(WARNING: This chapter does contain some hints of racist treatment as well as mentions/descriptions of dead bodies, just be aware.)

Trinity fidgeted with her hands in the backseat of her dad's car. They were driving downtown for his Christmas work party, and since they were allowed to bring their kids, Trinity's dad had insisted that she come along for some 'socializing'. And usually, Trinity wouldn't care. She'd come along, meet some of her dad's co-workers, forget their names and just hide in the bathroom and text her friends, a typical Christmas party.

No, not this time. This time there was someone there Trinity actually wanted to see. She hadn't seen her in years, ever since her own family moved to pretty much the other side of town.

"Are you okay back there sweetheart?" Trinity's mom asked, leaning over for a look at her daughter. "I'm fine." Trinity replied, looking down at her hands. "I'm sure you're excited to see your friend again." Her dad added without taking his eyes off the icy road. "I guess." She mumbled.

They pulled into the parking lot of her dad's office building and walked inside. Her dad greeted the receptionist and took a brief moment to introduce Trinity and her mom before they headed up to one of the highest floors in the building.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened to reveal a decorated scene of people laughing and listening to some Christmas carols over a radio that was sitting on a desk. Trinity didn't even have time to take it all in before her dad pulled her over to introduce to all his work friends.

Eventually, Trinity got away and ended up just standing in front of the windows facing the river side and staring out at the view. She was in one of the buildings that towered over downtown Sun Oak City, meaning she could see most of the other side of the river as well.

Trinity stayed like that before a familiar yet strange voice spoke to her from behind.

"Miss the view? It's been awhile!"

"Victoria!" Trinity smiled and hugged her old friend, careful not to disturb her hijab. The two had bonded a long time ago over their mutual love of space as well as growing up in the same rough neighbourhood.

"How's your new school? New life!" Victoria exclaimed, looking more excited by the second. "You moved like, how long ago?"

"I think, 6 years ago now?" Trinity guessed. Victoria gasped. "Really? I mean, it feels like it's been a while, but I feel like I still know you." Trinity nodded, looking down. She didn't want Victoria to know what had changed.

"Do you uh, do you still live in that run-down bungalow?" Trinity asked, fondly remembering the old house she and Victoria had spent so many hours together in. When Trinity had met Victoria, they had recently moved from across the country, and Victoria still wasn't sure how to interact with the new environment. Not to mention their neighbourhood was pretty rough, and it was far from an ideal place for little kids.

Still, they'd both turned out tough as nails, and had done just fine. Except when middle school had started, Trinity's family had moved to the other side of the river, and the two had lost contact. Trinity didn't know how her friend had turned out.

"Actually, we moved into a decent apartment around a year ago." Victoria smiled. "My parents finally saved up the money. I've also got a part-time job at a hardware store now."

Trinity beamed at her friend. "That's awesome Vic! How's school itself treating you?"

Victoria sighed. "It's okay. I've got pretty good grades. Still getting the usual treatment every once in a while but it's alright, I can deal with it. I think we've both been doing it for years."

Trinity nodded sadly. "You're doing alright though?" She asked. Victoria nodded. "I'm good, what about you? How've you been lately?"

Trinity looked down at her feet. As much as she wanted to trust her old friend, she didn't want to say anything to endanger Tessa and the others. "I-is everything okay?" Victoria asked again. Trinity said nothing, just looking down, trying to think of what to tell her friend.

"I just, come on." Trinity started making her way to a secluded corner of the crowded room, leaving a confused Victoria to follow.

"Ok, things have been kinda crazy lately." Trinity whispered to Victoria, who seemed nervous, but was clearly too nervous to back out now. "Basically, one of my friends parents was killed by... someone, and we think they're watching us now." Victoria's eyes widened with every word. "Trinity are you kidding?" She whisper-shouted. "Are you saying someone's trying to take you out?" Trinity nodded, looking down at the floor again. She took off her glasses and started cleaning them as an excuse to not look at her friend.

"What else is there?" Victoria asked. "I just, I can't tell you here." Trinity apologized. "Call me paranoid, but I don't trust much these days. Here, look up the name 'Heather Dawson'. You'll learn more once you do."

Victoria looked skeptical, but she still wrote the name down in her phone for later and sighed. "Just don't, risk too much okay?" She asked with a tired expression. Trinity laughed nervously. "Victoria..."

"I don't think that's an option anymore."

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December had finally rolled around, and with it came cold. Frigid cold. Trinity was walking home from school, wind whipping snow like needles into her face. An arm held in front of her face was her only feeble defense against the icy torrent, and it wasn't working.

Trinity took a shortcut through a small park, doing her best to find the pathway amid the identical snowdrifts scattered around.

She was so focused on getting home, that she probably wouldn't have noticed anything strange on the ground, if it hadn't made her trip.

Trinity collapsed into the snow. She struggled to get up, trying to command her frozen knees to straighten enough to stand up. She looked to see what had made her trip, and saw what looked like a large stick sticking out from a snowdrift. Trinity grumbled and decided the least it could do was help her up. She grabbed the end, but something was wrong.

It felt too limp to be a stick, yet too stiff to be anything else. Trinity raised it up, holding the thick fibres extending from the end. It seemed like it was attached to something else, much too heavy and limp to be just a stick. The "stick" itself was a strange blue, almost purple colour, definitely no stick.

That's when something caught Trinity's eye. It was a rare spot of colour among a sea of whites and greys. The snow underneath the lower part of the object was a dark scarlet colour, and was slowly getting covered up by the snow the more Trinity exposed it.

Trinity stumble back, shocked at what had really tripped her. She stood up much too fast, only to fall backwards onto the snow again. The end of the stick she had been holding was a dead man's hand, attached to their pale blue body, most likely buried underneath that snowdrift.

A loud, guttural sound cut through the air, and Trinity realized it was coming from her as she stared at that protruding arm from the snow. Her holding it up had set the scarlet free as it began to leak through the snow, creeping towards her boots. She got up and tried to run before slipping on some ice and stumbling. This time though, she kept going. Tripping over ice and snow until she reached a deserted street. She was still screaming...maybe, as she ran until she found someone. Or more like someone found her, and she led them back to the discarded body.

"Trinity? Trinity are you okay?" I'm calling the police okay, just hand tight." A blue and green pair of eyes eyed Trinity with concern and alarm and Trinity stood there numbly, staring at the scarlet snow spreading through the ground.

A/N: Just a warning, I will have some more descriptions involving stuff like this in some upcoming chapters, so if this chapter made you uncomfortable, I suggest treading lightly on the next few chapters. Anyways, happy belated Valentines Day if you do that kind of stuff, the next chapter will be coming out on March 11th!

Stay safe, don't freeze to death, drink water, take your meds, stay tuned!

-Brooke