25 December 2018

CHRISTMAS WAS A DREADFUL DAY. A day on which everyone was expected to be cheery, happy, and the like. Sapphire Riddle did not know what those words were supposed to mean, having never experienced them herself. And who could blame her? She didn't exactly have the most friendly childhood. Some might even describe it as nightmarish, but that really depended on the person.

Instead of celebrating inside with the rest of her happy family, she had dismissed herself to walk in the woods. She didn't really want to be back for the winter holidays, but her adoptive parents had insisted. Yes, she loved them, but they were overbearing sometimes. And she didn't want to deal with the twins either, who's relentless verbal abuse was mentally exhausting. That was why she enjoyed the forest - it was quiet and peaceful, which was something she could get when there were people around. Perhaps upcoming years at Hogwarts would melt her icy heart into something more tolerable, but until then, she would be just as cold as the snow falling from the sky and the ice that coated the lake. Speaking of the lake, she was nearing it. She didn't have ice-skates with her, sadly, but she could always look at it.

Although she wouldn't normally do such a thing, she was wearing a relatively thick trench coat outside for the day. She had supposed she would be out for a while, so why not protect herself from receiving frostbite? Even though she had a high tolerance for cold in the first place.

Her hands were shoved in her pockets, boots crunching in the snow. They looked like a mix between snow boots and combat boots, and that was fine with her. Her favourite type of shoe and something suitable for the weather? How much better could it get? She sat down on a rock at the edge of the lake, one that was large and flat enough for her to comfortably sit cross-legged. It's so much quieter out here, she thought, breathing in the cold air. The beanie that sat on her head covered most of her short, pale hair as well as her ears. Normally she wouldn't be this bundled up at all, but it was unbelievably cold.

I'll probably be expected back inside soon, she thought. Her foster parents didn't like it when she stayed out for so long. According to them, it was dangerous. I go to a school prone for having horrible things happen, the girl thought. It had always irked her slightly when people were so ignorant of certain things but still pretended to know a single thing about it. She sighed, wanting to get away from those thoughts. She instead pressed her foot against the thin ice of the lake's surface, which was close enough to her perch that she could do so. It also helped that her shoes were heeled and she was already tall for her age. She heard a light crackling beneath the appendage, but not the tell-tale sounds of the ice breaking. No, that noise was much louder.

She distantly remembered something from when she was a child, much younger than she was now. She had nearly drowned in this very lake when some... creature... had started dragging her. It was only now that she realized she'd read about that creature. It had been earlier in the year, but she had found it interesting. At the time, it had merely been a tug on the fishing line that dredged things up from her memory. But now that she had remembered, she could put two and two together. It was a grindylow, she thought. She vaguely remembered being dragged down into the water, the feeling of the water nearly filling her lungs. It had been hard to struggle back to the surface. But had she been further down, it would have been far harder. The lake was horribly deep.

From in her pocket, she felt her iPod. Connected to the device was a folded earbud set. Probably less folded and more tangled at this point, but that was against the point. She drew the item out of her pocket, untangling the cords of her earbuds. They were plain black, efficient and not too flashy. Putting them in her ears, she selected an artist who's music she liked to listen to. Personally, she preferred muggle bands to those of wizards. Perhaps that was due to growing up with them, which would imply she liked them due to sentimental value, but maybe it was also because the wizarding music didn't fit er tastes. She began focusing a lot more on the music playing in her ears, though she also had a stream of thoughts going.

Although there were plenty of bad memories associated with the lake, it was one of the girl's favourite places by her house. It was normally quiet and the island in the middle, which contained a small group of trees, was an easy point of focus. The trees looked slightly depressing during the winter. It was like that saying, "all skin and bone" but instead it was a tree. The leaves were missing, all either buried under the snow or drifted across the water. Perhaps some were, by chance, drifting along on a breeze. There were no birds to be heard. It was early, wasn't it? Maybe not, but it was in her foster family's opinion. Their idea of early was any time between 7 to 8 a.m. For Sapphire, that was late. She was one to be punctual. However, her family was much more laid back. If there was anything she hated about them - all of them - it was that they didn't seem to care about much. They may have assumed that, since they had money, they could do anything they wanted. They got away with it often.

She sighed again, leaning back on the rock and letting her head rest against the slightly damp feeling stone. The sky was a crystalline blue, one which her eyes matched. It was uncanny how the did that, turning such a clear blue. They would change as well, from one shade to another. Often, it depended on the lighting in a place. She'd say room, but that wasn't always the case. It used to be that they settled for one solid, bright blue colour, but as she got older it began to be less concrete. It wouldn't go to another colour, but it would be tinged other colours.

She didn't register the cold that was seeping into her limbs. Often she wouldn't, finding it to be an unimportant detail. But this time she did, since it contrasted sharply with the almost trapping heat she'd felt before. Normally, she could tolerate cold, but this time? Not a chance.

Perhaps it was less the cold in itself and more the sudden change? Yes, that must have been it. It was the change. Having seemed so abrupt, it would make sense that she would be more affected by it. It was either that or it was a particularly cold day. Either one would be a fair statement.

She sighed, sitting back up and brushing her hand against the back of her beanie. It did nothing against the condensation that had gathered on it, but still. Then she stood up, casting one wistful look towards the island in the middle of the lake before turning tail and walking back towards her house. The trees would seem oddly sinister, their reaching branches uncannily similar to claws. Not that she had seen many claws such as those the trees imitated, but that was against the point. Being her usual stoic self, she was unaffected by them. Were they alive, they probably would have been disappointed that that had done nothing to the girl of ice.

It didn't take much for her to get home, though, gazing at the front door for a second. She didn't want to go in, of course, but she didn't quite have a choice. She didn't ever, really. She would have to go in either way, no matter how much she didn't want to. Otherwise, her hands would freeze off. Or was it nose that went first? No matter.

Taking a deep breath that stung her lungs, she opened the door and stepped inside. And although she was blasted with warmth from the fire that blazed inside, she felt awfully cold inside. She had didn't want to be here. Not at all. Not when all this could bring her was more pain.

She whacked the side of her head with a numb hand, which felt horribly warm when the chilled flesh came in contact with the warm air. Fire was overrated when it was used to warm a house. That was way too warm. The girl sighed again. She seemed to do that a lot when she was home. She didn't have enough energy for it, but she still would have to announce her presence.

"Mother, father, I'm home. If either of you requires my presence, I will be in my room."

Word count: 1519 (of 10k total in solos, which I agreed to write)

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☽The water hears and understands. The ice does not forgive.☾
Stamina - 7||Evasion-8||Strength-7||Wisdom-9||Arc. Power-7||Accuracy-7
’s grace