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The Door of Autumn is closing. But where one door shuts, another must open. The Door of Winter. What surprises will it hold this time? What secrets will unfold and what treasure will be found? And lost? I can sense something. I can see it in their eyes. Smell it in the air around them. Feel it in their skin when we touch. Hear it from the winds around them. Taste it in the air that surrounds them. Something is going to happen. I can tell. Something bad. This will be like no winter we have ever had before.
I sit at the window, looking out. The world seems so cold and harsh. I remember my last journey to Winter. It was not like this. It can't have been. But I've grown up this past year, nothing seems the same anymore. Not even myself.
The Pagans have always been considered strange, but no one ever says it to their faces, of course they wouldn't. They are Winter itself, but only the bad parts. The ice and cold. The frost and chill. The searing pain and the bitter feelings. I don't think they have any pity or love in their hearts. If you do anything to upset them, you'll be dead within the hour. And no one stops them. They are Winter and that is what they are meant to do. There are nights when nobody can leave their homes because of the raw cold. But this time there is something wrong. But I can't tell what.
My Mother is friends with the Mother of Winter, Harsha Pagan, so I see all of the family regularly. Last night they came around for dinner. I am expected to get on with Lara, but we hardly talk when we see each other. Last night, however, she said something to me. And I was scared. More than scared. Terrified.
'They're coming Fiona. They're coming. And you know who they're coming for don't you? Run while you can. Run before it's too late.'
Then she took a deep breath and was silent. I've been thinking over the words ever since. And it's happening all the time. All my senses feel it and they're telling me what I have to do. Everything's telling me to run, hide, before it's too late. But what's going to happen? And is there anywhere I can hide now?

They're coming. They're behind me and there's nowhere I can go. Nowhere to hide in a world that holds nothing but repulsion and spite. No one to turn to. Nowhere to go. The cold chills my guts but I must keep running. They mustn't ever catch me. Never. I know what they can do now and it makes by blood freeze thinking about it. I don't want to end up like Dona Ridge. Stuck in the heart of winter for the rest of eternity. Just still, watching the world go by. And no one is going to stop it. Nobody can stop it. Except me. And here I am. Running away from the Devil. No, this is worse than the Devil. The Devil is roasting hot and they are frozen cold. I know now. They're not all separate people. They are one being. One vicious, vile, villainous being.
The stitch in my side is roaring at me to stop. If only I could. I must take my mind away. Maybe I will run forever. The Girl Who Ran From Winter. My body will never grow old, never die. I will just keep running and my mind will fly away into the clouds. Not really existing, forever journeying to a better world, where there are no doors. No Family of Winter. Just the seasons. What a blissful world that would be. Maybe one day I will reach that world and all will be still again. Calm and warm. The sun will beat down on my face and I will lie down on the grass, knowing my journey is over. I will rest again.
***
I lie on the grass, looking out at the setting sun. Watching its smooth, rich colour disappear over the soft edge of the hill. And I think to myself, 'This is how it should always have been.' My journey was successful. I am finished. I can rest.