Taking a midnight drive is so relaxing. The freedom you feel, the emptiness you see. It can be a very calming experience and can really reset your view.

In the wee hours of the night, you’re able to just focus on what’s ahead of you.

But tonight? Tonight a blizzard struck. It was freak, and the weathermen predicted the weather wrong. As is usual for the unpredictable patterns of the Midwest. Driving your car, in the middle of nowhere two hours away from home in the middle of a freezing blizzard is terrifying enough as it is. But when you add on the fact that someone is following you, that takes the cake.

Now in any normal situation you’d be able to lose a pursuer easy, but not quite so when you can’t drive above 40mph without sliding. Your phone is at 10% and your charger doesn’t work in your car. After what seemed like hours you finally were able to find an open gas station. The flickering lights mixed with the snow cover gave it an eerie atmosphere. Not knowing what else to do, you run in and run to the bathroom to hide. Not looking to see if you were followed in. You get on one of the toilet seats and you stand there.

Suddenly, a knock on the door sends you into a spiral.

The neighbours to the right left a week ago. All we knew was that they were going to have a hunting adventure for the winter holiday; as the first layer of snow covered our village, they packed and headed for a road trip, somewhere to the vast forests further to the north. With only an empty warehouse inhabited by a loony still close by, it didn't exactly feel safe. Every night, I stared at the windows of our normal neighbours house. It gave me reassurance, albeit they remained dark and covered. The deer pattern on the curtains was something I knew, something I could count to fall asleep.

But as my eyelids started falling tonight, the light behind suddenly went on.

A silhouette of a body with an elongated jaw and deer antlers appeared and the animalistic bulky hands raised to pull the curtains open.

The being glared at me, blood and pieces of flesh dropping from its monstrous smile.

I woke up, quite certain I have merely dreamt. Even if the open curtains indicated otherwise. An overwhelming hunger pushed me to get out of the bed. Time for some late night snacking! Something surely smelled delicious-

The body parts of my parents were scattered on the floor, huge chunks already missing. A predator must have wandered from the woods to attack us; but I couldn't cry.

My heart felt ice-cold, immobilized. The hunger was taking over every emotion I could have. Hungry, so hungry. And this meat sure looked delicious...

Having devoured enough to cope, I raised my head. From the mirror on the wall, a horrifying creature stared back at me. Blood and pieces of flesh dropping from its monstrous smile.

From the outside, I could hear the lunatic next door scream.

"Wendigo! The winter curse! Beware"

The sleigh runner hit the rock and busted loose immediately. I pulled the horse to a stop in deep snow. The runner was too damaged to fix. Damn. I patted the horse and unhooked him, I would ride the rest of the way. It was snowing. Everything was eerily silent.

The attack came suddenly, violently. Not even the horse knew the creature was there. The wolf was white like snow and huge. I was on the ground instantly and couldn’t breathe. Dazed, I saw my horse running away. It was then I felt the hot breath, smelled the stench of rotting flesh. The wolf stood menacingly above me. My knife out of reach, I was finished.

The wolf’s jaws opened impossibly wide. I was going to be torn apart. As I covered my face, a loud crack pierced the air. Something warm splattered my arms and face. I opened my eyes and looked up. The wolf was gone and I was covered in blood. Shaking, I eased up on an elbow. Ten feet away the wolf lay dead, half of it’s head missing.

A bearded man stood over me. “Help you up?”, he asked. He carried a rifle which he placed against a tree and pulled me up with powerful arms. “Been hunting this ghost for weeks. Was at the bend back yonder when he hit you. Good thing or you’d been murdered, just like my Jenny. Come back to the cabin, warm up. I’ll skin this devil later.”

Dumbfounded, still scared, I managed, “Thank you.”

The stranger who had just saved my life smiled, tears in his eyes, grabbed his rifle, patted me heartily on the shoulder and said, “Gladly. Gladly.” He looked up into the trees, his voice breaking, “I got the ghost Jenny. I got the bastard.”

All day, ever since I first noticed them, I have been talking to myself about anything and everything – the laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning, the snow that won’t stop falling – whatever comes to mind. I speak aloud although I am alone in order to give an air of normalcy to my world. But nothing is as it seems.

At night, in bed, desperate to sleep and forget, I cannot help but feel the cold fingers of fear creep along my skin. Peering into the dark, I watch in horror as the shadows shift and move, though no light shines through my shuttered windows. As they inch towards my bed, I can feel my body drenched in cold sweat. They pause and I wonder if they have smelled my fear. In a flash, they seem to grow and pulse and almost shimmer. I want to be anywhere but where I am, but I am paralyzed with fear. Until I hear a whisper of nothing in the shimmering blackness beyond the edge of my bed.

I leap, screaming. There is no one to hear. I run through a flickering wall of shifting shadows to my door. As I open it, I feel a snakelike movement creeping up my feet. I jump. The shadows fly out at me from all sides as I dart towards the door to my home. I open it, heedless of the snowy night.

Alas, the shadows are not confined to my home. They are behind me, in front of me, within me. Slowly, the vine-like tentacles encircle my legs. I fall into the snow. I try to use my arms to drag myself away, but I feel the icy darkness seep into my skin, taking hold of my heart and squeezing.

Now, she is one with us.

She lay on the cold, dark ground motionless. The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow echoed through the black abyss of the night. What’s happening? Will my friends come back? She felt the rush of shivers flow through her body but she dared not let her body move. The slightest twitch would get her caught.

Stomp. Stomp. STOMP.

The tall menacing figure's boots lingered next to her face. Luckily the car she was under blocked her body from being seen, but he still had impeccable hearing. Breaths shallow, she stared in horror at her tormentor. He moved slowly but with purpose. Where were her friends? Tied up, passed out? Dead? She didn't know, but all she could think about was the boot next to her face and how at any second she could be caught as well.

And then she felt the sneeze coming on. Trying to hold her breath as the boots began to stride away, there was a shift.

THUNK

Her boot hit the bottom of the car and caught his attention. Hoping he didn't notice, she curled into a smaller ball. The cold seeping through her skin and into her bones. As she felt the hands around her ankles she realized how light and giddy she suddenly felt. He pulled her out from under the car and she saw the starry night sky and how pretty everything was. This euphoria made her giggly with delight as his warm arms wrapped around her body and a white mask that smelled good was placed upon her face.

Such a pretty, pretty night indeed was her last thought before her consciousness sunk as deep as the snow.

I died 3 months ago. November 7th, 1981. The woman who killed me shot me three times in the back. I don't blame her, anymore. She was crazy, it was really dark. But she didn't know what to do.

one snowy night she took my body out of the oiler she used to keep the smell away from her husband. She threw me in Lake Margurite of the side of the highway. I sunk at first because she tied rocks to my legs. That night the top of the lake froze me in.

Today. Three little boys were playing on the thick ice of Lake Margurite. Running around on the ice slowing making it crack. One of them slips and falls into the freezing lake below. My body slowly floats to the top and hits his foot and his friends help him climb out. They see my face float about the water in the hole of the ice. They let out a scream that is heard even over the highway noise.

i didn't know I was that scary.

I doesn’t have the same thrill that it used to. The same... excitement. The blood no longer bothers me as it drips from a lifeless corpse. I remember when it used to be fun, when it was thrilling, but now... now I feel nothing. Only yesterday, during the night when the moon was barely young, I followed a young lady into her house. When she turned and saw me she tried to scream, but they never learn and I threw her lifeless body into the snow. I heard her husband call out for her, and I followed the noise. Turning the corner, he saw me and ran for the kitchen. Probably trying to grab a knife to fight with, so predictable. I pulled out my silenced gun and shot him 4 times, watching his body lay still on the floor. I did not move until I saw him laying in a pool of his own blood. I continued upstairs. The sound of guns being shot was heard all throughout the hallway, a male playing video games no doubt. I followed the noise to a room with a grown teenager on the verge of smashing his remote. He noticed me, and he began to cry. He begged for his life, he asked me to spare him. I left his room and continued to search the house. I found a small baby sleeping, I scooped her up and walked back to the teenager’s room. “You or her” I said. Humans, so predictable. He cried, begging for me to kill the baby, not him. I set the baby down and walked towards him, grabbing him by the throat, I strangled him until his entire body collapsed. I then walked out of the house, with a crying baby. It’s just too predictable, too easy.

Charlie pulled the parka tighter around his slim body and ran through the blinding snow. He was the only one left now. He didn’t see what took his friends, all he saw was a bright red flash of light then the screams. Screams that he knew he would never forget. That red light, could the legends be true? He pushed the thought from his mind and ran on.

Finally! He saw the soft warm glow of the light in the cabin window. Only fifty yards more. He pushed himself to ran faster.

Wham! He felt something heavy slam into his back, knocking him face first into the snow. He groggily turned over and his eyes widened in shock and fear.

The legend was true. It made a weird kind of sense, he thought. Rudolph existed, so why not his evil twin? For every beacon of hope and light in the world there also existed a beacon of despair and darkness. That was what Charlie faced now.

He got to his feet and started backing away from the pawing, growling reindeer. Just when he thought he escape into the cabin, the reindeer’s red nose glowed bright. Surprised by the unexpected light, Charlie raised his arms to shield his eyes. The last thing he felt was the reindeer’s razor-sharp antlers piercing his body.

Khristoff, the Red-nosed Terror of the North had claimed yet another victim.

It’s been four hours since my car broke down and not one other car has come by.

I knew I should have had the heater in this car replaced and why I never did, is beyond me. It’s freezing out there. Has to be a good ten degrees below zero by now and will drop even more before the nights over.

What makes this worse, I didn’t bring any gloves, not even a scarf or hat. Thank goodness I thought to wear my parka but even that can’t keep the cold chill at bay.

But where the hell is everyone tonight? Usually, I’ll see a good amount of traffic both ways, but no, not tonight of all nights.

If someone doesn’t come along before too long, I could freeze to death out here and—what was that? Thought I heard something, almost like a baby crying. Ain’t no babies outside on a night like this and—there it goes again, only closer.

Better roll down my window and take a quick look. Don’t want to leave it down too long since its windy as hell and—oh no! It’s a Kodiak bear! No way! Don’t bears hibernate in winter?

He’s just wandering around, moaning, as if he’s lost or something and—my god! He just nudged the back end of the car! Now he’s banging on it! What! Oh, I can’t believe he thinks this is a place where he can come in out of the cold? Or had he seen me? Bears can smell real good.

He’s scraping the back of the car to my door and he’s stopped! Now he’s roaring, and his paws are hammering against the window and it’s starting to crackle, but where can I go! Not out there!

Window smashed in, he’s reaching for me and ...

Chomping at the bit, the mongrel stares at me with its cool amber eyes. He is salivating at the sight of his prey, and his claws stretch outwards ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Sadly for it, I came prepared. My rifle trained on the soft fur at its nape. The rush of adrenalin reminding me I’m alive. This is the life! Man vs nature in the frosted forest, barreling down towards the edge of death! I felt young again.

Though the wolf gives pause, we’ve been at this standstill for hours. My hands are slowly atrophying in the freezing temperatures even underneath my cloth gloves. A waiting game is it? Little do you know that I once sat solitarily in harsher places than this! Snarl all you want, you’ll never get me to budge from this spot.

You are just a job to me, my dear wolf. I can’t have you ruining anymore herds, you understand. Your stalemate just means supper will be running late and I once survived without eating for two days in a stalemate much direr than this. I could care less about your glossy stare, the type of stare that is so deep that it is…looking through me.

I ease the finger on the trigger. The wolf was never looking at me. Chills ran down my spine, the fierce realization that I was simply in the middle of a different stalemate sinking in. It feels great to be alive! Whatever hell beast stands behind me, I shall take it head on! Swiftly cocking my head backwards, there it was. Razors…endless and encompassing within a bottomless void. The soft smell of metal enters my nose as my eyes start to lose sight.

Crunch…

Forgive me wolf, for we shall both die in the glistening snow…