"WAKE UP TIKA! THERES SNOW! NO SCHOOL TODAY!"

Was the first thing the little bundle of neatly wrapped around covers heard that day. Tikas natural reaction was to fold into an even tighter ball and hug her pillow even tighter until the words really registered in the small eight year olds brain. Snow!? NO SCHOOL!?

"W-WHATS!" Covers spilled off of Tika as the eight year old shot out of bed like a rocket. Her little foot steps could be heard a mile away as she excitedly, and loudly, made her way to the window to see if what her older brother had said was true. To her utter amazement, her older brother HAD told the truth as there were no signs of streets or side walks or even much of their front yard. Powdered white spread across the land scape covering houses, cars and trees as far as little Tika could see. All that Tika could do was silently mouth the words 'wow'.

Not even moments later the excitable eight year old had geared her self up in snow gear. She faced her stuffed animals with a hand on her hip and cried out the gear she was wearing.

"Snow jacket! Check! Snow pants! CHECK! Snow booooooOOOTS!!!" The eight year old slipped and feel face first into the pile of stuffed animals and giggled. Her boots were still a size to big for her. This snow was premature for the season and hadn't given her time to grow.

"Tika," Her mother had appeared in the door way. "You'll need to eat some breakfast before you go out. I don't want you going hungry if you're going to be playing out in the cold. I've made pan-"

Before Tika's mother could even finish the sentence, Tika's had freed her self from the stuffed animals and was, awkwardly, making her way down stairs for breakfast. Her mother had provided a lovely spread of pancakes, bacon, eggs and orange juice. Usually the family only had breakfast together on Saturdays but it being a special snow day, they got spoiled. Her father and brother were already at the table enjoying their breakfast when Tika took her own seat and fixed her own plate.

"Don't eat to fast," Her father warned from behind a newspaper, "Don't want to have an upset stomachache when your sledding with Victor do you?"

Tika indeed had stuffed her face with half of what she'd put on her plate and now looked like a chipmunk. Victor, her brother, snorted and almost coughed up his own breakfast.

"You probably have all week to sled the way that snows coming down. I want you two to stay close together and don't stray further then the hill at the park." Their mother took a seat with a piping hot cup of coffee in hand.

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The sun was nearing noon now in the mostly grey sky. The mob of children in the park would have no idea what position the sun was though because the dark gray clouds over head hogged the sky space. Not that it mattered to the children laughing and playing in the snow though. Victor and Tika were there sledding. Or they would have been if the eighth graders hadn't claimed the best sledding spot for their stupid snow ball war.

Tika sat with a most disapproving look on her face and arms wrapped tightly around her knees while Victor tried to do his best to sled on a less populated part of the hill.

"This sucks," Tika huffed. Victor sighed and put his hand on his little sisters head.

"We're not the only kids in this neighborhood." He sighed again and eyed the part of the hill the eighth graders had claimed as theirs. They'd taken the best sledding spot in the park and they weren't even using it to sled.

"Why don't you give them a piece of your mind Victor?" Tika gave a serious look to her older brother who in turn gave a shrug. "Well if your to scared then I will!" Before Victor could even say anything his little sister was up on her feet and marching over toward the eighth graders war zone.

"T-TIKA WAIT! NO! DON'T!" Victor raced after his sister but it was already to late. All eyes in the war zone were already on Tika whom had taken a pile of snow balls and stomped on them. Victor could face palm right there.

"HEY!" An older kid cried.

"What do you think your doing you snot nosed b***h!" Another yelled which got a gasp from Tika.

"You said a bad word!" It was only polite to inform these rude eighth graders that bad words were wrong. Right? This was met with a snow ball to her face. And another. And then another. And more. Until Tika was hurled in a ball hugging her knees to her chest. Her face was raw from the impact of multiple snow balls to the face.

"Stop that!" Victor stepped in front of his sister arms spread eagle style out. "Thats enough, she's only eight. She doesn't know what shes doing and you guys are hogging the best part of the hill. Shes disappo-" His talk was cut short with a snow ball to the face. Only that snow ball had a rock in it. The impact was enough to knock victor to the grown. Blood spewed from his forehead.

"You got anything else to say Frost? Your a little b***h too!" One of the more weaselly built eighth graders approached the now grounded Victor and kicked him, hard, where the rock had hit causing him to cry out in pain. The weaselly built kid lifted his leg and repeated the action to the same spot several times more. Each time Victor cried out in pain.

"S-S-STOP IT!" Tika was now sitting up in tears. She helped her self up and clung to the weaselly kids lifted leg. "STOP IT!"

"Heh... Your sister picking your fights for you Frost? Pathetic." The weaselly kid lowered his leg and walked back to his pals leaving Victor and Tika. Tika reached out to her still huddled and bleeding brother only to have her hand smacked away by Victor.

"Don't touch me." He managed in a low angry voice. "Don't touch me."

"Victor.. I... Your hurt.. lets go home." Tika was met by silence. And then Victors hand extended and pushed her over.

"You go home." His voice was almost a whisper. And then with out any other warning, Victor was on his feet walking away from Tika. Walking away from the park and walking towards the dark woods.

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Tika had gone home as her brother had told her and told her parents about what had happened. They of course had gone out looking for the boy but could not find him. They told Tika things like 'He just needs some time his prides hurting.' Though Tika could see it in their faces that they were as unsure as she was.

It had been over a week now since that day at the park. The snow was growing thicker and thicker and taller and taller with every day that passed. The hope in the house and the neighborhood were growing thinner and thinner. Desperation hung thick in the air and snow days were no longer fun but painful.

Tika was tired of waiting for Victor to come home and she felt that it was mostly her fault he was out in the cold alone in the first place. She shouldn't have tried to stand up to those kids. She should have sucked it up and been content with their little part of the hill. But no. Now Victor was out there lost maybe.

That was why now she had her little little nancy sue detective kit bag complete with a real working flash light and a some gramcrackers along with being decked out in winter clothing. A mug of hot coco for victor also was neatly packed.

Volunteers and policeman had filed through those woods before her looking for Victor and now the only trace that they had even been there was some yellow tape hanging weakly from branches. Tika turned her flash light on and gulped.

Though it wasn't long until Tika was scared. Funny shapes formed in her flashlights beam and almost seemed alive. Of course she knew these were just shadows and she was to old to be afraid of something so trivial as that. But knowing your not supposed to be afraid and being afraid are to different things. Every foot step Tika took into those woods made the pit of her tummy churn.

"V-victor?" She'd call only to be met with the sound of her own voice echoing through the trees. Every once in a while a bird would scare and fly off which in turn would get a startled cry from Tika. After a while Tika gave up on calling her brothers name and just continued forward.

That was until she lost her footing and stumbled down a hill into a clearing. That was when the tears and sobbing finally started and the worst feeling of hopelessness Tika had ever felt crashed into her heart full on. Victor, but he couldn't be gone. He couldn't.

The sun had already fully gone down over the horizon and Tika was really truly all alone in the cold. Snow was starting to fall harder and thicker but the little eight year old couldn't find the strength in side her self to move.

That was until she saw something glowy in the corner of her eye. At first Tika thought maybe her parents had come to look for her or maybe it was another volunteer team, but when she turned her head she found it was neither.

"Victor?" She was sure it was him. But why was he glowing? He was with someone else too and they weren't glowing. "V-VICTOR!!" Tika was on her feet and running toward her brother now only for him and the person he was with to disappear in to the darkness. She'd not even made it half way there and they were gone. Right in front of her eyes. Was this some kind of trick? Tika wiped her eyes and sniffled some. What was going on?

Then she saw a hand.. sticking out of the ground? Tika sheepishly wandered over to it. In her normal state of mind a hand sticking out of the ground would be enough to send her screaming but after what she just saw she almost felt that maybe this was Victor and he'd just played a mean trick on her. So she of course dug at the snow and dug.

Her heart dropped though and time froze for a moment. What she found was not Victor slumbering. No. She found a horrified Victor who had managed to get him self trapped beneath the ice. Still she couldn't believe this.

"Victor this isn't time for games. I brought you hot coco and I'm here to save you," Her voice was rather calm for having just found her brother dead beneath the ice. Of course, there was no response from victor. Tika didn't need a response though. She poured a cup of coco and set it by the hand and stared at it.

"Go on Victor," Tears started to well behind her eyes. "Go on.. This isn't funny.. This isn't.." And then Tika laced her fingers between Victors and squeezed as hard as she could. "Im gonna give you an Indian burn! I swear I'll do it!" She continued to cry, "This isn't FUNNY and I'm TELLING when we get HOME!" She finally let go and collapsed to her side. "This... isnt funny.." Tears fell on her cheeks. They were warm with the first contact but shortly after grew cold as they trailed down her cheek.

Then thats when she saw her. The most beautiful woman in an old time kimono with silk black hair and skin as white as the snow. She stood before Tika with a wicked grin on her face. Instantly, Tika hated this woman.

"Don't cry. The winter has claimed your brother." The woman said and disappeared right in front of her very own eyes.

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Tika had stayed out there with her brothers trapped frozen body for hours until one of the volunteers had found her. Tika wasn't the same after her brothers untimely death. Her chipper and happy go lucky self had died that day and instead had welcomed a hallow core.

At the funeral there had been some one that Tika had never laid eyes on. No one seemed to greet the man in the hood or even pay to much attention to him but to Tika he was an irritating eye sore.

So when Tika saw him eight years later standing their at a street corner of course she was going to get to the bottom of this. Tika approached the stranger with her heart full of questions of who he was and why he had chosen her brothers funeral.