ani for a couple of months. The two seemed inseparable, but I wasn't entirely sold on their relationship. Ani was a sweetheart and Jake always seemed to treat her poorly. She would watch as he flirted with other girls at school and never seemed to mind when he flaked on her. Margaret and I both noticed this after a while and tried to talk to her to see if she was actually happy. Of course, she would always tell us she was fine and thank us for being great friends. Needless to say, it was clear that something was up, but we didn't want to pry. A couple of weeks before winter break, Jake asked Ani if she wanted to come on our winter camping trip. When Ani said yes, Jake seemed genuinely excited. We thought that maybe this was a sign that their relationship was finally headed in the right direction.

We were all scheduled to meet at Steven's house at 7am that day. When I arrived, Margaret was already helping him load supplies into his 2008 Chevy Suburban. I parked my car on the street in front of his house.

"Morning guys!" I chirped. I closed the door to my car and opened the trunk. "Are you sure we'll have enough room?" I asked, quickly glancing at the back of the Suburban which was already pretty full.

"Of course!" answered Steven "she's never let me down." Margaret walked over to help be unload my car.

"Yea, it should be fine" she said "besides, I doubt Ani and Jake will bring that much. You know he always under packs." We both giggled and started loading my supplies into the car.

Jake and Ani arrived about 15 minutes after I did. As Margaret had predicted, they were significantly under packed.

"You sure this is enough for the two of you?" Margaret asked

"Of course!" Jake answered. He turned to Steven and grinned "and if not, we'll just borrow some of your stuff"  Steven laughed. He took Jake and Ani's bags and neatly packed them in the back of the suburban.

"Hey, Steven?" Ani asked "do you mind if I use your bathroom before we go?"

"Go ahead!" he answered "Margaret, can you show Ani where the bathroom is?" Margaret nodded and she lead Ani inside. When they were out of sight, I asked Jake how everything was going between them.

"Honestly, not great" He said putting his hands in the both pockets of his black down coat "I think this will be our last hurrah before I call it quits." Hearing this pissed me off.

"Why would you invite her on a week long camping trip if you were planning on breaking up!?" I asked "that's fucked up!"

"Gotta agree with Kate, man" said Steven "she's a nice girl, why would you string her along?" Jake started to get a little defensive after hearing both of our opinions on the whole thing.

"Look" he answered "I never said it was definite. If anything, I'm hoping this whole thing can fix everything, you know?" Steven and I looked at each other. We knew Jake was trying to avoid being pinned as the bad guy. We heard the door to the house open and close as Margaret and Ani walked out.

"Just don't start any drama ok?" Steven whispered to Jake.

"Won't be a problem," Jake answered "don't worry."

Steven patted Jake on the back and opened the door to the suburban.

The drive to the mountain was long. Since we got up so early, some of us took naps so we wouldn't be completely wiped out before we even got there. We arrived at the mountain around 10am to meet our guide at the lodge. He went over everything we needed to know about camping on the mountain, as well as gave us some hints on where the best spots might be. He also mentioned that a fireworks show would be taking place later that night around 8pm.

"You lucked out" he said as he walked us to the gondola, "This week is supposed to be beautiful! " We all laughed. After thanking him, We loaded all of our camping supplies into the gondola and proceeded up the mountain.

"Alright guys" said Steven looking at his map  "I think the spot we want is about 5 minutes from here. Should be a pretty easy walk!" We followed Steven down the eastern path leading away from the gondola. The sunlight glistened off the pearly piles of snow, which added a hint of magic to the already beautiful winter scene. Even though it was chilly, the light warmed our faces and gave us the last bit of energy we needed to finally start the day. I usually don't like the quiet that sometimes comes with being so far away from the city, but there was something about this kind of quiet that filled me with a sense of comfort. I was with my friends on this amazing adventure that not many people can say they have experienced. For this, I was thankful.

When we reached our campsite, I started to get really excited. I wanted to start setting everything up as soon as possible so I could have so me time to explore the area. It took us a little over an hour to set up the tents and get comfortable. After everyone was unpacked, we ate our lunches at the small picnic table next to a sign that read "Campsite 8."

"This is so cool you guys," I said between bites of my tuna sandwich. I turned to Steven and Margaret who both had large cups of chili. "So, what do we wanna do?"

"Well, I'm super pumped for those fireworks" Said Margaret, "I was going to go see if I could find a good spot for us to watch"

"Oh awesome! I'll come with you!" I answered excitedly. It was then that I noticed that Ani had stopped eating and was completely tuned in to our conversation. "Ani, you should come too!" I said with a smile.

"I'd love to!" Ani answered. She turned to Jake "You don't mind, right?"

"Nope. Knock yourself out" He answered. I could tell that he was becoming indifferent towards Ani and it started to make me mad. I was going to say something, but decided it would be best to let it go. After all, I wanted all of us to have the time of our lives!

After Lunch, Margaret, Ani and I grabbed our chairs and went for a walk to try and find the perfect spot to watch the fireworks. The only information our guide gave us was that they could be seen from anywhere on the mountains long as trees weren't in the way. After a short walk, we ended up stumbling upon a clearing with a gorgeous view.

"Oh wow" Ani said in awe "you can see the lodge from here and everything!"

"I think we found our spot!" said Margaret triumphantly "It's not far from the campsite either which is nice, but I'll mark it on the map just incase." We set up our chairs and sat down. We took in all that we could while talking about the end of high school and where we planned on going to college. I was the only one between the three of us that didn't have a clear plan, but I was ok with that. I've always been a sort of 'go with the flow' type of person. I was however very impressed with Ani. She told us she was looking at Art Colleges on the East Coast. Once she decided on one, she would be moving there after graduation. She also told us that her parents were moving back to Russia after they helped her move.

"Won't you miss your parents?" I asked Ani. I thought about how much time I spent with my family and how hard it was going to be to move 10 minutes away. This girl was moving across the country!

"Of course I will" she answered "but I know they'll come visit. Plus, I have family in Boston so it's not like I'll be completely alone over there." Margaret looked at Ani and smiled. "Well, you better stay in touch! We might not be close by but we can still bug the hell out of you on skype!" Ani giggled

"I'm holding you to that!" she said. Now, I'm someone who's been known to kill the mood. It's honestly probably one of the reasons why I still don't have a special someone in my life. After our nice talk about the future, I said something I instantly regraded.

"What about Jake?" I asked " I just mean, like, do you think you'll stay together or...?" Margaret frowned and gave me that 'are you kidding' look I'm all to familiar with. Before I could apologize, Ani chimed in.

"As much as I'd like to think we'd stay together, I get the feeling we might not even  last until the end of the year" Margaret and I looked at one another. We weren't at all surprised, but we were a little taken aback that Ani was the one to admit it.

"What do you mean?" Margaret asked.

"He just isn't the guy I thought he was." Ani responded, her eyes fixed on the distant horizon  "I've tried not to let his personality bother me, but the truth is...I hate it" I didn't say anything and neither did Margaret. I could tell that we both wanted to hear more as this was the first time we heard Ani say anything negative about Jake. "He's not good to me" she continued "but whenever I bring up my concerns, he gets angry. So angry that I'd rather put up with feeling unloved then deal with his attitude." Hearing this broke my heart and I almost started to tear up. Jake was never my favorite person, but was he really that awful of a boyfriend? The worst part was, Ani didn't looked phased at all. She just sat there, staring longingly into the distance.

"Why did you come on the trip with him?" Margaret asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Despite everything, I still have feelings for him" Ani said with a sad laugh "I was hoping this trip would bring us closer together. But, sadly, I don't see that happening." Ani leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "I'll get over it though!" She sighed as her positivity returned.

"Of course you will!" I said reassuringly "Believe me, you'll have no issue finding someone else when we get back. I already know several guys who have major crushes on you already!" Ani laughed and shook head. After our serious talk, the conversation shifted to my pitiful love life, giving us all a much needed laugh.

When we got back to the campsite, Steven and Jake had already broken into the beers Jake snagged from his fridge.

"Is that really all you guys brought? Thanks a lot! I hate beer!" I complained "there's nothing worse than being the sober fifth wheel.."

"It's cool!" Ani chirped "I don't drink, so I'll be sitting this one out too" I felt relieved.

"Thank god" I said "have I mentioned yet how much I love your girlfriend, Jake?" Jake didn't respond right away. He was already pretty gone so I wasn't expecting much. "Hello?!" I exclaimed "anyone there!?"

"It's suuuper lame" He slurred "she's such a buzzkill" I felt myself getting protective over Ani. How dare he talk about her like that, especially when she was sitting right there!

"You're a real dick you know that!?" I yelled. Everyone went silent "she deserves way better than your fucking piece of shit ass and you know it." Steven stood up

"Ok, ok, let's all calm down. There's no need for this." I sat down in my chair and tried to cool off. Steven turned to Ani "he didn't mean that."

"It's fine" she laughed. I could tell this was just to keep the peace. If anything, it made me angrier.

We managed to salvage the rest of the afternoon despite the drama. Ani and I actually had a lot of fun making fun of our drunk friends. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was the alarm I set for the fireworks.

"Hey guys! Let's get going. We don't want it getting dark before we head over"

"Yea! Yea, let's go let's go!" said Margaret, who was hammered at this point. Steven helped her out of her seat.

"You ok babe? You look a little sick..." Steven looked at me "Is she ok?" I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously? She's your girlfriend bro..." I walked over to Margaret who was clearly about to get sick. "Ok girly, if you're gonna puke do it in the woods." Margaret gave me what looked like a thumbs up and started stumbling towards the nearby trees. I turned to Steven "I'll stay here with her" I sighed "you guys follow Ani. She should have the spot marked on her map too so you won't get lost."

"Thanks dude, make sure she's ok!" I nodded.

Margaret has always been known to 'puke and rally.' After she gets sick, she'll be back on her feet ready to go. it took a little longer for her to feel better, but after drinking some Gatorade and snacking on some granola bars, she was perfectly fine.

"You're not human are you" I teased.

"Barely!" She giggled, "Ok, let me brush my teeth real quick and then we can head out."

The sky was starting to get dark. I knew we would have to hustle if we wanted to make the walk easier. The trees surrounding our camp site started to lose their shape and the  path to the clearing started getting smaller.

"Are you done yet?" I asked, urgency in my voice, "walking there in the dark isn't going to be fun you know!" Margaret poked her head out her tent and spit in the snow.

"All good, let's-" Before Margaret could get out of her tent, we noticed to flashlights speeding down the path towards us. When they finally reached the site, we saw that it was Steven and Jake.

"What are you guys doing? Did you forget something?" I asked. My eyes darted around the space behind them "Where's Ani?" Jake and Steven didn't say a word. Margaret got out of her tent.

"You just left her in that clearing alone!?" she yelled " What is WRONG with you!?" I studied their faces and was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of fear when I saw their expressions. They looked petrified. Like they had just witnessed something horrifying. My worry started to turn into anger and I pulled Jake's arm.

"Where is...your FUCKING girlfriend..." I demanded. Jake didn't answer me. He couldn't even look at me. This made me lose it "WHERE IS SHE!? WHERE THE FUCK IS ANI!?"

" I DON'T KNOW!" Jake snapped out of whatever spell he was under and crumpled to the ground.  "We looked everywhere and couldn't find her!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could Ani have just disappeared? The walk to the clearing was short, plus she had a map. We all stood there, frozen , for what felt like a lifetime. Finally, Steven spoke up.

"We need to get help" he said in a weak voice. I had never seen him like this. Steven always kept his cool under pressure, and was basically an expert in all things outdoors. For him not to know what to do made me feel completely hopeless. "We need to go to the lodge and tell them Ani is missing in the woods."

"Ok" said Margaret "it'll be ok then, right? They'll find her?" Steven nodded

"I'm sure they will" his voice started to come back to reassure his girlfriend. I, however, saw right through him. He was still just as terrified as Jake, who was frantically wiping away tears. Something was not right. But what I couldn't understand, was why they wouldn't tell us what really happened.

The search for Anastasia Morozov continued for the entire week with no luck. Things got worse when a snow storm started to roll in. School would be starting again in a few days and we all needed to get back home. All I wanted to do was see my parents. As we were leaving we saw Ani's parents talking to the rangers. Her mom was crying and her dad was doing everything he could to comfort her, even though he was clearly losing his mind as well. I wanted to say something so bad like 'I'm so sorry' or 'they'll find her,' but I was sure I'd only make the situation worse. We started to walk past them when Ani's dad and Jake locked eyes.

"You!" the man yelled "What did you do to my daughter!" This stopped us all in our tracks. We were sure this was just a typical reaction from a parent with a missing child, but even still, Mr. Morozov approached Jake as if he was convinced he murdered her or something.

"S-sir" Jake squeaked "I-I'm so sorry I-"

"Mr. Morozov" said Steven, rushing to Jake's defense "I was with him. One minute she was there and the next she was gone. It wasn't him sir, I promise." Ani's dad starred at Steven and then back at Jake.

"This isn't over" he threatened before walking back to his wife and the rangers. We all looked at Jake who was paler than usual. Without a word, he started walking towards the Lodge exit. Steven hurried after him followed by Margaret and myself. None of us knew what the hell just happened but it definitely shook us up.

None of us said a word on during the car ride home. The storm was getting worse until finally the snow was so bad we couldn't even see. It was almost like it was following us and just wouldn't let up. After a while, Steven spotted a rest stop with a gas station. He slowly turned off the highway, being careful not to skid on the ice, and parked by one of the gas pumps.

"Ok," He said, breaking the silence "I'm not driving in this. Let's just wait here until the storm dies down a bit." Everyone agreed.

"I need to take a leak. Does that store look open? to you guys" Jake asked

"Doubt it," I said "everything is probably closed down due to the storm" Jake grunted and got out of the car.

"I'll just go behind a tree or something." With that, he walked off. We could barely make out his silhouette, even though he was still close to the car. As I stared out the window, I begin to drift off to sleep. The sound of snow and wind enveloped my mind like some kind of eerie lullaby. As I approached the gates of dreamland, I was violently pulled back to reality when Jake burst into the suburban.

"DRIVE!" He shouted "DRIVE. NOW!" Steven looked at his panicked friend in confusion.

"Woah! We can't drive, do see how dangerous the road is right now? We'll be safer is we stay here."

"NO WE WON'T BE! THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WOODS! DRIVE! NOW!" We were starting to get afraid.

"Are you sure you didn't just see a deer? or something?" Margaret asked, "I'm sure what ever it is can't hold it's own against the suburban."

"DRIVE THE CAR NOW!" Jake yelled, louder this time. Clearly he was not changing his mind regardless what any of us said. Steven started to get angry.

"Dude, what the hell!? Calm your shit!"

"DRIVE! THE FUCKING! CAR!"

The next few seconds were a confusing mess that is still hard to recall. All I can remember is a struggle between Jake and Steven, the suburban hurdling forward at full speed, and a white light. I don't even remember the impact of the crash or remember hearing anyone scream. But I can remember what happened when we all came to.

I looked around to  scanned the inside of the suburban.

"Guys? Is everyone ok?"

"We're ok...I think..." Said Margaret. Her nose was bleeding from smashing her face on the seat inform of her. I'm sure it was broken but the adrenaline was so high that nobody seemed to acknowledge any of their injuries. Steven rubbed his eyes.

"Where the hell is Jake?" He asked. A feeling of panic set in when we notice that the passenger side door had been ripped clean off the car. What was odd, was that the crash could not have nearly been bad enough for something like that to happen. Steven shifted over to the passenger side and climbed out the door. Margaret and I followed. The Storm had subsided and the nice weather had returned. It was the same weather we had experienced the first day on the mountain. This made me feel nauseous. It was like some sick joke. No way a blizzard that bad just disappeared. We stumbled around the rest stop looking for Jake for what seemed like hours. No luck.

"We should check the woods" Steve said "he couldn't have gone that far." Margaret and I nodded.

"One of us should stay here and call 911" Margaret suggested.

"You stay here then and call them" I said  "it will be good if someone is by the car in case Jake comes back too." With those last few words, Steven and ventured into the nearby woods.

It wasn't long before we stumbled across a grizzly scene. A frozen corpse was sitting propped up against one of the trees. It's eyes were gone, it's hair barely visible, but worst of all was it's mouth. A lot of the teeth had rotted or fallen out, but you could still see that the corners were turned up in a smile. It wasn't a creepy smile though, in fact, it was almost peaceful. It looked like whoever this was had greeted death with open arms. Steven and I both got sick as we got closer and saw the body had Jake’s jacket on.

"This...this makes no sense..." I said, my voice quivering in fear as tears ran down my face. "He looks...he looks like he's been dead...for months..." Steven grabbed my hand and pulled my in the direction of the rest stop.

"It’s not him..." he mumbled aggressively "there is NO WAY that is him!" When we got back to the car, the police were already there. We explained what we saw and a team of police officers went in the forest to investigate.

We didn't stick around long enough to see the officers bring the body out of the forest. We were all taken to the hospital to get checked out, and were later picked up by our families.

It's been a week since I got home from the hospital. School starts tomorrow and I'm not sure how I'm going to act. My mom was watching the news earlier and I overheard her and my dad talking. It turns out, the body had been Identified as 18 year old Jake Norton after all. Remember how I said that something about this didn't make sense? I'm not an expert, but I don't think blizzards can age a corpse that quickly. None of the authorities have mentioned anything about it either and have yet to reveal the cause of death to the public. What's also weird, is the car door that was just ripped off like nothing- it was like the hinges were made out of clay... Our car crash definitely didn't cause that, and there's no way the wind was strong enough to tear it off either. And then there's Ani. We still have no idea what happened to her. Could she still be alive? Or did she suffer the same fate as Jake. To be honest, I don't know what's worse at this point. All I can tell you is that the storm has started back up again in town. It's not as bad as it was that day, but it was certainly not in the weather forecast...

Ok. I need to go to bed. If I can. Before I do, there is one last thing that I want to mention. I might be going crazy and it's probably just the wind, but every time I close my eyes, I swear I can hear a voice that sounds like it's right outside my window. It's a girl's voice, and it keeps saying "I’m cold..."

## I'm Sorry by LostWight

I can’t keep this to myself anymore. I need to tell someone what happened that night. For your own safety, you have to listen to me. If you are thinking of taking a camping trip into the mountains this winter, don’t. Please. Don’t even ski. If you do, stay with your group and leave before it gets dark. Otherwise, you’ll end up like Jake.

My Name is Steven Miller and I was one of the five campers . You know the ones. If you haven’t heard about it on the news yet or in in the paper, let me fill you in. Myself, my girlfriend and three of our friends went camping in the mountains about a month ago. Only three of us came back. One of the girls, Anastasia and her boyfriend…my friend…Jake, were both killed. I know everyone who knows the story thinks Ani just disappeared. She didn’t. Just thinking about what happened makes me sick. We were on our way to watch the fireworks in small clearing the girls had found earlier that day. Everything was fine at first. Ani was leading the way and Jake and I were right behind her. The two of us had been drinking, so our judgement was clouded. But we never thought it would lead to this…

While we were walking, Jake told me he was going to play a trick on Ani. I protested but he told me she loved this sort of thing. I should have known that was complete bullshit. I watched as he put his arm around her and whispered something in her ear. The two of them then walked off the path into the woods. Why he didn’t wait until we got to the clearing I have no idea. The whole thing didn’t sit well with me and I know I should have followed them. It wasn’t long before Jake came running out of the woods laughing. He said that he told her he would be right back and it was now my job to scare the girl. I told him absolutely not and he responded by saying I was lame and no fun. I knew he was drunk but this was going to far. I managed to talk him out of the whole thing and he lead me to the spot where he left her. This is when my heart sunk and a feeling of dread started to pulse through my whole body.

The fold out chair that she had been carrying was bloody and completely torn to shreds. But there was no sign of Ani. No footprints, no sign of a struggle (other than the chair), nothing. Jake and I ran out of there as fast as we could. How did we not hear anything? Who or what could have done this to her? Before we reached the campsite, Jake turned to me and told me to keep my mouth shut about him leaving Ani in the woods. I asked him about the chair. Surely the police would find it eventually and see that it was hers. After that, it would only be a matter of time before they put the pieces together. Jake started to shake and tears were running down his face. When we got back to camp, he completely broke down. I’m sure the girls thought this was because he had lost his girlfriend. I knew it wasn’t. Jake was scared that he was going to be pinned for murder. Even though Ani’s body wasn’t there, there was no way she survived. Whatever it was that found her, took her body with it.

After days of looking, the search parties had to stop due to a major storm that was rolling in. We had to get home too. I was in charge of getting us all home safely…I’m such a failure… I was only able to drive for a few miles before the storm became too much and I had to pull into a rest stop. Jake got out of the car to use the bathroom. He was only gone for a few minutes before he came running back. He kept yelling at me to drive and get out of there. I wasn’t going to. He was crazy! I tried to calm him down but something had him so scared that nothing any of us said helped. He finally managed to reach over, shift my suburban out of park and step on the gas. Between the snow and the general chaos, this sent us flying right into a tree.

I was barely conscious when I looked up from the steering wheel. Jake’s leg was broken and I could have sworn I even saw bone sticking out. I watched in horror as the passenger side door was ripped off and Jake was pulled out. That’s when I saw something that haunts me to this very day. I honestly thought I was dreaming. There, standing over Jake's body in the middle of the parking lot was the apparition of a girl in a beret and cape style coat. My eyes closed but before I drifted off, I remember thinking that Ani was wearing a beret and the same coat the day she went missing.

## Ani by LostWight

I’m slowly losing my mind. It’s been snowing in town for over a month non-stop. School was cancelled and nobody is on the road. I feel so trapped and helpless. Everything came to a head yesterday... when I saw her. Anastasia Morozov, or as we all knew her, “Ani”, had been missing for about a month now and nobody could find any trace of her. Steven told me what happened that night in the mountains. How he and Jake just left her in the woods, all for some stupid prank. Here I was thinking she got kidnapped, or mauled by a wild animal. But no. The truth, or what I believe to be the truth, is a million times worse.

Last night, I had been talking with Kate over the phone about the incident. There was not much else for us to talk about honestly. We had been stuck in our houses for so long, we were sure our minds were slowly deteriorating. She told me how every night she would hear a voice just outside her window, but that was all it was. Just the voice of a girl saying, “I’m cold…” I’m not one to believe in the supernatural, so I just told her it was her imagination running wild from being cooped up for so long. Kate was going to tell me I was right, until she paused. She told me she was hearing it again. That voice. This time, however, I could hear it too. Kate said she would be right back and put down the phone. All I could hear was static, like something was interfering with our signal. Suddenly, our connection was dropped completely and I couldn’t call her back. I just figured the storm was the cause of this and went downstairs to watch TV.

Our house was cold, even with the heat cranked all the way up. My dad was outside shoveling, which was honestly pointless considering how hard the snow was coming down. I think he was just going as crazy as I was being stuck inside. I was about to turn on the TV, when I heard a knock at our back door. It was soft, almost like whoever was behind the door was actually afraid someone would answer it. I could still hear the sound of my dad grunting and swearing in our front yard, so I knew it wasn’t him. It knocked again. Now I was scared. I ran to the front door and swung it open. I yelled to my dad that someone was around back, and he told me he would go look.

I could hear his footsteps in the snow walking around the side of our house. After some time, he tapped on one of the windows and shrugged. There was nobody there. All of a sudden, I began to felt weak, like all of the energy was slowly being sucked out of my body. I went upstairs to lay back down in bed, but when I reached the door to my room, the doorknob was completely frozen. I panicked thinking the window in my room flew open or something and I would be greeted by a giant snowdrift instead of my bead. I pulled the sleeve of my sweatshirt over my hand and opened the door. You know that feeling: when you think you’re hallucinating and, for a moment, all time seems to just stop? That’s what I felt when I opened the door to the girl standing in my room. My mind was filled with a mixture of horror and confusion as I took a step forward.

I called out to the girl, something I instantly regretted when she turned around. Her skin was a blue gray and she had a pair of piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a cape-style coat that almost completely covered up her thin leggings and boots. The most distinguishing factor, however, was the dark gray beret she wore on her head. I knew instantly that this girl… was Ani. She looked at me and smiled.

“Hi Margaret,” she cooed. Her voice was ethereal and disembodied.

I stood there in shock. My heart was stuck in my throat and I wanted to scream and cry all at the same time, but I couldn’t. I wanted to hug her and tell her we missed her, but something about her now terrified me. Ani moved closer to me.

“Do you want to see?”

I started to regain feeling in my body and managed to answer. “See… what?” I asked, consumed by fear.

I never should have answered. I should have ran as fast as I could out of that house with my dad and just drove. Ani was closer now, so close that I could feel her icy breath on my face.

“See what they did to me?” she said in a low, ghostly voice.

I didn’t get the chance to respond as Ani’s face began to change. Her skin started to rot off sides of her face and her eyes fell out leaving nothing but, sad, dark, empty sockets. I started to cry and fell to the ground. This wasn’t her, but at the same time it was.

“I’m… so sorry, Ani…” I choked, half stricken with this painful sadness the gnawed at my throat, as well as this intense fear that my life was going to end then and there.

The undead girl, or whatever she was, looked down at me. She put her ice cold hand on my shoulder. “I’m cold, Margaret,” She hissed in my ear.

Her voice sounded evil. Nothing like the sweet girl I had attended school with for four years. I looked up into those dead, abyssal eyeholes. An earie, pale, blue glow began to emanate from inside her body like some sort of twisted soul trying to escape.

“I’m cold,” she hissed again, more aggressive than before.

Her grip on my shoulder tightened and I thought she was breaking through my skin. I closed my eyes and screamed in pain as I summoned what remained of my strength to flail my body, in hopes that I might break free. I felt the pressure disappear but the pain still remained. I opened my eyes and searched frantically around my room for a sign of Ani, but, she was gone. That, was last night.

My parents took me to the hospital this morning when I showed them my wounded shoulder. When we got to the hospital, the doctor confirmed that I had a severe case of frostbite. I just told him I was outside and wasn’t dressed properly. I’m not sure what else I could have said, even that sounded a little strange as it was in such an odd place. I was given medicine for nerve pain, and instructed on what do to do take care of it. Luckily, they told me I should be fine which did give me a sense of momentary relief. That feeling has long since passed, however. I’m petrified that the ghost, zombie, whatever the hell Ani had become, is going to come back for me. I still don’t know how she got in the house in the first place. Hopefully I’ll hear from Kate soon. I haven’t heard from her since we got disconnected. Every time I try and reach her, all I can hear is that same, distant, ghostly static.

## The Wight by LostWight

My grandmother would always tell me ghost stories when I was young boy. She would tell me why I would always wake up at 3am with a heavy weight on my chest, or why I would hear the walls creek in the winter. Now that I’m older, I know that these stories of hers could be explained with things like sleep paralyses or the heat coming on in an old house. But there was one story she told me that I have yet to debunk.

“Never wander off alone on a cold winter night” she would say. To anyone with half a brain, this should already be obvious for many different reasons, none of which are supernatural. However, when she continued with her cautionary tale, the consequences were not what you might have expected. “For if you stray away from your family and friends, you will fall victim to the snow and HE will find you.”

“W-who?” I asked in a shaky voice.

“He who breaths tainted life into what has long since perished. The necromancer who lives beneath the ice.”

“W-what will he do?”

“What he does is unspeakably horrific” she said, her mouth twisting up into a sinister grin “when he finds you, wandering alone in his domain, he will pierce your heart with his cold, icy claws. But the nightmare does not end here. After you are dead, he will bring you back as his undead slave, a cold, mindless zombie, a Wight!” This is typically where my parents would step in and tell my grandmother she was scaring me. She would continue with these stories up until the day she died, but never did admit to any of them being fiction.

When I got older, my grandmother’s stories began to fade into the back of my mind. In truth, I never really thought about them at all, until recently. I was a junior in college and lived with my girlfriend at the time, Jessica, in a small apartment in Northern Massachusetts. During winter break, we decided to go on a ski trip together. Nothing fancy, just a weekend trip. As we were packing the last of our gear into my car, my girlfriend hesitated for a moment.

“Is everything ok?” I asked, thinking that maybe she was having second thoughts.

“Yea, I’m fine,” she said “It’s just, someone said something really weird to me in class the other day, and it’s just been bugging me.” I turned to her after making sure the last of our belongings were safely in the trunk.

“Can you tell me what? I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” She looked up.

“They told me that those mountains are haunted by a girl that died there a couple of years ago.” It took me a moment to think about what she said. It was true that a young girl did go missing a few years back and one of her friends was later found dead, but I had never heard any ghost stories involving the incident or those mountains.

“Don’t let them scare you” I said with a smile “they probably just wanted some attention.” She looked at me, reassured, and gave me a kiss.

“I guess you’re right. After all, I have you to protect me.” With that, I gave her a hug and we were on our way.

We reached our destination after a couple of hours. It had begun to snow, but nothing that would hinder our ability to ski. After a quick lunch, we headed out to complete our first run of the day. When we got to the top of the ski lift, we made our way to a trail marked with a green square.

“Ready to go?” I asked, readjusting my goggles.

“Lead the way!” Jessica replied, “just stop halfway down in case I fall behind.”

The trail wasn’t challenging at all, but I figured we might have wanted to start off easy. After all, neither of us had skied in over two years, so I was convinced we’d be rusty. It was just like riding a bike. After I got the hang of it again I was finding every little bump I could to jump off. Since it was a beginner trail though, they were hard to find. I slid to a stop at the halfway point. Jessica was nowhere in sight. I knew she was a strong skier, so wasn’t really worried about her falling or getting hurt on such an easy run.

Ten minutes passed, no Jessica. Twenty minutes passed, still no Jessica. After a half an hour of waiting, I knew something was seriously wrong. I took my skis off and walked up the mountain. There was no sign of her at all. Nobody even looked concerned like they might have if they saw her crash. It was almost as if she just vanished. With no luck, I put my skis back on and returned to the lodge. I told staff what happened but, even after hours of searching, even they couldn’t find her. I felt like I was living in a bad dream. This was the kind of thing that happened in movies, but never in real life. Before it got too dark. I decided to try my luck and search by the woods near the lodge.

“Jessica!” I yelled “Jessica! Where are you!” No answer. I was blinded by my determination and before I knew it I was so deep into the snow and trees I had no idea how to get back. It started to get dark. I was scared, not only for what might have happened to my girlfriend, but for myself. I was lost in the woods at night during the winter. I was an adult and was taught to believe in logic. But for some reason, I couldn’t get my dead grandmother’s voice out of my head.

“Never wander off alone on a cold winter night. For if you stray away from your family and friends, you will fall victim to the snow and HE will find you.” I felt like I was going insane. Why was I so scared of this made up creature more than something that made sense like lack of food or a wild animal. All of a sudden, I heard a soft voice that brought me back to reality.

“I’m cold…” It said. For a second, I thought maybe it was Jessica.

“Jessica!? Is that you!” I should have run. I should have got out of those woods as soon as I felt the fear manifest inside my chest.

“I’m cold.” The voice repeated, only this time, it was louder. It wasn’t Jessica. The voice sounded ethereal. I felt like a small animal trapped in cage just waiting for my inevitable demise. It was then, that I locked eyes with a young girl. For a moment, time stood still, and the world seemed to go quiet. The girl was wearing a long coat and what looked like a beret. Her hair was short and blended in with the snow. What shook me to my core though, were her eyes. They were nothing but black sockets with glowing blue orbs in the middle. If it wasn’t for the eerie blue light they emitted, I would have never seen the body crumpled in a heap in front of her. It was Jessica.

“J-Jessica?” I choked and fell backwards onto a nearby tree trunk. My whole body was numb. I truly felt as though this was the end. But the girl never moved. She just stood there above Jessica’s body, those horrible, blue lights not once taking their gaze off me. I stumbled, regaining feeling in my legs and started running. I had no idea where I was or if I would get out alive. Eventually, by some miracle, I made it out of those woods to the lodge.

I told the police what I saw that night. Well, some of what I saw anyways. I left out the part about the girl. They found Jessica’s body but never released a report of what caused her death. I took a semester off after the incident. My professors were understanding and told me to take care of myself.

It’s been a year since all of this happened. I’m doing well in school and even managed to land a part time job at the café by my apartment. People think I’m crazy when I tell them what I truly believe is lurking in those mountains and, frankly, I don’t blame them. So, for the fun of it, I’ll tell you my theory. That girl who went missing was the one I saw that night, standing over Jessica’s body. She fell victim to the snow and HE found her. He who breaths tainted life into what has long since perished. The necromancer who lives beneath the ice. What he did was unspeakably horrific. When he found her, wandering alone in his domain, he pierced her heart with his cold, icy claws. But the nightmare did not end there. After she died, he brought her back as his undead slave. A cold, mindless zombie… a Wight.