The piercing scream once I'm submerged, when my body feels like it's been stabbed in every possible area, echoes under the heavy covering of ice. My eyes won't open, the frigid water paralyzing my functions almost instantly.

Despite my flailing, I'm sinking. It's happening so fast, and I push against it. Prickles cover my skin beneath the heavy clothing, encompassing me in goosebumps. I force my eyelids to peel open, grimacing at the rush of cold water against them. Darkness is all I see.

Struggling, running out of breath, I kick my legs in desperation, knowing the air in my lungs is dissipating rapidly. But it's no use. Within seconds, my limbs are numbing beyond repair and I'm trying my hardest not to swallow back water.

And it comes to me.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die here, in the same place, the same way his family died.

And despite hardly being able to move, my hands begin to fumble with Aidan's coat, hastily. The moment the buttons are loose, I begin to shrug it off, attempting to reach the surface again, praying I haven't drifted from the initial cracking. However, when my hands crash against a layer of ice, the only thing keeping me from oxygen, I feel my heart burst, exploding with panic as I rush out of air.

Kicking ferociously, I bang against the roof of ice, moving around to find some weak point. All around me is an abyss of water, a dark icy death. If I don't find a way out, I'm dead. I'm dead, and no one will reach me until spring.

The possibility of death brings morbid thoughts to my mind, filling my senses with fear, and dread, and regret. Frightening images light up my brain, finding me even through shut eyes. Slamming my hands upward, my toes aching inside my boots as the unlivable temperature spreads throughout my body, my heart stops when I don't slam immediately into ice. Knowing I've found safety, I surge up, grunting with my last breath, and escape the depth, shoving myself into the mountains of ice, on either side. My first grasp fails, and I drop back into the water, sinking under the surface with a scream.

But, I find the energy to push again, and this time, my fingers peel into the snow, finding a patch hard enough to grasp on to. I feel the urge to cough, but my throat has closed up. I can hardly breathe. Every inch of me is exhausted, and I'm not sure how I'll pull myself out of the water without chipping off more ice. I'll freeze if I sit here though.

My eyes scan the endless white mounds around my head, searching for some way. Snow has begun to fall again in a rapid race to the ground, telling me that the storm has finally resurfaced. I'm coherent enough to know that a snow storm will kill me out here.

My hands fist the snow bare which makes them burn as I try to lift myself enough to get my foot on solid ground. That's the only way out. Wheezing gasps escape my lips as my arms buckle trying to function. It takes a few tries, but the moment my boot scrapes the edge, I put all pressure to my arms and heave myself out, scrapping through the fallen snow to climb onto it. A sound of fear echoes around me when I hear the ice crack again, weak under the pressure of my body.

The moment I'm out of the water, I use the last of my energy to crawl, to crawl as carefully as I can until I'm under forest cover. I don't know how I make it. My vision is going in and out, and my heart is thumping hard enough to hurt.

I throw myself into snow onto my back, choking on my gasps, unable to move any further. My muscles are atrophying, spasming under my skin. The only layer between me and the harsh extremes of winter are my sodden clothes—a plaid button-up and pants. I want to turn my face away from the rush of snowflakes raining from the sky, but I've lost the ability.

And I begin to wonder if drowning would have been better.

Aidan has no idea where I am. I didn't tell him I'd even left the manor. The storm has begun, and he won't be able to find me out here. And despite it being early morning, the sky is dark, swelling with voracious intensity.

My limbs want to curve close. I want to roll into a ball, but I can't. I can't move anymore.

Fear begins to crush my chest, the weight of seclusion and impending pain too much to bear. I begin to cry tearless sobs, and the sound doesn't even register. My vocal cords have weakened.

Time passes, and I don't really have any sense of it. The longer my limbs soak in the clothes, and the hills of snow, the more time becomes inconsequential. My mind is alive, and consumed with ravings.

I should be with my mother. I should have made sure she knew I loved her. All these years, and I've barely seen her. She can hardly remember me now. I never got to fix things, repair the damage I've made.

My eyes part slowly at the sight of movement, and they stay open. I stare out a few feet away from me, and my heart begins to race. Standing, watching me, are the people I saw in the photographs in Aidan's foyer. Standing just a few feet away are Nora and Lily Hughes. They are shaded, and barely visible despite the close distance. I squint my eyes, trying to get a better look, but it doesn't matter.

They are a figment of my imagination. I'm hallucinating. Or maybe they are ghosts.

I don't have it in me enough to care. I can't feel my body anymore. I only feel heat, bubbling heat like someone's lighting my skin on fire. The snow has built to a steady fall, and the trees billow loudly against the stormy wind. I close my eyes, and when I open them, my eyelashes dusted with snow, they are gone.

I focus on the sounds I hear, slamming my eyes shut, not wishing to see anything else. I've grown immensely calm, calm enough that the sight of two people watching me doesn't bother me in the slightest. I don't have enough adrenaline to care anymore.

"JOSEPHINE!"

The remembrance of Aidan's voice is a comfort, a comfort I latch onto in this moment. In this moment, the sound of his voice relieves me. Nothing I learned this morning means anything. His voice is familiar, and alive with emotions.

I long to hear it again, will it to me.

"JOSEPHINE!"

I smile softly.

It's closer now.

"Oh my god," he gasps, right beside me now. "Oh my god, Josephine."

I feel for the first time since I fell down. I feel warmth on my cheeks, and then under my neck. It's not enough to make a real difference, but it's comforting and I hope for more.

"Open your eyes!" he shouts, frantically. "Open your eyes right now, Josephine! OPEN THEM!"

They are sealed closed. I'm nearly there, I want to say. My mouth doesn't want to budge.

"Josephine, please," he begs, his voice choking with tears. "Please."

Hearing his panic transform into pain unsettles my peace. I attempt to do what he's asking me to do, unable to stand hearing his melodic voice so despairing. It hurts to crack them open after being so still, but at the first sight of his face, framed by falling snow, contorted with fear, somehow I open them completely, struck dumb by the sight of him.

Is it a hallucination? Is this my mind? Am I dead?

His features etch with relief when he notices my attention, and I realize the warmth I feel is his hands on me. One on my cheek, the other beneath my neck.

"I fell...in," I whisper, not sure if he can hear me, or if I'm talking to myself. His head snaps to the side, where the frozen river is looming. He swallows, and nods, looking back to me.

"I know. Your clothes are wet. I need to get you inside."

"I can't move," I say, shaking my head. It will hurt too much to try. The pain has finally ceased.

"You don't have to." He moves, and it's too fast for me to follow. I'm instantly dizzy. But within seconds, I'm not on the ground anymore. Within seconds, he's gathered me in his arms, and I realize he's planning to carry me back to the manor.

I want to tell him we won't make it. That he should just go. He can't climb the mountain terrain with me in his arms.

"Leave me," I get out against his throat.

"Stay awake, Josephine," he grunts in his exertion. I still can't feel my limbs. My fingers or my toes, they are all numb.

"I'm going to die," I breathe, sure of it. I'm just grasping on. It would be easier to let go. So much has changed so fast.

"No," his arms tighten, "Stop. You are okay. You're going to be okay."

"Aidan."

"You can't do this to me," he breathes. "You can't do this. I need you. I can't go through this again."

I must have dozed out because when my eyes part again, he's shaking me, and I'm on the ground of the foyer. We're under his roof, and his face is pale, his lips blue. There is snow all over him. He's unbuttoning my shirt hastily, desperate to get the sodden clothes off my body as soon as possible. His fingers are shaking, fumbling with the buttons. He's gasping, set to work.

I catch sight of my own hand, which is stiff against the ground, and notice the underlying blue paleness in my flinching fingers. I'm frightened by the sight, but can't exert myself enough to show it.

"Josephine," Aidan says, meeting my faltering gaze with determination. "Baby, look at me."

"Aidan," I whisper, and I hear the fear in my voice. He's dragging off my pants, rendering me completely naked to him. He doesn't even seem to notice. He's gathering me up again, and we're moving. He closes us off into a room, his bedroom, and he lowers me onto the mattress of the bed. I try to turn my face, but only my eyes move.

He's shedding his coat, already by the fireplace. He's moving fast as lightning, producing a flame within moments. When it's started, he grabs the bed warmer, and rests it over the flames. My world is spinning when he gets back to me, my body uncomfortable by the sudden warmth of the sheets.

But I notice he's shedding his clothes too. He's flinging it off of him. I'm exhausted, and spent. My eyes won't stay open to see anymore of what he's doing. But this time, I feel him.

I feel him climb into the bed and wrap his limbs around mine, pulling me into his chest, tight enough that a wheezing gasp escapes my brutalized lungs. I still can't move to touch him. I can feel my heart beat pumping irregularly in my chest, and know it's not normal.

I'm scared. I'm so scared.

I begin to cry as his body warmth spreads throughout me. It almost hurts.

"I'm going to die," I whisper again, catching my breath painfully.

"No, I'm here. You're safe. I'm here."

"I can't feel my body."

His lips press to my skin. My cheek, my forehead, my lips, forcing warmth upon me.

"Aidan, I-I'm sorry," I get out, knowing I won't be able to say more. It's too hard.

"Stop. Don't. Look at me. Stay with me."

I can't. Everything's dark. My heart is slowing. It's too much.

"Josephine...JOSEPHINE! No!"