The bitter blackness of a winter night welcomed her as she stepped outside, heading home. No signs of nightfall's nocturnal life in the city, but that made sense. It was nearly two hours past late and the golden tendrils of daylight were near. She snapped herself out of my reverie, berating herself halfheartedly for dawdling. She started walking, hoping to catch the early train home. The air was a cold caress against her rosy cheeks. She waded through the chill blurriness, grabbing her knit beanie and wrapping her arm around her waist to create a buffer from the wind.
FSSH! A sudden stray gust gave her trouble, knocking her hat completely off and startling her with a slap of bitter cold. She flopped to the frigid ground and straggled to catch her hat dancing down the path, dragging her knees through a slushy puddle. "Just my luck," she muttered as she finally grabbed hold of the deserter and shook of the powdery snow that dusted the knitted surface. Without time for rest, another overfriendly flurry tousled her hair. She looked up through the nettle of hair to the blushing sky. SPLOOSH! A pack of snow that had once coated the storefront awning tumbled and landed with a considerable impact on her forehead, resulting in an abrupt brain freeze. Thank God no one's around to see this total disaster of a night. She thought giving a sigh that could counter the adamant gales.
A gentle chuckle pierced the veil of silence and she stood seconds, scared and unsure. Spinning in a circle to scope the deviant. She shouted, "Who's there?! Come on, you thought that was funny?" The low giggle became a full-on laugh that reverberated from the striped awning and echoed against the empty streets and blanched buildings that loomed above her. She felt eyes on her but saw no one in the shadows. She leaned down to gather a clump of snow and hurled it at the top of the high awning hoping to scare of the prankster. There was a flash of blue and a whirl of snowflakes that was replaced by a silence less eerie than the first. The silence reminded her of when she used to play hide and seek, this quiet interlude beckoned to her to find someone. But who? The name grazed her lips urgently, but she could not find the words to voice it. A wind carrying a healthy dose of snow picked up as to hasten her thoughts. Snow clotted in her dark hair thicker now, seemingly trying to reach out and whisper the answer she desired.
She began her stroll down the pavement as she thought, voicing her uncertainty by calling softly, "Come out, Come out, where ever you are!" The wind became a centrifuge knocking over trashcans and debris as it rushed down the street toward her. The words were being pried out of her mind like bones in a tar pit and as they surfaced, the wind buffeted against her face. A feeling of nostalgia hit her then and a smile of recognition graced her face. "Jack Frost!" she announced confidently.
As quick as a blink, he was there. Alight mid-air the boy was nose to nose with her. His appearance gave her a wave of shock that made her knees buckle and take an instinctive step away. The eyes were the first she noticed. A piercing blue that put the sky to shame speckled with silver and gray. His dark eyebrows were quirked in amusement, surprised that she found him in time. White cheeks and full lips with a pale blue tinge were being put to use. The boy's smirk was so wide, his white teeth sparkled and his cheeks held heavy dimples.
"You found me!" his mischievous smirk became a playful grin that she naturally reflected. He glanced down at the ground, still afloat but now parallel to her. His eyes traveled up, taking her ruffled hair and soggy knees and elbows in pensively. Then, seeming to have come up with an idea, his mouth crooked into another impish smile.
"Now here's your prize…" He whispered and leaned closer to her, his face beginning to close the gap between them. He looked down at her, his eyelashes, a seductive length, brushing his cheekbones as she lifted her chin, enchanted and quite frankly, curious. As he leaned closer, she closed her eyes and waited. A cold, tingling sensation burned her nose like holding an icecube too long in a bare hand. A prickling chill spread across her cheeks and forehead and to the back of her neck, crawling down her spine and to the rest of her body. His lips held the kiss until a tingling numbness, and then balmy warmth spread through her nose. As his lips parted, Jack angled his head to the right, giving her nose a nip. With shy shock her eyelashes fluttered open only to find he had gone and along with him, the amiable wind.