Liz’s inner beauty

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Snow creatures”. This is based off one of my Christmas tales, which is underneath my folder “25 Christmas tales”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=990 . Enjoy and Scary Creepmas!*

Introduction

Liz anticipated sweet Christmas cookies, wholesome Christmas movies, and many presents that were to come. She thought of going on adventures down string-lit paths, and drinking a mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows.

She never once thought that she’d find her inner beauty, and realize how much she really shone.

All the typical joys of Christmas, and Liz never thought of herself as the magic.

That was, until one Christmas…

Chapter One

Liz pulled back the covers, grinning at the scent of cookies that waited in the living room. It was Christmas Day, and what a lovely day it would be!

But why did her fingernails feel so much…longer?

Liz looked down.

Her hands were ghost white, her nails sharpened to pierce flesh.

She had claws…but how?

Chapter Two

In the corner of her room, there was a soft, faint golden light. It glowed like a candlestick, inviting and warm.

Liz stepped closer to the glow, reaching her claws out.

Presents could wait. Answers were needed.

Together, she and the glow collided, leaving star golden and white snow sparkles, just like a winter wonderland.

Chapter Three

“You are of the snow fairies, you can bring upon winter whenever you wish.” A woman’s tinkling voice whispered.

“But there are monsters who will squeeze the life out of you, use energy to steal souls.” The woman added.

Liz floated in the expansive darkness, thoughts swimming in her head from the woman’s words.

“Monsters?” Liz asked uncertainly.

Chapter Four

“Monsters.” The voice said.

The darkness clapped away, and Liz was in a forest trapped in crystalized snow, a seemingly still landscape.

And yet, there was a shadow that flickered in and out of existence, an ungodly presence in the beauty.

Chapter Five

Liz ran after it, heart beating rapidly within her. The shadow twisted and turned, becoming something of a boy, but she couldn’t be sure.

Finally, after much running, she made it to him, and wrapped her claw around his wrist, gaining an animalistic shriek from the boy-thing.

The darkness had parted, and his face was revealed.

Chapter Six

The boy, seemingly fourteen years old, just like her, crawled towards Liz, his eyes bright and violet, inhumanly and eerily large, like glass orbs. His long, black eyelashes fanned his unnatural eyes. Black swaths of shadow criss-crossed his iridescent skin, his skin which didn’t have a clear color to it. His teeth, white and pointed, delicate and dangerous, like icicles.

“Icicle pixie…flee with me. Together, you and I will be.” The boy rasped, reaching a claw towards Liz.

Liz recoiled away in fear, for why did the creature want her?

“Are you talking to me?” Liz asked, just to be certain.

The boy wasted no time and snatched Liz’s wrist, scampering away with her into the frozen forest.

Chapter Seven

After much running, they made it to an iced cave, glazed with sparkling snow.

“Liz, we are a cursed race. I heard your signal and knew to whisk you away. We must hide, hide from the blooming one.” The boy said.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? What do you want?” Liz asked. She tried to run, but the boy gripped on.

Why wouldn’t he let her go?

“I heard the signal that you turned, and when I saw you, my mind told me your name. I only want to help, Liz.” The boy said. There was a note of worry in his voice, as if he were trying to find just the right words to say.

Finally, the boy cleared his throat and said:

“You may call me Anselm.”

With that, Anselm pulled her farther into the ice cave, not once loosening his hold on Liz.

Chapter Eight

“The blooming one? What do you mean, “The blooming one”? I don’t quite understand.” Liz said.

She saw no way out of the cave, for it was a winding, turning tunnel of darkness.

“The spring faerie! The voice you heard earlier before you got to the forest! The one who said that monsters would take your magic! Giorgia is her name.” Anselm said, a note of panic in his voice.

“Giorgia is the one who made us monsters.” He said softly.

Liz sat down on the ground, to where she imagined he sat next to her. She wished that she could clasp his claw with hers, just so he wouldn’t sound so sad, so defeated.

It broke her heart to hear people talk as though all was hopeless, and although she didn’t know him, feelings of pity still arose, by instinct.

Chapter Nine

Flowers crawled on the snow, bright petals spreading out, and scalded the legs of Liz and Anselm. Flowers shouldn’t burn, but they did on them.

They flinched away, but still, Giorgia’s voice rang out:

“The flowers will always find you!”

With a snap of his fingers, Anselm had teleported him and Liz away.

They would be safe, for the time being.

Chapter Ten

“Why did she curse you?” Liz asked. She and Anselm were trying to find yet another place to hide in the sprawling white forest.

“Because my Mom ruined her garden a long time ago, and she cursed me to be a snow faerie. Petty stuff, really.” Anselm said.

Things weren’t quite adding up. Anselm stated that Giorgia cursed only him, but he implied that were other snow faeries out there, and that Liz was one of them.

“But then, what about me? What about other people?” Liz asked.

“She curses anyone who likes Winter more than Spring.” Anselm stated.

Ah, that made sense. But did that mean she had to hide in Winter…forever? Would she ever see her family again?

“I promise, I’ll explain everything. Just trust me.” Anselm said.

Oh, how she wanted to trust him. How she wanted everything to be okay. But still, the self-doubt lingered. A small voice, but still there, nonetheless.

Oh, how she hoped that he wasn’t leading her into a trap.

Chapter Eleven

Where was she? In the blink of an eye, she seemed to go from the forest to a garden.

Liz spotted a little boy running through the garden, excitedly picking up flowers. Flowers after flowers he picked, without a single care at all.

After a while, he skipped towards his house, but an invisible force pushed him down, scattering the flowers to the wind.

White claws formed on the boy’s hands. He blinked back tears as he picked himself up from the ground, desperately searching for the flowers.

She got a glimpse into his violet eyes, and from the fear that shone, she knew it to be Anselm when he was much, much younger.

As quickly as the garden came, it was gone. Liz was back in the snow forest with Anselm, the sun adding sparkles to the white, cloudy hills underneath their feet.

Chapter Twelve

“There’s a flower here that is her life source. A flower that we have to find and freeze.” Anselm said.

“But aren’t you going to be repelled away?” Liz asked. Didn’t he consider the dangers, wasn’t he cursed longer than her?

“How do you know that?” Anselm asked sharply.

“I-I saw in a vision.” Liz said. Was she not supposed to see, was she not supposed to know?

“Figures. This forest is haunted, we have to move at once.” Anselm said, pursing his lips.

What else was he hiding from her? And more importantly, was she hiding anything from herself?

Chapter Thirteen

A flower? Anselm wanted to find a flower? In the thick, sprawling blanket of snow?

Nothing could grow in the cold. Beneath the white earth was dying brown grass, shriveling away quietly.

Liz’s heart ached within, thoughts of her parents fading in. How much time had passed? Were they looking for her?

Did they even know she was gone?

Chapter Fourteen

Liz lay in bed, watching the snow fall from her window.

No, Liz was in the forest with Anselm. She wasn’t back home, she was far from home.

A blast of snow rushed through her window, then melted into the floors as though it were nothing at all.

But Liz lay in bed, shivering, her blankets doing nothing to keep her warm. Her skin was dotted with red, bleeding blisters that soaked into her bones, and her hands were white, pure white. White claws, like that of an animal or a beast’s, things that could tear through a heart.

“Liz!” Anselm’s voice called out.

But Liz lay twitching on the ground, the memory clasping and clawing at her mind.

Chapter Fifteen

“Liz, can you hear me?” Anselm’s voice asked.

It looked like there was two of him standing over her, both versions of him flooding into each other. The trees blurred together, the snow threatened to swallow her whole.

“It just…it just came. The snow came, Giorgia cursed me…cursed me why?” Liz asked.

It was starting to come together, but it needed to make more sense.

“Because you like Winter more than Spring. There’s no time to waste, Liz. We’re so close!” Anselm cried out.

He grabbed her claw and fled further off into the forest, closer to what was, hopefully, freedom.

Chapter Sixteen

A little girl, completely lost in a forest, searching for her way home.

Giorgia flitted all around her, the pink light that surrounded her grew brighter. She lit the way for the little girl, leading towards home.

But at the end of the road, there was a sprawling garden of fresh flowers, petals bright with color and life.

The little girl plucked as many flowers as she could, muddied boots staining the grass. Giorgia cried out, pleading for her to stop, but the child was too enraptured by the garden to listen.

Giorgia’s eyes clouded over, like the winter fog.

“Your child will never know the beauty of Spring.” Giorgia hissed in a tone unlike the feathery touch of flowers.

But why would the little girl listen to such words? After all, she was simply picking flowers. She was only a child herself. Why would she listen to such talk?

Though the space was brown and barren, Liz felt within that she and Anselm were in the very same garden the little girl went to, all those years ago.

Chapter Seventeen

“Huh. I’ve been trapped in this forest for so long, and yet…I’ve never come across this space before.” Anselm mused.

Liz could see where the grass would grow, where the flowers would sprawl out.

“It’s the garden where your Mom took the flowers. But why are we here?” Liz asked.

A pink, glowing light began to shift and form.

They couldn’t run from Giorgia for long.

Chapter Eighteen

“I helped her get home, and in return, she destroyed my garden. My sacred garden. My home. This forest once bloomed, no snow was in sight.” Giorgia said.

Liz and Anselm huddled close together, wary of what Giorgia would do next. But also, they both began to imagine the forest as it once was, alive and full of color.

The air clear and fresh, with complete clarity.

Chapter Nineteen

“How could you like Winter, so cold and full of death? You liking Winter means that you are just like her, the girl who destroyed my flowers years ago.” Giorgia said.

“My Mom was only a child then, she never meant to purposely destroy your garden.” Anselm said, stepping forward.

“And doesn’t it make you more of a monster to place a curse on kids who had nothing to do with your garden being destroyed than her?” Liz asked.

Giorgia’s logic made no sense. She abducted both of them and turned them into snow creatures, all because some flowers got destroyed years ago.

“You don’t understand! By destroying my garden, she destroyed this forest! She made it Winter!” Giorgia cried out.

Her eyes were full of fury and impatience, pink flames grew at her fingertips.

Liz and Anselm would have to act fast, before she obliterated them completely.

Chapter Twenty

As the flames crawled from her hands, as they began to burn Liz and Anselm, the two of them released the cold that was within them, the icy points that froze the flames, that froze Giorgia.

Even as their powers had clashed, the snow began to melt all the same.

Liz was slipping further and further away…Anselm, the friend she had made in a day…he was beginning to slip away…

Her Winter friend, all gone.

Just as Christmas came and went, so did he, it seemed.

Epilogue

Liz ended up having a fantastic, warm Christmas. She didn’t tell her parents about her strange encounter with Giorgia and Anselm, nor anything about her curse.

For although Giorgia had burned away, her curse was still glaringly present in Liz’s life.

Never again could Liz bring any Spring flowers to her home, for her body would reject it and push her away from her own house. She always had to wear gloves in the warmer seasons, lest she melt away.

At least on Winter days, she would be pulled into the icy woods, where Anselm himself was pulled to. It was if they were linked together, that they were destined to share their troubles together.

Never would they go through the trouble of telling their families the truth, for it’d break their hearts and minds far too much.

Only the two of them could understand each other’s pain. Only the two of them could heal each other.

Only the two of them.