End of Time

Nieve was seven when she met him.
It was Christmas day. Nieve had always loved the snow, maybe it was a coincidence that her name meant ‘snow’. She loved how beautiful the lake that sat at the bottom of a small hill outside her house was, the area was covered in snow like a blanket. She loved watching it fall, she would try and catch the flakes in her small hands not caring about its coldness.
It was the snow that made her come outside in the first place. Her simple dress shoes made a trail in the snow, she wrapped her pea-coat tighter around her navy velvet dress. The dress was her favourite with its long sleeves and peter-pan collar, it made her feel like one of the characters in her story books.
Her whole family were dressed formally back indoors, it was just something they did. Nieve’s family was rich but not too rich, they didn’t flaunt their money.
“Nieve! Be careful!” her mother called from the house, her voice echoed through the wind and snow. It was night and dark outside, there wasn’t any street lights to help the woman spot her daughter.
“I will mother!” Nieve had almost reached the bottom of the small hill, bare trees stood all around her, her pale crystal blue eyes gazed out on to the ice surface of the lake. Her father told her stories about princesses coming to skate on it, she saw translucent people skating there and laughing wearing fine dresses and jewellery. She was a very imaginative child.
More snow came down as she stood there, it got caught in her coal black hair. A laugh escaped her lips and echoed around her. She felt like she was in Edward Scissorhands, her favourite movie. She held her hands above her head, the palms facing towards the sky she spun around slowly like Kim in the movie watching as the snow landed in her hands.
Nieve didn’t noticed that she was moving closer to the edge of the frozen lake, her laugh surrounded her, she didn’t have a care in the world. She stuck out her tongue to catch some of the snowflakes, soon she felt the solid ground beneath her crack and disappear, and her body plunged into the ice-cold water. Her small arms tried to reach for the surface, her body begun to get sore and felt like they were on fire.
A figure appeared in the water, all clad in black. They came towards her, their red eyes shun like a cat’s. In fear, she tried to push herself away from him screaming under the water. A stupid idea. Nieve closed her eyes as water filled her lungs but the person swam up to her and grabbed her. Before she knew it, her body was lying on the snow surface and the night air was nipping at her wet skin, her whole body shook. The more she shook the more it hurt. The mystery person tilted her onto her side and pressed their hand to her stomach, soon enough she spat out the water in her lungs, she coughed until her throat was dry.
“you okay?” the person said. Now Nieve knew they were a man. She looked at him, his long black hair rested just at his chest she had even noticed bits of red in it, he was dressed in all black and had his hood up.
The young girl nodded “w-who are you?”
He let out a sigh, his eyes flickered over the white ground he was crouched on, he was clearly thinking “you can call me… A”
Nieve knew it wasn’t his real name, but she didn’t push it. She didn’t want to make the man or ‘A’ angry.
“N-Nieve” she managed to get out through her trembling lips, they were turning a pale blue colour due to the cold.
“let’s get you back inside” A said before scooping her up in his arms and pushing his way up the hill. Nieve shook more and more, she may not have died in the water but she could die from the temperature. She curled into the man’s chest trying to find some heat. A shifted her in his arms so that she was closer to him.
They walked into the house, and into the living room. No one saw them but joyful voices could be heard from the dining room. A placed her on a comfy chair next to the lit fireplace, he grabbed a blanket that lay on one of the couches and wrapped it around her. The simple gesture meant a lot to Nieve. She began to get warmer, she gave A a thankful smile, she didn’t feel frightened by him as much. A watched her as if he had never encountered with a child before, he noticed the snow globe that sat on the mantelpiece
“you really like snow, huh?” he chuckled and Nieve looked up at the snow globe
“how did you know it was mine?”
“it was an easy guess, since your name means ‘snow’ and you seemed to only notice the snow outside” he shrugged his shoulders slightly giving the young girl a friendly smile.
She bit her lip and looked around the room, she felt like she needed to explain why she liked snow so much “to me, it’s like the closest thing magic”
At that moment one of Nieve’s aunts walked into the room and froze when her eyes landed upon A , the cup of coffee in her hand dropped to the floor with a smash. “Reena!!” she cried calling Nieve’s mother. A stood up and stepped in front of Nieve protectively. Soon Reena came into the living room followed by her husband and family. She ran to her daughter’s side “I told you to be careful!” she stroked Nieve’s hair
“what happened?” Nieve’s father asked A
“she fell” was all that A replied.
“Lukas, he shouldn’t be here! Think of Nieve for God’s sake! You are endangering her with him being in your home!” Nieve’s aunt Nina said angrily to Nieve's father
Everyone then broke into conversation. Shouting at each other. Nieve watched with wide eyes, she turned her head to look at her saviour, she didn’t want A to leave. He noticed her looking at him so he crouched down beside her
“hey, it’s okay Snow,” he said giving her a nickname “I’ll be close, making sure you don’t get into any trouble” he ruffled her hair and gave her a small smile, Reena gave him a grateful smile. ‘thank you’ she mouthed.
A stood up and pushed his way past the family, giving Lukas a nod and disappearing out of the house.

Nieve never let anyone call her Snow but him. She didn’t see him again until fear had swept through her house.