• It was dreadfully black. The void of darkness absorbed all warmth, sparing none from its chill. No bundle of cloth or light could spurn the cold.

    She walked, searching, calling within her heart, for sound could not carry in the vacuum. Desperation and longing drove her forward to find him. Onward she trudged through the heavy snow. Cold. It was so cold. No wind blew, but the frigid air stung her face and frost formed on her hair.

    Then she could see him. Against the glacial, winter nightmare, he was there, a beacon. Hope swelled in her heart, warming inside her and melting the snow at her feet. As she ran to him, heat defeated the cold and light was born to the world.

    She reached him, relieved and happy, smiling at his light. But with a regretful, too kind smile, he shook his head and turned away, rejecting her love and hope. The cold returned. When he vanished from her world, it was winter again.