I am startled awake, sucking in a frigid breath. Where am I? The cold air spreads like a claw around me. The howling winds harshly cut at my exposed face.
Despite the endless snowfall, I hear the sounds of people’s shouts over the growling winds. I shield my eyes from the pelting snow as I turn in their direction. I slightly make out the bright colors of winter coats making their way toward me.
“Help!” I scream, my breath creating an icy cloud in front of my mouth. Trudging through the mountainous layers of snow, they almost bury me alive.
The strangers finally reach me. They are much better equipped for the weather than me, geared with giant winter coats, boots, and gloves. I stare back, simply wearing my thin Christmas sweater and pajama pants.
The strangers manage to rescue me and take me to a town hall a few minutes away. We seem to be walking through a small village, crowded with small cabins huddling around snow-buried roads. The warm air inside the town hall helps calm my shivering body. The town hall has many other people, who quickly go to fetch a cup of hot cocoa and a pile of blankets upon seeing me.
Recognition sparks in me as a bearded man approaches me. He was one of the strangers who saved me just moments ago. “Hey kid, what were you doing outside? Don’t you know how dangerous it is now? Ever since a week ago, when this brutal snowstorm started, it’s been forbidden to wander out of the village!”
I plea for help, “I don’t know how I got here! I was just looking around the holiday market when I stumbled upon a snow globe! But when I shook it, I suddenly fainted and woke up here! You have to help me get home!” My loud cries cause everyone’s eyes in the town hall to turn toward me. Murmurs start circulating in the hall, chirping like crickets.
“Who’s kid is that?”
“I don’t recognize her. Do you think she’s gone crazy from the cold?”
A purple-coated woman in the newly-formed crowd around me moves towards the bearded man. She was the other person who had saved me. I faintly hear her whisper something into the bearded man’s ears, who responds with his narrowed eyes and a frown. There was something about a “snow globe” and a “curse.”
She then makes her way towards me, crouching down to my seated eye level. “Hello, dear, so you just woke up here after shaking a snow globe? Can you describe what the snow globe looked like?”
After taking another big gulp from my hot cocoa to warm my sore throat, I hesitantly reply, “It looked like an antique. I recall it was made out of wood and painted a golden color. Inside the snow globe was a small vill-”
I pause. Inside the snow globe was a small village that seemed to resemble the one I’d seen briefly while being rescued to the hall. No way… Did I get transported inside the snow globe!
Before I could even finish my sentence, the purple woman and the bearded man share a glance of confirmation.
“Follow me,” the woman orders. She gets up and quickly ushers the crowd of people to let her pass. She marches with confidence that directly conflicts my growing confusion. The bearded man also gets up and follows her and me to the storage closet in the town hall.
It was dimly-lit; only one singular light-bulb hangs to illuminate the whole room. There were endless shelves of food and miscellaneous items crowding the room. The woman reaches into a corner, hidden by two boxes of toys. She takes out a golden snow globe, almost identical to the one I had found in the holiday market.
She questions me, “I believe the one you found may resemble this one, right?” I nod.
She pauses, “You said that you shook it before you fainted?” I nod again.
She turns towards the bearded man, and they whisper in voices so small that it seems like they don’t want me to hear. I lean toward them as discreetly as I can. They must have a way for me to go home! I can only hear the word “snowstorm” before they catch me eavesdropping.
The woman asks me another question, “Would you be surprised if I say that today is December 31st?”
My mouth hangs wide open. “That means I must’ve been unconscious for seven days!” The woman and the bearded man share another secretive glance and then nod to each other.
The woman sighs, “You see, our village is connected to that snow globe by a curse. Ever since you shook that snow globe, an endless snow storm has haunted our village. The only way to stop a cursed snow storm is to remove the person who shook the snow globe in the first place. Don’t worry, we’ll try to make it as painless as possible.”
“Remove?” I can’t help but be shocked. However, my shock immediately turns into panic once I see the bearded man reach into a box and pull out a hockey stick. Dread fills my bones, and the warmth that I’d felt inside the town hall turns into a chill. My fight-or-flight response takes over, and I bolt to the closet door. However, to my dismay, the woman blocks my only exit.
Her menacing gaze pierces like a dagger into me. “We really had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but the cursed snow storms that ruin our peaceful village need to be halted as soon as possible. Think of yourself as a noble sacrifice—one life lost to save a whole village’s worth of people.”
I scream for help, but I know my fate is sealed. In my last moments, all I can think is, if only I wasn’t curious enough to have shaken that snow globe.