Chapter 1 - The First Haunting

Our story starts during late January,
The snow was falling in the mid afternoon on a cold day. Everyone was overjoyed by the presence of the snow, as it never normally got to thick. A group of friends decided to celebrate by going out to play before it passed.
The entire meadow was filled with the sounds of laughing, playing, and occasional a shocked yelp of someone getting snow forced down their shirt. Zinc was the center of the fun, calling a snowball fight to be held soon, giving people only enough time to stock up.
The teams divided up into two groups.
“I don’t really get the point of this game!” Jex said as he jumped to avoid collision with and icy packed snowball.
“There is no point to it! This is just of fun!” Rasp yelled out pelting Kuro with one of the snowballs.
“Hey! Stop targeting me!” Kuro said as the snowball hit him on the back of the head, sliding down his shirt. “AH! AAAAH!!!! THAT’S COOOOOLD!!!!”
Rasp could only laugh as Kuro danced about trying to get the snow out of his jacket.
Even Zech was in on the fun.

Everywhere there was joyous playful noise, except in Arac’s head. He was laying down far to the side hiding in a slight dip in the meadow behind a small snow fort he constructed out of the meager amount of snow that was there. He was lost in his own world, completely forgetting all the activity around him. He was in his normal attire, a simple t-shirt and loose slacks with a light jacket draped over his shoulders. The temperature never bothered him before, why should it? He was to far off in his thought to notice the cold anyways.
Elet noticed Arac alone and began to sneak up on him. Being on rival teams he had a snowball ready, but he didn’t intend to use it on Arac unless in defense, he didn’t even expect to sneak up on him. He got closer, and Arac stayed still as a statue, laying face up with his head turned away from Elet. Elet crept closer still, and Arac maintained his motionless state.
Elet was finally in range and bolted towards him for a glomp shouting “GOTCHA!” but he stopped short.
“Arac?” Elet said curiously, kneeling down next to him. He remained unresponsive.
“Arac?” Elet said with more worry than curiosity in his voice. His worries only deepened as he failed to respond again.
Arac’s golden eyes were open, glittering in the setting sun, and yet his expression was blank, distant, and unreadable. Elet knew he was thinking, but of what he could only wonder.
Arac closed his eyes, the first motion he had made in a while. Images dances against the darkness of his own eyelids while an eerie music played through his head. He could feel it, like a haunting. It was one of those memories that one would do best to leave behind.
Elet stared intensely as the figure before him began to shift and as if awaking from a bad dream he suddenly sprung up. He was panting, his golden eyes wide and worry-filled.
“Arac?” a soft voice said, “are, are you ok?” Elet placed a hand on the shoulder as Arac erratic breathing began to calm.
“I’m fine,” he responded. He shifted and pulled Elet into a firm hug. “I’m sorry if I scared you there.”
A slight smirk crossed Arac’s face and he shivered. He looked up, there, about ten yards away, Rasp stood with the perfect opportunity to get Arac with his own snowball but merely looked away. He knew the story, if only pieces here ad there, but even he has more respect than to taunt Arac with what he’s going through. He remembers faintly what happened, and he knows those memories come back to haunt him each year, once the snow starts falling. Rasp turned and walked off, glancing at Arac and Elet one last time over his shoulder. Arac gave him a thankful look.
Zech viewed this all from the safety of a tall pine tree. She sat about ten feet above the ground and spoke softly to herself.
“Even with how much those two fight and argue, they owe each other so much…” Zech let out a sigh. “With how entwined their past is, I suppose they’ve become brother’s to each other.”
She chuckled silently then allowed her expression to fall to it’s normal deep-in-thought state. “They can’t hold it much longer,” she looked at Arac, “and something tells me he’ll be the first to jump.”
Arac nuzzles to Elet then looked up as a voice called out to them from the porch of the house. It was Dez, calling everyone out of the cold for hot chocolate. Arac took Elet by the hand as they both darted back to the house.
“And yet, perhaps things will hold together,” Zech said from her perch in the tree, “I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see,”

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