First Snow: A Haunting Short Story

She lay in the balance of vines and crooked branches cradling her corpse, blood dripping from her fingertips soaking the snow covered ground twenty feet below. A man in a black trench coat stood in the distance watching, tense and unmoving, barely visible in the deep of the woods. Only his green eyes and dark hair, as dark as her long wavy locks, peeped over his black collar veiling the bottom half of his face. It was almost dark.

The man took his hands out of his pockets and lit a match. One tree, then another and another—all ablaze, enclosing her until a sudden burst of flames created a barrier between the man and her mangled body. His eyes searched for her but to no avail. She had vanished, or so it seemed. Just as quickly, he fled into the darkness.

Three months had passed and Jacob could still vividly remember the day his sister died. Her death was confirmed to him the day officials found her locket in the midst of charred branches after some teenagers supposedly started a small fire in the woods.

“Here you go, son,” said one officer at the scene. “The locket seems to be in perfect condition, except…”

“Except, what?” said Jacob, glossy-eyed and eager.

“Somehow the picture inside got burnt up, like it wasn’t even in the locket to begin with.” The officer handed over the necklace, appearing as polished and clean as the day Jacob bought it for her.

“I don’t understand.” Jacob opened the locket. Inside there was a picture of the siblings arm in arm. Only Jacob’s face was a black hole burnt off, leaving his sister alone, a sad smile on her lips. He flipped the keepsake over, silently reading the message he’d engraved to her.

To my dear sister, Helena. Love, Jacob.

Simple and to the point. “Helena,” Jacob whispered with a sigh.

According to the police reports, she was considered a missing person because her body was never recovered. Jacob knew his sister better than the police, better than anyone. There was no denying that she was gone.

During that three month period, Jacob made a vigorous attempt to move on with his life. He continued teaching at the local middle school. He started on everyday hobbies: photography, jigsaw puzzles, weekly bowling with fellow teachers, etc. He’d taken up jogging in the mornings, passing by the compassionate expressions of neighbors who had been dropping by his favorite dishes almost daily.

There was one inconvenience that hindered Jacob’s daily routine. Every morning, a small dead animal was carefully placed on his front doorstep, freshly maimed for his viewing. But Jacob knew this kind of behavior. This was an act he had witnessed several times over—an unusual habit his sister never left. That first week after his sister’s death, he buried the animals, paranoid and frantic. First, a raccoon. Then a rat. He kept digging and the carcasses kept appearing. Burying became a hassle, so he started to bag and toss them in a nearby dumpster. Eventually, the mutilated animals became a part of his daily ritual: wake up, shower, gloves, plastic bag, dead bunny, dumpster, jog, snack, work, and so on.

Jacob was determined to let go. It’s nothing, he’d say to himself. Just a prank.



It was around 8:00 p.m. on Halloween night. Jacob heard something at the front door. The porch lights were off. Children never dared approach his home, knowing of the crazy lady who once lived there in all her insane glory. The door knob wriggled around, jolting to the left and right. Jacob, bat ready at hand, flung the door open. It was his student-teacher from school.

“Becca? What the hell are you doing? I thought—” It was unintentional, but he yelled at her in his flustered state.

“I’m really sorry! I just thought I’d drop these graded papers off. I tried calling but it went straight to voicemail. And there was no doorbell and I don’t like banging on doors, especially on Halloween—”

“It’s fine. Come in.” He wasn’t expecting company, but she was very beautiful. Maybe this was his second chance. She sat down.

“Is that your sister? You two look exactly alike.” she asked, pointing at a picture of a green-eyed girl.

“Yeah, that’s her. I was always taking care of her. We were raised by a single mother and after she died, well, I just had no choice. I was 18 years old and she was 13. Just kids, really. I wasn’t sure how to raise a girl, especially one with her mental condition. But not too long after mom passed, we were inseparable. She had hair a lot like yours, long, dark and crimped.” He slightly grazed the loose strands of hair on the side of her face.

Becca reached for the picture frame in an effort to gain some personal space. “How did she die?"

"My sister?"

“Your mother…and yes, I suppose your sister as well.”

“Mom, suicide. Sister, murder,” Jacob said casually, taking a sip of some blood red beverage.

Becca was taken aback. She didn’t expect the directness, absent of any details or embellishments. She avoided asking any further questions seeing how uncomfortable he it made him.

“Do you want to go out to eat somewhere?” asked Jacob. He needed to leave. He needed not to talk about his sister anymore.

“I have a better idea.” They sat in her car while she drove aimlessly (not to mention recklessly) on a two way road to nowhere. Jacob kept silent, assuming her abruptness and spontaneity was a way of adding suspense to their almost date. He recognized the route. This can’t be right. He shifted in his seat, regretting ever getting in the car with her.

“Why are we going here?”

She stopped the car on a side of a cliff exactly above the site of his sister’s disappearance.

“Let’s go. This is going to be cool,” said Becca, naively. He followed her, begrudgingly down to a trail, somewhere he had not expected to be since the day she died. There they stood looking at that mangled tree, now scorched and faltering. “They say some girl died here, but they never found her body. Sometimes they’ll find dead animals lying around this site. I thought it’d be cool to see on Halloween.”

“I’m leaving.” He turned around in a hurry to flee these woods when he heard a voice.

Jacob…

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Jacob…Jacob…

Jacob turned around slowly. “Helena.” It was barely a whisper. He couldn’t move. The shock of seeing her lying cradled in those branches paralyzed him. Her hair draped around her face, an apparition hanging in the mess of timber and blood, she stared at him with sad eyes. She pointed one bloody finger at the cliff he’d just come from.

“I didn’t mean to,” Jacob’s voice shook.

“What’re you talking about?” Becca stood watching him, unaware of any what was happening.

“It was an accident. You know that,” Jacob did to his dead sister. Helena’s eyes and mouth widened. “It was the first snow. You slipped. It was an accident. You know that I cared for you the way no one else did. It’s just you made me so angry that day. I could never find love because of you. I couldn’t do anything. You took over my life!”

A second had gone by and Helena appeared in front of him, an inch from his face. Jacob fell to the ground and scurried backwards. A small flame had started in her tree and slowly began to spread.

Becca gasped. “Jacob! We have to run!” She ran out of site to safety.

“Why don’t you just leave me alone, you crazy bitch!”

A whoosh of fire surrounded them, a loud and bright hell encompassing the brother and sister. It drew closer and closer to Jacob and Helena, she in her permanent state of grief and him unable to move off the ground, weeping.