Chapter One

So I didn't get to do what I was planning on doing before, but this popped into my head so I thought I'd give it a go. Heh, rhyming.

"As the snow fell upon the land, everyone laughed and played. As the water froze upon the lake, everyone skated all day. But while the snow fell upon the land, everyone saw it would never end."

Never-ending Snow, Day 5 3:25 pm

Snow has fallen for five days straight, not stopping or slowing down as it continued to weigh against the trees and roofs. It covered the pathways and made it harder to see or walk. Ruby, an 18-year-old with purple hair and purple eyes, rested her head against a window while watching the snow fall. She just watched it while the long white sleeves of her shirt protected her cheeks from the cold glass.

Before the snow started to fall, Ruby remembers meeting some people who wanted to explore the area. She was going to go look for them, thinking they were probably freezing out there, but her roommate Jarl, a 19-year-old with black hair and red streaks with red eyes to match, keeps telling her 'No'. But today, she's going to sneak out and go look for them no matter what her roommate says.

Staying in a warm house while people could be out there freezing like a popsicle is a no-no in Ruby's book. All she had to do was wait for Jarl to fall asleep, then she would put on her winter clothing and leave, easy. "Ruby! Can you help me in the underground farm?" Jarl asked, yelling from the other side of the building. Ruby rolled her eyes and looked away from the window, standing up and adjusting her white skirt before running off to help her roommate.

Day 5, 10:50 pm

"Night Jarl," Ruby said, watching her roommate walk to his bedroom before he closed the door. A smirk slowly appeared on Ruby's face as she walked to her room, heading straight for the double chest next to her bed. But just before she could open it, she started hearing metal clanking and screws squeaking.

Great.

Jarl was messing with his science equipment again. Last year's Christmas was special to them, for they had gotten unexpected gifts from an anonymous person. Jarl's Christmas chest had a lot of things from wrenches and machinery to lasers and Quantum suits. But Ruby, on the other hand, received a wand AND a wrench - with a simple note sitting in between.

You seem to be having trouble deciding. That's all it said.

So with a confused face she picked up both the wrench and the wand, storing them away. Even to this day she still hasn't touched either one of the tools. "Great..." Ruby whispered, slightly disappointed that Jarl is going to be up for basically the entire night. As she continued to look through her neatly sorted chest, she finally found her purple winter outfit she had made from left over leather.

It was all dyed a pretty purple/magenta color, with a bit of cotton sewn onto the ends of the sleeves. While looking around in her chest, she grabbed a torch and some flint n' steel. With a smile, Ruby slowly and quietly closed her chest and opened her bedroom door - knowing that Jarl is making enough racket to keep him from hearing her leave.

She set the torch down against the front door and pocketed the flint n' steel, putting on her winter clothing before grabbing the torch again and leaving her warm home to the freezing temperatures of the outdoor snowstorm. "Jesus...colder than I expected.." Ruby muttered, keeping the torch in front of her with a shaking hand.

The snow was falling in big clusters semi-lightly, but the wind was blowing them back and forth, making it barely possible for Ruby to see two blocks in front of her with just the torch. While Ruby continued to walk around, not a clue where she was going, she noticed that her torch was having trouble staying lit against the wind.

"Don't you dare.." But sadly, the torch went out, leaving Ruby to the dark and the cold. She cursed under her breath and quickly looked for a spot that the wind couldn't reach so she could re-light her torch. There was a spot below a spruce tree that seemed to have no trace of snow around it, not even the wind could touch it. With a surprised look on her face, Ruby crawled below the tree and curled up in the spot - trying to re-light the torch with a shaking hand holding her flint n' steel.

Every time a spark would fly off the flint n' steel and onto the torch, nothing would happen. "Come on...come on.. please.." Ruby whispered, scared she was going to freeze out here. As her hands continued to shake more and more, she wouldn't stop trying to light her torch.

But Ruby's hope was dwindling, was she going to be unable to light her torch and freeze out here? She could hardly hold the items in her hand any longer, making it almost impossible to light it. "Come on already..." With just a little bit of hope, she tried to light her torch again. She gasped and quickly placed the torch on the floor, fire erupting from the top of it with a warm glow.

As she kept her hands and feet close enough to the torch for warmth, a wave of exhaustion wrapped around her - making her grow tired. Ruby tried so hard to keep from falling asleep, but the comforting warmth the torch was giving wasn't exactly helping her.

So, within a few moments of being under the tree with a warm torch beside her, Ruby curled up on the ground and closed her eyes. Ignoring the raging sounds of the wind and the creaking of tree branches, she quickly fell asleep.