Snow And Trees Background Novels & Stories

The cold wasn’t biting so much as it was consuming. It was the kind of cold that didn’t bite at your skin but slipped under it, entering into your bones and soul. Snow covered the evergreen trees outside like sugar on pastries, the skies were a pale blur of lavender and silver.

No one was going to take it from me again. I padded out across the center park of campus. When I got to the middle, amongst several bare, skinny trees, I looked up. The snow was coming more rapidly now, though not enough to make me want to leave it. Each flake felt like it was cooling the burning growing inside me. I let me eyes close once again as I smelled the deep mahogany of the trees surrounding me. “Smith,”

Snow blanketed the earth that evening, a soft white sheet brushing over every crooked rooftop and blade of grass. The ground glittered silver and iridescent, the cold air so sharp and clean it almost felt new. Somehow, winter just made the world more beautiful. Like it was forgiving. The icicles that hung from the twisted tree branches shimmered in the setting sun, catching every last trace of light. The lake at the center of the forest, oddly enough, hadn't frozen. It was still and glassy, reflecting the moonlight perfectly. That had to be my barrier—there was no other explanation.

I let it bring me back down to earth. I feel lighter. There’s not as much pressure on my chest and the voices in my head have quieted. I guess all I needed was to scream it out. I look up and realize that’s not all I needed. Apparently, I needed a lot more than that. In a perfect circle around me, the ground and trees are covered in a thin layer of ice. The trunks and branches are glistening under the sun and everything is crystal clear and sparkling. The floor of the forest is a sheet of ice, slick and shiny. Bugs and leaves fall to the ground that were caught in the wave.

Instead of darkness, the only thing that comes is a bright zap of color and shape that immediately takes form. I'm in a forest, but it's much more different from the ones I have been in. This one is not full of trees. The sky is not covered in a canopy of leaves and branches. It's open to me, a soft sloping dome of fluffy white clouds with a gentle blush of blue. Snow is falling on me like little cotton wisps, landing on my face like kisses as I look up. The ground is also covered in snow, crunching under my feet. The roots and the empty branches of trees are the only stark contrast in the land of white, breaking through the color like little veins.

The temperature had reached ninety-eight degrees, and even if people could survive that kind of heat, living cells and newly developed drugs definitely could not. The machines that recorded all the lab data needed electricity as well. I hurried to find the backup generator so I could restore power to the equipment. I was digging around for the storage room key when my girlfriend sent me a message. [What are you looking for?] I pulled the key out of the drawer and casually replied: [Looking for the key. I'm going to get the backup generator running.]

While it was supposed to snow soon, the sky was clear and just starting to show signs of sundown. Mrs. St James turned off the main road and wove through the trees. It was so densely forested that I lost sight of the castle for a moment. When the trees finally broke, my eyes widened. It was so much bigger up close. The enormity of it made my blood run cold. There were four people waiting out front of the double-door entrance that had to be over ten feet tall.

Blaine usually went out with a group of five to go hunting to bring the max amount of food back, however today him and the missus got into a big fight, so he left by himself. I watched as he traveled to the east end of the forest. It had the most game over here, most days we had rabbit, some good days we’d eat deer, elk, and buck. Allison helped by bringing some chickens, so we aren’t short on much. I sat 200 yards back, and watched through my scope. My 308 was my best. I never missed a shot with it. I watched as he sat still waiting for the doe to cross his sights one more time.

Now, the question was just where would it take me? I soon found out. As things slowly slowed down around me, I found myself in a much healthier version of the forest that I’d just left. The bark on the trees was strong and rich in color. The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, with only patches of bare earth scattered in places where evergreens resided instead of the trees that shed their leaves while they lay in dormant respite for the winter months.

The only sounds are those of my own breathing and that of Michael and my Master to either side of me. Trying to clamber out from between without disturbing them, I get out of bed and pad across the thick carpet to look out. Then, drawing the curtains, I see a dazzling white world. Everything is shrouded in snow; deeply too, judging by the smoothly mounded humps and hummocks where normally would be walls, garden seating and shrubs. There´s not a breath of a breeze and so the snow clings even to the tiniest twigs and branches, turning the leafless trees to a filigree of white lace set against a pure blue cloudless sky.