Haylee dashed across the road, her feet sliding through the slush that filled the streets. She leaped onto the sidewalk with her backpack jumbling on her back. From there, she trudged across the sidewalk at a brisk pace. Haylee turned sharply and walked between lines of houses, aiming for the trees who's fluffy tops were just peeking over the roofs of the homes.

She didn't normally walk through the woods. In fact, she preferred not to. Today she slept through her alarm, making her late. So, in order to get to the bus stop in time she had to unless she wanted to be left on the side of the road. So off she went straight into the woods, blanketed in snow.

After about 10 minutes of shuffling through the woods, she finally spotted the bus stop up ahead filled with students bundled in warm clothes. Delighted that she didn't miss the bus, she smiled and continued to walk forwards.

Haylee then heard a twig snap behind her. She froze in her tracks, thinking it was a bear or just one of her friends sneaking up on her. Haylee whipped around to see nothing but endless trees and fluffy snow. Shrugging it off, she turned back around and headed toward the bus stop. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow slinking towards her.

Before Haylee could react the thing sprinted towards her at an impossible speed. It knocked her to the ground and she screamed, the bitter cold air burning her throat. Whatever it was gone, almost as if it was never there.

Intense pain came from her neck so she brought her trembling fingers to the spot of the pain. When she gazed at her fingers, she realized that blood covered them, staining the snow red. Haylee shrieked as the pain intensified and spread through her body rapidly. Her whole body started to convulse. Her flailing legs and arms were digging at the snow. Haylee's eyes rolled back into her head and foam spluttered out of her mouth.

Soon, some of the kids came running into the woods, abandoning the bus stop entirely. They immediately spotted Haylee and sprinted over to her. Now, her neck was gushing blood. Haylee's best friend Tori screamed and knelt at her side, one of her hands clasped with Haylee's and the other pressing on her neck in an attempt to slow the bleeding.

One of the kids had a phone pressed to her ear and was frantically talking to the person on the other line, which was 911. Haylee was still spasming on the ground.

Tori was muttering, "Stay with me… Come on Haylee."

Haylee felt like she was burning even though she was lying in the snow. Her blood seemed to be boiling beneath her skin. It also felt like she was lying on millions of needles and they were jabbing into her back and piercing her skin.

Finally the paramedics arrived. The struggled to wheel a stretcher through the trees to the group of kids but they did so anyways. A few men hoisted Haylee up and trudged back to the ambulance. After shoving her into the car they drove away, sirens wailing. All of the kids who stayed behind had missed the bus and never showed up for school that day. This was not because they missed the bus; it was because of what happened to one of their own. Because of what happened to Haylee Burnheart.