It was too cold, in that abandoned, private carpark, silent and covered in a pure, white blanket of snow. It only had one path to enter and leave, and surrounded on all sides by garages and backyards, now almost impossible to see through the thick snow. There was a small patch of trees and bushes, also dyed white, tucked away in one corner to conceal the way to the junkyard where only one old man lived.
The town was cold, and small, placed in the middle of the hinterlands, too far away for anyone to bother to visit, abandoned and left to crumble into dust.
It was night time, and a little girl found herself thrown out of her backyard into the cold, told that she was too loud for that night, and that she needed to understand what she had done. Clad only in a light grey coat and threadbare trainers over her pyjamas, she shivered, further pulling her hood over her small face, twisting her tiny frozen hands around her arms, under the sleeves of her coat.
She couldn't feel her feet. She couldn't feel her legs. She couldn't feel her toes - only a painful, dizzying swirling motion where they were supposed to be. It hurt to walk, it hurt even more to run.
She rubbed furiously at her eyes, trying to stop all the tears from pouring, and making her colder than she already was, and felt her fingers slowly began to lock into place. Her world went white, and she wasn't sure if it was because of her crying or because the snow was becoming stronger.
She had to stay near the door, so her parents could let her back inside. She wanted to go over to the trees, and see if the cat was there or not, and if she could hug it warmth, but she needed to stay by the door. She brought her knees up to her chest, trying to make herself as small as she could.
She wondered what would happen if she put her hand into her mouth, just for a bit, only until it got warm enough to move without hurting her. Just for a little while...
And she did so, her teeth suffering the shock, and for a brief moment, freezing her formerly warm tongue to those tiny appendages. Her teeth felt as if there was a knife piercing through them, and into the soft, bloody gums underneath, quickly and harshly, leaving a dull, throbbing ache behind.
The girl held back her screams of pain, and pushed her fingers towards her cheeks, her nails digging in and feeling as if they were wrenching frozen flesh away from the skin. She pulled her fingers back out, and felt blood bubbling in her mouth, her skin tender and ripped open.
She swallowed it down as fast as she could, almost choking out more in the pain of her hurry. Her parents wouldn't like to see the blood on the floor outside or any on her. They didn't like it when she was hurt, and especially when she cried. They would only hit her harder until she stopped crying. Her mother screamed at her, that she was the bad one, and that she wouldn't need this if she was a good girl, that her mother loved her so much, why was she doing this....
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
The snow silently fell on the ground, taking all the sound away, taking all the noise away, and taking away the voices inside the little girl's head.
The snow was so nice, and calm. If she wasn't so cold, she would like to sit here forever. Nobody was here to hurt her, and besides, love didn't exist. She didn't need love, when she had the snow to keep her company.
It was so, so bright, shining back all the light of the single street lamp, bouncing and glowing majestically, taking over her world, becoming all that she could see.
It was starting to become warmer too. She wasn't quite ready to unfurl her body and make a snow angel, or maybe even a snowman like all the other children she saw from her window, during the day, but she felt happy and warm.
A small, muffled creaking noise echoed through the carpark, and the trees in the corner rustled. Some of the snow slid off the leaves as a man, in the darkest coat she had ever seen, stepped out onto the snowy carpark.
He wore a black hat and black gloves too, and had something glinting in his belt, hidden under his coat.
In the light, even that black coat and hat showed itself to be a shining silver, and began to look slightly silly, as snow began to pile up on top and become a mini-mountain. The little girl giggled from her own hovel, the snow collecting up around her and on her as well. She supposed that she probably had a mountain on her as well, and giggled a little harder.
The man looked up at her, and the girl saw that his skin was as white as the snow around him. His eyes met hers and showed them to be a piercing silver, glowing like the cat's eyes did whenever it appeared at night. They were striking and an in that blinding vision, beautiful and shining, they looked like mercury, swirling incandescently as if they really were liquid.
The man began to giggle too, and eagerly made his way towards her, almost bounding and skipping gleefully.
The girl tried to pick herself up, but found her knees locked into place, and her world tilting to the side. She realised distantly that she was falling, but suddenly she felt sturdy hands holding her in place.
The man picked her up and placed her in his arms, and she felt the harsh edge of something long and straight against her leg. She was reshuffled a little in the man's arms to push her leg away from it, and to his warm chest. The girl tucked her head against his neck, finding it to be almost burning. She flinched and almost recoiled from the boiling, radiating heat.
The man pushed her head back into his neck, and whispered in her ear," You need to stay warm," before he picked his head up and looked towards her yard door.
He knocked once, and again several times, louder, much louder, hurting the girl's ears. She was only too eager to burrow herself into the man's skin to get away from that noise.
It almost felt as if she wanted to bury herself into his skin and the snow, placing herself somewhere quiet and warm where she could sleep in peace.
The man slammed the door even harder, but to no avail.
The snow kept falling and quiet returned once more to the carpark.
The girl felt happier, and found that she was enjoying herself here more.
The man stepped away from the door and laid the girl down where she was before. He began burying her in the snow, and she felt as if she was being put to bed, giggling.
"Hey mister, what're you doin' here," her voice slurred sleepily. She felt so warm and tucked in. She watched the light dance of the mirror like object in his belt and discovered that she was too comfortable to reach out and touch it.
She was so, so sleepy.
"I came here to visit an old friend. How about I tell you a bedtime story," he asked, his voice soft and musical, exactly what she imagined whenever a loving grandfather came up in the stories at the nursery.
She nodded, as excitedly as she could, not lifting her chin out from below the snow blanket.
"Once upon a time, there were two friends. They grew up together and were always with each other. When one went to fish in the reservoir, the other went to fish in the reservoir. When one went dancing in the town centre, the other one went dancing in the town centre. As the friends grew up, they started drifting apart. One found that he liked computers and machines more, while the other found that they liked medicine and surgery more. So the friends, made a promise. They would go out into the world and pursue their dreams, deciding to meet after ten years to catch up with the other and show each other what they had accomplished.
After ten years, the friend who liked medicine and surgery returned to the town where they grew up in, and found out that his friend had once been the best mechanic in the town, but had recently lost his job. He went to his friend's house, and found his mother screaming at him angrily. The sad friend ran out of his home, and into the arms of his other friend.
The medicine friend asked the mechanic friend if he wanted to go with him, back to the big city, and to find a job elsewhere. The mechanic friend said that they weren't friends anymore, and that the medicine friend should just leave him alone. The medicine friend became upset and offered the mechanic friend a place to stay, but the mechanic friend refused.
So the medicine friend let his mechanic friend leave, and watched him, from afar. He watched his mechanic friend be rejected, over and over again, until he could no longer bear it. He approached his mechanic friend once more, if he could take him away, and the mechanic friend said yes.
The end."
The girl giggled, her eyes closed, and felt the man stroke her hair. She was just about to float off to sleep when she heard the man whisper," The world is going to regret losing you, you know."
He pressed a warm kiss onto her hair, and caressed her face.
"Sleep tight."
She did notice the red stains from his gloves on that pure, white snow.