The snow fell gently on the ground as the two cars drove along the empty road. Samantha Owens smiled to herself as she listened to music and stared out at the falling snow. Next to her sat her twin sister, Lindsey. The sisters looked almost identical except in eye color. Samantha had eerie, pale blue eyes while Lindsey had eyes as green and brilliant as emeralds.
In the front passenger seat of the car sat Lindsey’s boyfriend, Randell Thompson or as their friend group called him, ‘Randy’. He was tall and lengthy with messy black hair. He had one hazel colored eye while the other eye was white and milky from an altercation with his abusive father. He hated talking about what happened, but Samantha always suspected it had something to do with Randy’s reveal to his overtly religious, pastor father that he was an atheist who didn’t believe in the existence of a god.
Next to Randy, in the driver’s seat, sat Samantha’s best friend, Eden Waters. Eden had long gorgeous red hair that looked like fire when the light hit it just right. Her eyes were a pale green that gave off this mysterious aura whenever you looked at her. She was so pale in complexion that she looked like a ghost and it didn’t help that she was into the occult and was always talking about the supernatural and the mysterious Merrywood Institute. “The Institute never talks about what they do, it’s kind of suspicious,” she would say. Samantha had to admit that Eden had a point, it was weird that the Institute never talk about what they do, but she refused to believe that they were investigating the supernatural.
“We almost there?” Randy asked Eden.
“Yep, we’re coming up to it now,” she responded. Samantha still couldn’t believe that her parents allowed her and Lindsey to come on this week-long ski trip. Ever since the incident in the small quiet town of Merrywood (ten children were abducted and murdered by some crazy old lady who many believed to be a witch) made the adults in the town more cautious about letting their kids go anywhere. However, for some strange reason, her parents agreed to let her and Lindsey go. She smiled more as Eden turned left and drove into a vast parking lot full of various cars. Eden parked the car in an empty space while the car belonging to Eden’s brother parked three spaces away. They had arrived at the Gray Ski Resort and Lodge.
The four excitedly got out of the car, grabbed their bags, and walked into the lobby of the lodge. This week was gonna be a great, chance for the group to relax away from the stresses of college. Samantha smiled as her four other friends soon followed after her group.
First there Adam, Eden’s brother. He had short hair as red as his sister’s but rather than her pale and flawless skin. He was covered in dozens of freckles and his eyes were the same pale green. Behind him walked Alex and her boyfriend Jason. They were both of African American descent and well, Jason had a buzz cut, his girlfriend had purple dyed dreadlocks. Jason was also a quarterback for their school’s football team while Alex was a member of the cheer squad. The finale person who came in was the wheelchair bound Fred. He was born crippled and had to use a wheelchair all his life. He had soft blue eyes behind black rimmed glasses and short blonde hair.
“Can I help you?” a soft voice asked. The eight friends turned and saw a gorgeous tan skinned woman with long curly black and wearing an elegant purple dress. Her eyes were what stood out the most. They were a very vibrant purple. Eden began explaining that they were there for the week. The lady smiled and began typing on her computer. Her scarlet covered nails moving quickly across the keyboard.
“Yes I have you folks for four two bed rooms, you can decide amongst yourselves who goes where,” the woman said.
Samantha got a close look at her name tag, Luna Gray. She couldn’t figure out why her name seemed so familiar but it bothered her. The group each pooled in the money they needed for the rooms earlier before they left on the trip. Luna gave Eden the four keys and told the group that their luggage would be brought up later. Once they reached their rooms, the group made sleeping arrangements: Jason and Alex took room 308, Randy and Lindsey took 310, Fred and Adam took 312, and Samantha took 314 with Eden.
Samantha and Eden shortly went to bed after getting their luggage. Eden seemed to fall asleep easily but Samantha was having problems falling asleep. She tossed and she turned trying to become wrapped in the arms of a good night’s sleep. That was when she hear it. The tapping. It seemed rhythmic and always came in sets of three. Tap, tap, tap. It repeated over and over again on the glass window. Curiosity would get the best of her and she got up her bare feet softly moving across the room’s crimson carpet. A voice in the back of her mind screamed at her and begged her not to open the drapes, but she couldn’t figure out why, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ she asked herself as she threw back the drapes, “Huh?” she asked silently.
She saw nothing at the window. Nothing at all. No branches, no people, and no loose pieces of the building that could be blowing in the wind. All she saw was the shape of a man on the ground below. A man dressed in all black and wearing dark sunglasses. She couldn’t imagine him being the one to cause the tapping. She watched as the man in black looked up in her direction. His face illuminated by the outdoor lights of the lodge. Samantha had to admit if the situation wasn’t so creepy, she’d find him quite attractive. She gasped realizing he was staring at her, a thin smile spreading across his face as he waved at her. She then noticed he was mouthing something at her but couldn’t make out what it was, all she could make out was ‘frozen’ and ‘forest’.
She couldn’t believe her eyes, but soon enough, the man lowered his hand and looked behind him as a gray fog began moving towards him. Creeping towards him almost as if it were alive. He backed slowly up into the fog not taking his eyes off of her, his smile became larger and he appeared to be laughing. Laughing at some sick joke that Samantha wasn’t aware of. Soon enough he backed up far enough to where he was consumed by the fog, disappearing from her sight and being replaced with the thick sheet of gray.
