Once Upon A Night

The Vermont night was eerily lit from the reflected moon off the snow. The wind was still this eve; however, the air was bitterly cold. The small cabin nestled in the valley emitted smoke from its chimney in a steady stream. Lights were on in the cottage as its single occupant lost the battle to sleep and resigned herself to read a book in the sitting room. Her dark mane spilled over the back of the wooden rocking chair and one pink flannel knee was stuck up in the chair. Lazily, the woman reached back and pulled a strand of hair to manipulate with her fingers while she continued to read.

The grandfather clock near the fireplace started to chime out the hour of midnight.

Kate looked at the clock and stretched her minute body. She glanced at the book in her hand and frowned. The text blurred and then became clear as her eyes tried to focus once more on the words. Her nights dragged by so long because of her inability to sleep. She had been plagued by insomnia for the past two weeks, ever since Stu had left. Her body and mind were so tired, but neither would allow her the blessing of sleep.

A noise outside startled her and she jumped from her chair.

The motion lights were on outside and she could easily see out onto her front yard. She scanned the snow covered lawn to see if a raccoon had gotten into her garbage. Perhaps a deer had wandered into her yard. No movement caught her eye and she started to relax when her eyes found a snowman sitting in the dark.

"What the heck," she thought. "Who would have made a snowman here on my lawn?" This was baffling to Kate as her closest neighbor was three miles away.

She could remember vaguely the wet snow that had fallen the day before and how she had wished she had enough energy to make a snowman. Snowmen always filled her with joy as they made her think of childhood. Kate was disturbed that she could not remember actually going outside yesterday, not to mention make a snowman.

"I'm really losing it," she moaned.

She started to turn from the window when a movement by the snowman caught her eye. Kate watched the snowman, anticipating a wild critter to run from behind it.

No movement.

The outside light went off, and she gasped in surprise.

Even without the light being on, Kate found that she could easily see the snowman and the surrounding forest behind him and on all sides.

Shrugging it off, she went back to her rocker and covered herself with a quilt. She picked up her book and tried to focus on the content.

The motion light came on behind her. She tried to center on the book instead of hopping up to investigate. The words started leaning off the page. After she replaced a bookmark, she snuggled into the quilt cocoon further.

She sensed someone staring at her.

Throwing the blanket off and rising fast, the closed book fell to the floor. Kate scanned the lit night for the creature staring at her. Only the snowman stared back. Was the snowman closer to the house? Why would anyone make a snowman with it facing the house? Her chest tightened.

She walked to her front door and turned on the outside lights illuminating the entire front yard. She threw open the door and stepped outside making as much noise as possible to scare away any animals. She howled into the night to add ruckus. Her eyes scanned the yard for the scurrying of a nocturnal visitor.

The snowman winked at her.

Startled, her body ticked once. The expression "huh?" escaped her lips. She slammed the door shut. She leaned back on the shut door and closed her eyes. "Sleep, I need sleep," she said to herself. Barefoot, she went into the kitchen to start some water for hot chocolate. She kept herself busy by pulling out a cup from the cabinet and a spoon from the drawer. Next she opened the refrigerator to grab out the milk, but when she shut the appliance Stu was staring back at her.

She pulled the picture off as she placed the milk on the counter. She traced his smile with her finger. She closed her eyes and held the picture close to her heart with both hands over it. Tears escaped from the closed lids and meandered down her cheek. She pressed her lips to the picture and replaced it back on the refrigerator.

The light was on again in the front yard she noticed immediately upon entering the sitting room. Attention instantly went to the snowman.

It was closer.

She pressed her forehead to the window and examined the snowman. He wore what looked like a hunter's cap on his round head. Coal eyes stared back. A carrot protruded from his face while more coal was used to make a semi circle underneath. Three shiny red buttons were along the front. Two ragged branches were on either side of him serving the purpose of upper extremities. The branches split into five appendages. On one side, the appendages were caught in a rather large icicle.

The pane started to frost over from her breath, and she pulled back to wipe off the solid mist. As her fingers passed in front of her eyes to clear the window, she shuddered asking herself, "is it closer?"

She went to the door and threw it open. Blindly with her feet, she found her boots by the door and put her bare feet into them. Her hands found her jacket and she pulled that on as well. She stepped out onto the ground, the snow crunching under boots. "Enough was enough," she thought.

In a few strides she was less than a yard away from the balls of snow that were terrorizing her. The hunter's hat he wore appeared dirty and torn. The snowman's smile seemed to curve up more. The icicle in one of his hands appeared to be like a dagger pointed towards her. Her eyes raced around the area looking for possible footsteps of the person or people who created this monster and the snow that had been used. The snow in her front yard was even and untouched. In fact, only her footsteps created scars on the virgin field of snow.

How was that possible? Had the wind moved it toward her? Where was the wind? Was it real? Where were the footsteps?

Kate reached out an uncovered hand to the snowman to touch it. While just a hand span away, she felt evil reach out. She yanked back her hand. The feeling of dread followed her hand and felt suffocating. Her breath started to come faster. Backing up to get distance between her and the inanimate object, she could feel his eyes following her. Kate turned and ran into her house, slamming the door shut, locking, and then bolting it. Her heart was racing in her chest.

The kettle on the stove started to whistle and Kate screamed loudly. Giggling at herself to try to release stress, she kicked off her boots and hung up her jacket. She jogged into the kitchen and took off the kettle. She continued to laugh at herself while she prepared her hot chocolate, returning the ingredients to the proper home and cleaning up after herself. She giggled while she took her first sip. She giggled and felt safe while away from the eyes of the snowman. She convinced herself that there was no snowman. It was an illusion caused by her inability to sleep. How silly one's mind could be with the lack of sleep. She giggled.

With a smile, Kate started back to her sitting room. Now where had she put her book she thought as she entered.

The snowman was at the window looking in at her.

A scream resounded from her lips and the cup of hot chocolate fell to the floor. The cup shattered on the wooden boards and the hot liquid burned her feet. She ran to the window and closed the drapes hiding from the coal black eyes. She shrank down crying hysterically. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening." she chanted to herself.

Drying her tears with her flannel nightgown, she decided it was time to face the evil snowman. He was outside, she was inside, it could not harm her. She rose from the floor drawing in strength with every breath. She needed a weapon. She marched to the kitchen and pulled open the drawer holding her silver. The drawer fell out and all the silverware fell to the floor. She kneeled and rummaged through to find a knife instead she found an ice pick and felt it was more appropriate to kill a snowman.

She approached the window crouching and slow.

Her fingers traced along the pull cord. One more deep breath.

She opened the drapes, and the snowman was gone.

"Where is it?" she screamed to herself. She frantically searched the yard. Rubbed her eyes and continued to look. Her breath was causing the window to fog up and she wiped off the frozen mist with her free hand. Kate could feel it laughing at her. It's branch fingers clenching the icicle like a weapon ready to strike out at her. She could hear it breathing.

She closed the drapes and backed into a corner. She held the ice pick in front of her warding off the invisible invader. Tears leaked out of her eyes. Slowly she slid down the corner until she was sitting on the floor. She buried her head into her lap, the ice pick still held up but the hand and arm trembling. Her body heaved as she cried in fear.

There was a knock upon the door.

Her head rose, and she stared at the doorknob. With puffy eyes, haggard hair, clothes in disarray, she hiccupped while rising from the floor. Her fingers tightened on the weapon.

Another knock.

In a trance, her hand found the doorknob as she prepared for battle with a deep breath.

With one swift movement, she opened the door and thrust the weapon at the intruder. She released the weapon when she was sprayed with warm liquid. She pulled back her hands to defend her face when she noticed blood on her hands. Kate searched her hand to find the wound but saw none. She looked up and saw Stu stooped over holding his stomach. At his feet, blood dripped onto the snow and a bouquet of red roses.

Kate screamed and welcomed the darkness that engulfed her as she fell to the floor.

Word count: 1800