"Ah," Harry said stretching his limbs inviting the world into his lungs, patting the car, "Good girl, we made it with no problems. Wow look at that view."

As he stared over his car he saw the views that his little girl had been squealing about. His wife also took in the view, and stretching as well after the long trip, nodded in agreement, "It's beautiful."

The puffs of condensation that came from her mouth as she spoke, reminded him how cold it was and he leant in to pull his hat and gloves from the car and put them on.

He was currently feeling a bit put out as he had wanted to avoid the winter season. but it just wasn't to be. He had only just managed to get time off for his holiday this year and it was late autumn and to make it even worse, winter had arrived early, and there was a possibility of a snowstorm.

Harry was one of those people who liked being prepared, so they had two weeks food and water for their one-week holiday in the back of their car. They also had their winter clothing, snowshoes and a satellite phone to call the local police who were presumably prepared for the snow.

Bringing all the extra had been the only way his wife had managed to get to him actually agree to go through with this holiday. She hadn’t minded, she said she found it endearing.

His wife opened the side door to allow the demon loose upon the wild world. His daughter jumped out and start running towards their home for the week. "Oy! Demon spawn help me here first and carry this."

His daughter, Heather, stopped in mid stride and pouted as she walked back to retrieve her luggage. Grabbing his own and handing his wife her bags they all walked up to the wooden cabin.

Heather took the longest route possible as she decided to run back and fore as they crossed the clearing in front of the cabin. His wife, Ether, spoke up, "Heather, please be careful there are plenty of roots growing out of the ground and loose soil for you to trip over."

Not that Heather paid any attention to her mother's warning as she continued running around until she reached the wood door.

She jumped up and down with inexhaustible excitement, flurries of snow puffing into the air as she did so. Taking the key out of his coat pocket Harry opened the door. Walking in he was impressed by the nice open plan kitchen and living room that greeted them, furnished with fur rugs, animal paintings and lots of wood furniture. With no phone or electric whatsoever, the fire place was the only source of heating apart from the gas stove. He was at least relieved to know that he wouldn't have to worry about getting a calls from work.

Heather zoomed deeper into the building, and laid claim to the first room she came across. It just happened to be the master bedroom with the most room and biggest bed.

Harry's eyebrows rose at the proclamation that the room was to be her own,

He smiled and gave an exaggerated bowed, "Very well, Your majesty.”

He hesitated and an evil grin formed on his face. Deepening his voice, he continued on a slightly different tack, “But, your majesty, you have no knights in shining armour to protect you from the boogie monster. Now I feel like having Heather for dinner.”

Still grinning evilly, Harry charged forwards into the room, and scooping up a squealing and laughing daughter, and picking up her luggage in passing, he strode back out of the room and into one of the other spare rooms, where he dropped his daughter onto the bed and went in for a tickle attack.

After a good while of playing with his daughter, Heathers shining knight called from somewhere within the house, “Dinner, come and get it.”

Harry who had somehow been persuaded into playing a board game, felt some relief as the call echoed through the room. “Come on Heather, food’s ready, let’s go before it gets cold.”

Leaving Heather’s room, he could hear complaints and whining as Heather followed behind him. Harry knew her weakness for him to get her out of any bad mood, “We could get the hot chocolate out after, and I can get us some firewood and get the fire lit.”

A lovely squeal, emanated from his side as Heather did a one eighty, and was suddenly running down the corridor in front of him finding a seat before he’d arrived at the table. With a simple but wholesome sandwiches and crisps for lunch. Harry dug out the instructions for making a fire that he’d gotten. It informed him that they felled, several trees around the area and anything he used he was supposed to replace for the next customer.

Heading out to the shed that was filled with wood he spotted a well-polished axe and saw, and a grin spread across his face. Grabbing both, he pulled a large piece of wood closer, and started sawing it into manageable chunks. Once they were manageable, he used the axe, tapping it into the chunks before then slamming the wood into the ground and splitting the wood. He had to do this multiple times before a decent pile of firewood started to show. He jumped when Heather appeared as he’d got caught up in the repetitive motion, “Hey dear what are you doing?”

In her hand was his jacket, and as he spoke, he looked around and registered that it had started lightly snowing. Noticing that Heather was wrapped up tight in her own winter clothing he realised how cold it actually was and how hot he had been while he was cutting the wood. He muttered under his breath, “Guess it really does warm you twice.”

“Ma, told me to bring this to you, when I asked if I could play outside. Jack said it’d be fun to explore.”

Harry’s head tilted to the side, his eyebrows furrowed, “Okay dear, just don’t go wondering further then you can see the house and if it gets too cold just come back no matter what Jack says. It’s going to get very cold soon and you’ll need to be under shelter and that hot chocolate is waiting for you when you get in!”

Heathers head excitedly nodded back and forth as Harry took his jacket. She ran off jumping in the snow and making snowballs. Looking around again he saw that there was a nice layer of snow developing. The dozen logs that had piled up had a layer. Deciding that he had enough wood, and not wanting the logs to become damp he started moving them into the house and setting up the fireplace. He also collected extra from the woodshed as he had no intention of leaving the house again if they ran out faster than he expected.

Having the crackle and heat that emanated from the alcove, Harry relaxed back into one of the chairs, while he listened to Ether who walking around the kitchen doing something. For a moment he closed his eyes and relaxed his weary muscles.

A moment later a shout jerked himself awake, “HARRY,” his wife shouted as she burst back into the house “Harry, Heather gone, she isn’t outside and I’ve checked her room, she isn’t in the house.”

Hrry was fully awake and standing up so fast that the chair rocked back. He tried to reassure his wife, “It’s OK, she’s probable out in the woods just out of sight. I’ll check the shed and surroundings.”

“No, look outside, the storm has hit and I can’t see the forest, I can barely see a few feet in front of me!”

Moving to the door and opening it a strong wind pushed against it, snow begin fluttering into the house. As he looked outside, he could see she was right, he could just barely see the outline of the woodshed where he’d been chopping wood so recently. His heart hammered in his chest at the idea off just walking out there to find his daughter.

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Heather could've been anywhere in that would be blizzard. With an inability to see more than a few feet she could have walked off in the wrong direction, and there was no possibility of leaving tracks, they could use to find her. She was probably getting cold and wet, and to think, he’d just let her go off when he knew there was a storm coming. He should’ve said no. His best hope was that she ‘d stayed in one spot and not moved. If he left soon, he might find some indication of what direction his daughter had gone int.

Fighting his heart, he closed the front door, and went to his room and collected his hiking bag, satellite phone and rifle. He loaded the rifle and put on several layers of clothing, snagged a compass, and made sure he was prepared for the worst with a med kit, cloth and a thermal blanket. He handed the other satellite phone to his wife and asked her to call the local rangers and sheriff offices and to stay put, just in case their daughter found her way back. Setting up a digital map on his phone he marked the cabin’s location and with any hope after the storm he could use it to get back.

Thinking things through he took a deep breath, and gave a quick prayer that she was just behind the door and he could shout at her and go back to the oh so inviting fire.

Sighing as he opened the door, he pushed himself out against the wind and snow, and trudged to the woodshed. From there it was surprisingly easy to notice how the snow had been compacted, as Heather had dived and rolled in the snow. He smiled in relief, at least it hasn’t been as long as he’d though since it started snowing heavily.

Following the trail of disturbed snow, he started up the mountain. Checking his compass, he found he was heading straight north. Passing the treeline it darkened considerably and a minute later when he looked back he couldn’t see the house at all. The tracks that he had been following had petered out. As Heather had simply walked in one direction, it was clear that there was only a single pair of footprints and at least he could ruled out kidnapping for now.

The snow billowed, blinding him to no more a few metres in front of him but thankfully he was simply walking in Heathers footsteps, and checking his compass he found he was still walking uncannily northward. Unfortunately he struggled to see where he had been as well as where he was going.

“God damn it, damn roots!” he muttered.

A fiery pain was beginning to shoot through his legs as he trudged his way through the ever deepening snow. His breathe grew heavier, and when his legs cramped, he finally stopped to rest by a tree. There was no way Heather would be able to make it this far, she would have been dead tired, and looking for shelter by now.

He was also losing any traces of her. It wouldn’t be long before he lost those as well. It was really curious how she was still headed north as if guided, instead of taken, but there was still only one set of small footprints.

He would actually feel slightly better if there were signs of someone else as, it would at least mean she wasn't walking through heavy snow, directly north for no reason. With his breathe collected, he pushed off the tree, feeling the weight of his rucksack and the shifting of snow that had piled up on it whilst he rested. He felt a shiver down his back as it touched his exposed neck.

Shaking his head and stomping the ground he shifted his rifle around and continued following what little remained of his daughter’s tracks.

He was astonished that she had been going straight north for more than an hour. It was so unusual for someone who didn’t have a compass to walk like that, as people tended to end up walking in one big curve and end up back where they started.

He had finally lost all ability to track Heather, her tracks eaten up by the now almost knee high snow but after having a panic attack and exhausting himself he compartmentalised his thoughts and decided that the logical course Heater would have taken was the one she had been on all the time, north.

He wouldn't know if she changed direction, so he started shouting Heather's name and he continued north. His rapid pace for over an hour and his mental anguish was affecting his body. It was shouting at him to stop; blisters were forming on his feet and the lactic acid build up was threatening to cause cramps.

It wasn’t enough to stop yet but the problem was building up. Having his focus elsewhere, primarily on his hearing, listening carefully for anything that could be his daughter was a partial distraction but he only heard the echo of his own voice.

Every five minutes he would call out and listen, checking his compass to make sure he was still going straight north and if he found he’d veered off course, he'd travel back and continue walking just in case he missed her in the snow.

I was then that Harry noticed that the trees where giving way to the sheer mountain side and he looked up blinking through the snow and into the gloom. He shouted as loud as he could "HEATHER!"

He thought he saw motion on the mountain side. It stopped and seemed to shake itself before the small figure looked back, and screamed as it fell off a rock, snow falling with it.

Harry ran forward, shrugging off his gear as he went, pumping his legs through the snow aiming for the falling body. A great weight yanked his arms downwards and he fell forwards to cover it from the downpour of loose rock and snow.

Once the impacts had stopped, he pushed out of the pile and pulled the weighty little body out. It was Heather and now that he had her in his arms his first feeling was relief but that quickly turned to horror as he saw the white face and lack of foggy breath. He took off his gloves and felt her clothes: They were soaked and gave a slight crunch under the force of his fingers.

He undid her coat and touched her stomach and found that she was cool. The water and ice had advanced to the inside of the coat and had soaked her T-shirt.

Walking back through the snow to his pack he went to his knees, the pain in his legs intensifying. Ignoring his blisters, cuts and bruises, he took out a thermal blanket and laying it out he stripped her of her sodden clothing and put on her fresh, dry ones and then wrapped her in the thermal blanket. His main priority was to heat her up and avoid frostbite, but knowing that he had her he took stock of his situation and realised that it a bad. It had darkened considerably and there was no way for him to get back before full dark settled in and if it was cold now, then it would be hell shortly. The house was out of the option he needed to make a shelter and get something hot into his daughter to warm her core up.

He put his gear on again with a wince or two and then hugged his unconscious child close to his body. As he moved towards the trees, all hell broke loose. The wind’s intensity picked up and battered him relentlessly, the temperature dropped again and he could feel his tears freezing to his skin. He was sure he heard angry shouts in the wind and curses aplenty from the cracking of trees.

Harry wasn't going to give in and continued to slowly but inevitably move forward until he reached the slightly more sheltered area. There was no way he was going to be able to build anything in this weather, it would likely rip the tent and blanket out of his half frozen hands.

Resting against a tree, holding tightly to his daughter, he tried to think and realised he needed to find a pre-made shelter and work with it, but if he moved to far off course in his search for shelter he might not find his way back to the route and then miss the house entirely on the way back. It took him what felt like an hour to think of a solution.

With a plan having finally formed he pushed off the tree with a grunt and walked up the crag and looked left then right and then followed the right-hand path. Pulling out his knife he gouged a gaping wound on the trees to set a marker.

He checked Heather and finding her breathing and much warmer, he moved on along the crag.

It wasn't until dark that his hand disappeared into the shadow of a very dark hole. The precious weight in his arms disappeared with it and he followed. Unable to carry himself anymore he fell on his side with a grunt and a small whine.

He stayed like that for a long while, thankful for the shelter the little cave was proving as the cold wind had been brutalising him. He felt the wind hadn’t wanted them to move, and he thought there were shadows, although it had to be his imagination, a trick of the light, moving in the trees.

The cave was heaven. He gritted his teeth and sat up, checking Heather again and finding her unharmed. Willing himself up he laid out the mat unable to get the tent up, laying Heather and the backpack next to her, he took out the gas bottle and matches.

Now that he'd freed himself of the heavy pack and Heather, he stretched his back hearing it crack and pop. He now just needed a light and he could warm up the space very well, and he could also cook some hot food for them.

As he brought out a match he watched in awe as a film of ice covered it, the air cooling dramatically, freezing his damp hair where it lay.

Looking towards Heather he was shocked to find her awake and standing up, still pale as a sheet looking straight out of the cave. Following her gaze, he espied a young boy, who seemed as heartless as the snow felt and if not for the icy blue eyes Harry could easily have swept past the boy.

The two children were staring at each other.

The boy, beckoned with a smile and laugh, "Come here child, welcome the cold, embrace the cold, and join me. You are my friend. We can play forever, have snowball fights, make snowmen, ski and skate. It will be so much fun. You just need to join me, out here."

The boy held his hand out and Harry swiped at him. His hand simply passed through the body. Jumping back as his glove immediately froze, he felt his hand cooling rapidly inside and ripped it off and dashed it to the floor. The tips of his fingers were blue and he quickly shoved them under his armpit which set a shiver down his back.

The figure looked furious and shouted, “How dare you block my will. I’ll freeze you to death. Come child, or your father dies.”

Heather seemed to have regained her senses and spoke softly, “I don’t think you’re my friend.”

The figure went blue in the face as its anger rose, and a mighty gust of cold wind blew into the cave making Harry taking a step back, but there was no freezing of their surroundings and the boy simply faded away shouting as he went that they would have to leave the shelter eventually.