The Frost's Bite

 

“Dad, wake up!” little Kia said as she jumped on the bed.

Her father, Harry, was still half asleep. “What’s the matter, hon?”

“Let’s make a snowman!”

“Honey, it’s still 6:00 a.m. What’s the hurry?”

“So what? Let’s go, dad.”

“Not until you’ve brushed your teeth and had breakfast,” Kia’s mother, Mala, said as she walked into the room.

Kia grumbled under her breath as her mother led her out of the bedroom. After having their meals, Harry took Kia outside to build a snowman. Once they were done, Harry turned to his daughter.
“So, what do you think?”

“He’s missing something.”

“Oh, of course!” Harry said, taking out an extra scarf from his jacket pocket and wrapping it around the snowman’s neck. “There we are.”

“He’s still missing something, dad.”

Harry smiled, wondering what was on her mind. “And what is that?”

“Another snowman to keep him company!”

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle. The next day, Kia ran downstairs first thing in the morning to see her snowmen, but to her dismay, one of them had collapsed. Harry wondered whether a group of children from the neighbourhood had broken it for fun. He helped Kia rebuild the broken snowman once again.
The next morning, they found the same snowman vandalised yet again.

Harry and Kia rebuilt the snowman once more; and that night, Harry decided to stay up till late to watch over the snowman, switching the lights off and sticking to the shadows inside the house. To his surprise, however, the snowman suddenly collapsed on its own. It was too sudden, so Harry decided to inspect the scene. He grabbed a bat and stepped outside, looking around vigilantly as he neared the snowmen. No one was around.

Harry bent over to touch the snow before him—and the second his hand touched the frost, he felt its cold grasp sink into his very skin, latching on to him tightly. Harry struggled to break free, but the ice swiftly spread across his body, biting into his flesh with ravenous fangs. Harry felt his entire body grow numb as he began to tremble. And then there was a grinding noise to his left. The other snowman’s face was contorting into a hideous shape, twisting and turning to form icy fangs protruding from a mouth that curved unevenly wide as it smiled. Harry tried to scream, but no sound would leave his mouth. He stood there, frozen, as his entire body was overcome by the frost.

Meanwhile, from her bedroom window, Kia smiled as she watched what unfolded outside, her eyes darkening like coal as her skin grew pale as ice. She giggled as she turned away and walked out of her room, heading to find her mother.