Winter #1

"Emily, we have to get out of here! Those people are like crazy, they're screaming to kill you!" exclaimed Amy frantically while pacing in front of the nearly frozen window.

"You're right, the people in this district are crazy!" grumbled Emily irritably. "How can I be killed just because everything I'm worried about actually happened? Am I the cause of all this?" asked Emily irritably as she rubbed her snow-cold face.

"Albert is telling me that I'm a crazy fortune teller, but you know yourself, ma'am, I'm not!" the girl continued in frustration.

"I warned you not to say anything about what you heard, Emily. But you never obeyed," Amy said in despair.

"But I just, ah come on. Mom, we don't have much time to argue about this. Albert could have smashed this window and...," Emily didn't continue, the window of their house was literally smashed right then and there.

The two women looked at each other, then hurriedly grabbed their boots, zipped up their coats and tied their scarves tighter. There was no more time, they had to escape.

Emily never thought things would end like this. As long as she had been living her life alongside her gift of being able to "listen" to the seasons, this had to be the worst. In her attempts to live a normal life, her gift of hearing never let her life run smoothly. There were always unexpected things that arose as a result of her miraculous talent.

As strange as it may sound, when one can have the ability to listen to the snow talking, they will come down with deadly diseases and make the temperature in certain areas reach the most extreme minus. It was horrible. Then, when Emily warned people about all that, when the plague actually broke out she was blasphemed as a bad luck charm. Is there anything more astonishing than that?

Through the back door, with only the bare necessities, Emily and Amy escape the bleak District 19 in the middle of a crazy snowstorm. Riding in a blizzard is never easy, but escaping on just one pair of legs is not a good option at all. With her poor riding skills, the brown-haired girl tried to stay strong, her gaze straight ahead as if fear never existed. Without knowing where she was going, the girl spurred her horse as fast as she could.

It felt like they were already completely away from District 19, the pine trees at the edge of the forest towered high in a magnificent blanket of snow. The song of nature sounded like mocking in Emily's ears, Christmas should bring joy, but Emily did not encounter it this Christmas.

The whinnying sound of the horse Amy was riding stopped Emily's race. In the next second the girl screamed as loud as she could.

"Mommy!" yelled Emily when she saw Amy fall off her horse, her body lying stiffly on the ice. Amy couldn't take another blizzard that bad, her endurance was weak. She froze to death. Or perhaps, the plague had also taken her mother.

From behind, there was a clear sound of hoofbeats and horse whinnying that sent Emily into a panic attack. The dilemma between saving Amy or continuing the journey made her heart feel like it was being stabbed. She knew Amy could no longer be saved, but just leaving her in a place like this was immoral, to say the least.

"Stop!" Albert's shout brought Emily to the realization of her threatened position.

A single tear frozen in the next second, Emily left Amy in deep despair and gaping sorrow. Emily hated winter!

She spurred the horse on like a man possessed, her crying never stopping as she wept for Amy. Should she just die with her mother? What kind of life was worth living when the reason for living was no longer alive? Her memory drifted to the day where it all began.

That afternoon on her gloomy porch, an old man in a moss green sweater knocked on her door.

"Can you give me some food, Miss? I haven't eaten since morning and it looks like my children forgot to prepare food. I feel like I'm dying," the old man complained with a pitiable look.

Emily knew the man, he was Mr. David who lived in the two-story house across the street. His house was too quiet and cold during the day, not even a servant seemed to be seen there. The girl invited her guest to sit down and gave him some warm wheat bread fresh off the grill. What a unique coincidence.

The scent of butter and melted sugar tickled the nose and made the entire stomach clamor for a taste of the sweetness. The old man devoured all the bread Emily served, as if there would be no tomorrow to be able to taste the warm wheat bread again. And sadly, there was no tomorrow for the old man. He died a few hours after reaching his warm bed.

The door of his house was knocked again not long after his first guest left. Without Emily knowing that Mr. David was already dead, she welcomed Albert into her house and gave him a good tongue lashing.

"You poisoned my father, you idiot!" screamed Albert unceremoniously.

"What does that mean?" retorted Emily in a high tone.

"He died after eating your poisoned dish, is it still not clear? I watched from the CCTV, my father went to your house and took a box of bread home with him! You're the prime suspect!" Emily was shocked to hear such a ridiculous accusation.

"The real murderer is you, Mr. Albert. I've warned everyone that this winter will bring a plague that is inhaled with the air, I hope you can listen to me a little and stay at home."

"Bastard! How dare you! What do you know about that crazy plague?" Albert raised his voice. Making Amy walk over to her daughter out of concern.

"I know everything, Mr. Albert! I even know that you deliberately starved your stepfather to hasten his death!" Emily exclaimed with a cold face.

Albert's face turned red at Emily's accusation which was in fact true. Albert wanted the inheritance from his stepfather to fall into his hands as soon as possible and he would try all means including the most cruel ones. However, it was clear that the man did not want to lose his pride.

"Shut your mouth, you bastard, I'll sue you for the attempted murder of my father!"

"Prove it, I'm not afraid. Logically, I would have died too if that bread was really poisoned because I ate it too. But, you see I'm fine now."

Bruk!

The horse Emily was riding tripped over a large rock on the frozen river bank and stopped its race, while Albert was grinning contentedly right behind her.