Burn. Her lungs were burning. Her brain was on fire. She was sinking in the darkness. That's all that Nicole could see. Darkness. She tried to breathe, but she failed. Instead, she gasped and choked on the coarse material gagging her. She needed air. She needed water. She needed to live.

Nicole's eyes fluttered open. It was a thick darkness, so thick that she could not tell if her eyes were open or still closed. She tried to turn her head to the side, but it was stiff and her neck hurt from being cramped up in the trunk of the car. She inhaled the earthy scent of soil. She was lying on a mossy floor, surrounded by trees.

Nicole coughed and tried to breathe. Her heart was racing and the wound on her head hurt. God did it hurt. Everything hurt. Her hands and feet were still bound by the chain and she could barely move.

All the events of the past few hours came rushing back. Hours? Or had it only been a few minutes? She had not the slightest idea of how long she had been unconscious.

Nicole tried to sit up, but her head spun and she was forced to lie back down. She let out a groan of pain as her head hit the ground. Colors exploded behind her eyelids. Spots of blue and purple swam in her vision.

Within those colors came the silhouette of a head hovering just above her. She blinked a few times, trying to make the spots disappear. She could vaguely make out the face of a fair-haired man, but those eyes jerked her back into her presence situation. It was Nathan's eyes. No, it was Jonathan's.

Nicole bit her lip as Jonathan bent down and whispered into her ear, "The sleeping beauty has finally awakened from her slumber. I was waiting for you to wake up. I wanted you to be conscious because I want you to experience the pain before you died. Else it wouldn't have been any fun, now would it?"

Nicole let out an involuntary whimper as Jonathan took out a knife and traced the side of her face with the sharp, cold, steel tip. She stared into the eyes of this cruel malefactor, that lacked humanity. She knew she won't be able to escape. She had not informed Erik that she was leaving. He was sleeping so peacefully and she had burdened him enough with her problems. She had never suspected Mr. Miller. His disguise was so perfect. He looked so kind and fatherly in that mask. But then again, wasn't she the one who had once told Mrs. Davis not to judge a book by it's cover?

Nicole knew that escaping was impossible, but it was the natural reaction of every living being to fight for their life, to fight till the last breath. She knew now that Nathan's death had not been her fault, nor was Emily's or her own mother's. Nicole suddenly felt the will to live. She would not go down without a fight.

She jerked her head away from the steel blade and screamed through the gag. She screamed and screamed and tried to lash out at Jonathan even though she was bound. She managed to headbutt him once but she felt nauseous immediately. The pain momentarily blinded her and she felt she would faint again. 

Jonathan rubbed his temple and began to drag Nicole towards the frozen lake. Nicole screamed again as thorns and debris scratched her arms and back. Her face was wet with tears mixed with the now dried blood on her forehead. But her screams were not in vain. Somewhere in the distance, in her abditory, a golden, furry body sat up with his ears perked. He listened carefully to the unfamiliar sounds, but within that unfamiliarity was the undercurrent of recognition. He knew that voice!

Brian immediately jumped up and traced Nicole's screams to her. He saw Nicole being dragged by this person he had never seen before. He growled and got ready to attack.

Out of her hazy vision and blurry eyes, Nicole saw a flash of golden fur as Brian attacked Jonathan. He jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Taken, by surprise, Jonathan squirmed and tried to push Brian off, but boy was he heavy. Brian growled at him and looked ready to tear him to shreds. 

Jonathan brutally sank his knife into Brian's stomach and Nicole watched, horrified, as Brian let out a whimper and rolled off him. Brian fell to the ground and whimpered again in pain as blood spurted from the wound. 

"Rangy mutt," Jonathan cursed as he got up and brushed himself off. At that moment, Nicole felt a burning hatred for him like she had never felt before. This man was pure evil.

She called out Brian's name but the gag made her voice come out muffled. Brian let out a howl of pain as Jonathan pushed him aside with his foot and grabbed Nicole by her hair and proceeded to drag her towards the frozen lake.

Nicole jerked her head and did her best to get away. She lashed and kept screaming, hoping someone, somewhere would hear her cries for help. But who would come to her rescue? It was a cold, December night and almost everyone was snuggled up in their blankets, sleeping peacefully, completely oblivious to the fact that a brunette was about to get murdered.

Nicole squirmed and gasped as her back hit the cold ice. And then it suddenly started snowing. The first snow of this year. It was supposed to be a magical moment, but that moment was far from magical. Tomorrow morning, people would wake up to see their city covered in pure snow, and along that beautiful sight, someone would surely discover the dead body of this young girl.

The ice creaked under their weight as Jonathan continued to drag Nicole towards almost the center of the lake. He was panting by the time he stopped, but the hard work would finally pay off.

Nicole knew what he was about to do before he did it. It would not be a knife to the heart. He planned to kill her slowly, make her suffer.

She watched as he left her lying on the frozen lake and retraced his steps back. When he was a few feet away from her, he stomped his boots on the ice, hard. He stomped a few more times until a crack appeared and it went all the way to Nicole. She heard the ice crack and threaten to break. If she tried moving even an inch, the ice would break through and she would fall in the water. If Jonathan stomped on it one more time, it would end in the same result.

She turned her head to the side and tried to scream, tried to apologize to him. But she was frozen cold and the snow had started to fall harder. She could barely make out Jonathan standing in the distance. Nicole turned her head to the sky and watched the snow fall. It was such a beautiful night. At least she would die with this one last beautiful memory imprinted in her mind.

Jonathan hit the ice again and it broke and suddenly, Nicole was drowning. Her eyes went wide as she went under and she gasped and choked. She tried to hold her breath but within seconds her lungs got heavy with the icy cold water. She tried to keep her mouth shut but it was impossible. The pain was unbearable. Her bound hands and feet prevented her from swimming and she was drowning. Drowning in that freezing water. 

Nicole saw the layer of ice on the surface. It was so white, in contrast to the aphotic bottom of the lake. She felt as the current carried her away, away from that hole in the ice through which she fell. She felt the water dragging her in deeper and deeper. She could not breathe anymore, could not think. She was choking, the now wet gag making it worse. She felt herself get light headed and suddenly, there was darkness.

This was a different type of darkness. It was more like a haze. And then there was a light. A halo surrounding a petite, feminine figure. And with that petite figure was the silhouette of a boy. They were shrouded in darkness with only that halo surrounding them, but Nicole already knew who they were. Their memories were etched into her mind forever.