My daughter giggled, her limbs splaying in and out, swiping across the snow. After getting up, making sure not to ruin her masterpiece, Rachel looked on proudly. “Not bad,” I chuckled, ruffling her hair. “But I’m the best at making snow angels.”
Before I could get onto the ground, Rachel spoke. “Nuh-uh! You already made one, and it looks terrible.” I paused, eyebrows furrowing. Did I?
“Is that so? Show me, then.” She pointed at something a couple of meters away. When I took a look, I felt my heart skip a beat. Like she said, there was a snow angel on the ground. But it wasn’t mine. The body was frail, judging from the thin body of the snow angel. Lanky limbs that were almost the same height as me trailed on each side of the body, and the head looked as though it had been drained of all juice, simply a shrivelled raisin connected by a needle-thin neck.
I looked back at Rachel, who stared at me with complete sincerity. “Did… did you do this?” I asked, more curious than anything else. It didn’t make sense; I would remember an act like that.
Rachel tilted her head. “Obviously not. It’s skinny and long, like you!” She burst into another fit of giggles, but I found it hard to join her. I looked around our backyard, searching far past the fence. When I eventually looked at our neighbour’s, I scoffed. Mrs. Gower’s son, Andrew, must have done it. That brat got me good, I’ll give him that. I’ll have to get back at him.
My wife called us over for dinner and Rachel dashed past me, disappearing inside before I could stop her. I sighed before following her. As I got to the door, I took one last look behind me. “Hey, honey. How about we install some security cameras?”
Emma continued to prepare the table, not bothering to look behind her. “For what?” She finally replied, her voice drained from a long day of teaching.
I hesitated. “Well… security?” The truth was, I didn’t know why I wanted the cameras myself. Despite explaining to myself that it was just Andrew playing a prank, I still wanted to play it safe.
“We’ve lived here for ten years without issue, honey. Why would we install security cameras now?”
I opened my mouth to respond but decided to let it go. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Throughout the day, I couldn’t help but think about the snow angel, constantly looking outside. It was strange, since despite the snowflakes falling, the indents were never filled.
As the night drew to a close, I promised to check outside one last time. I expected to find nothing and finally get rid of this aching paranoia, but as my phone’s flashlight draped over the snow, my concerns were realized. There wasn’t just one snow angel; the entirety of the backyard was littered with grotesque indents of bodies, each one varying in size and shape.
Some were lanky, their limbs stretched to the point of disproportion, while others looked like bloated corpses that had drowned in a river, their bodies distended and stretched. Some didn’t even have arms to begin with, only their legs splayed out to simulate the wings of an angel. This couldn’t have been a prank anymore.
I started backing up to alert Emma, but I stopped as my phone slipped out of my hands. As I bent down to pick it up, the sound of my footsteps continued. Or, at least, I thought they were mine. I lifted the device, its light illuminating in front of me.
Footsteps leading to the house were engraved in the snow, but they didn’t match my own. These were larger, deeper, and longer. Worst of all, they were appearing right in front of me. The sound of crushing snow alerted me to something that was mere meters away from me.
Accompanied by it was the imprint of a grotesquely long foot appearing right in front of me. Yet, there wasn’t anything that could’ve made it. Nothing that I could see.
I sprinted the other way, practically slamming the sliding door behind me. Looking through the glass door, I could see the footprints standing outside, idle and waiting. Claw marks began appearing on the glass, accompanied by a horrendous screeching, like nails on a chalkboard.
Emma made her way downstairs, clearly asleep not a moment ago. “What the hell was that sound?” When she reached the final step, the claw marks paused at the arrival of a new voice. “You could’ve woken Rachel up.” I could tell she wanted to yell but held it in to refrain from being a hypocrite.
“H-honey, there’s something out there…” I tried to sound calm, even though my heart was pounding hard. Emma tilted her head, shoving me aside to take a look outside. Her face morphed from irritation, then to shock, then to confusion.
“What the…” She mumbled, unable to phrase her question right.
“I think something is causing this, and I don’t know-“
“What do you mean ‘something’?” Emma’s arms tightened around herself, her fingers digging into her shoulders. “I-it’s probably just Andrew or something.” She used the same rationale I did earlier, and it was obvious she was trying to convince herself of it.
“Emma, there’s something outside. I also thought it was Andrew, at first, but-“ I took a deep breath, taking in the scene before me. Snow began to fall for the first time in a while, slowly covering up the footprints. Now I just looked more insane.
I turned back towards Emma to give her more of a reason to make her think I was a lunatic, but her eyes widened in horror, covering her mouth. When I looked at what left her in such a state of emotion, I damn near felt my heart stop for the third time today. Vague silhouettes lined outside the house, the snowflakes falling upon them giving them shape. Each time the snow landed, it would melt moments after, but it gave me enough time to make out just what these things were.
Then the scratching continued. This time, however, it was far more aggressive. Claws, mandibles, or whatever the hell those things had dug into the glass, etching deeper and deeper into it. In a matter of seconds, the glass door was covered in a multitude of gashes, the structure threatening to give up. I dashed to my bedroom where I pulled the hunting rifle from under the bed. As I left the room, the sound of glass shattering stopped my heart dead.
Looking down the stairs, I saw that snowy footprint matching the ones I saw outside making their way inside my house, stepping atop the shards of glass. Emma was being held by one of those things, judging from how she was struggling against something, unable to move.
I aimed the rifle at where I thought it was, causing Emma to let out a shriek. Before she could say anything else, I pulled the trigger, the blast piercing my ears with a horrific screech. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Emma fell to the ground, blood coating her chest. For a moment, I questioned everything. Had all of this been some paranoia-induced fantasy? Had I just imagined all of this?
All of the other creatures inside skittered out as tens of snow-covered footprints made their way outside. That’s when I saw her move. Relief washed over me as it looked like she pushed something over. Though my legs violently shook, I found it in me to run down, making sure she was okay. Her clothes were soaked in blood, but her next words put me at ease; “It’s not mine.”
Beside her, a pool of blood began to form under where the creature lay. Hands shaking, I stretched out a finger to feel if it was still there. The moment I felt it, the monster stood up and ran out, a trail of blood following behind. Silence didn’t last long as Rachel ran down, crying her eyes out. “Daddy!” She leapt into my arms, and I held her tight.
“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay. Mommy is okay, don’t worry.” I did my best to hide my trembling hands from her.
Emma grabbed my shoulder, causing me to turn to her. “Let’s go upstairs, alright?” She had a gentle smile on her face. How she could save face in front of Rachel after all of this still amazes me. I guess that’s why she’s the teacher and not me.
It would have been impossible to explain this to the police, so… We didn’t. We had our glass door fixed, installed various security cameras, and made sure to keep the blinds closed at all times. I debated moving, but considering our financial situation, and how much Rachel would complain, we couldn’t. Emma got her gun license, which she insisted wasn’t because of what happened that night, and Rachel soon forgot about the incident entirely.
The house didn’t feel safe after that. Even though I never saw those snow angels or any footprints, I couldn’t bring myself to believe they had actually left. I checked the camera footage regularly, and not once did I see anything out of the ordinary. Emma tells me the gunshot probably scared them off, and that they were like wild animals, but it did little to quell my fears.
I should be relieved that nobody ended up hurt, but when every sound causes me to jump, or whenever something moves in my peripherals, I can’t help but dread the next time winter comes.