The Snow Demon

(thunder crashes)

They said winter brought silence, but last year,

winter brought him.

A young girl from our village

swore she saw something in the woods,

uh, uh, taller than a man,

skin cracked like ice,

eyes burning blue.

Children imagine things.

Then one night, during the heaviest snowfall we'd ever seen,

she wandered into the forest to prove it was real.

The storm swallowed her tracks.

The searchers found nothing:

No footprints, no body, just the endless white.

Days later, she returned.

She stood at the edge of town,

barefoot in the snow,

unharmed, smiling too wide.

Her hair had turned pale as frost;

Her eyes, wrong, empty, cold.

She told us she had met the Snow Demon.

Said it lives beneath the drifts,

waiting for winter to form,

waiting for the lost.

And when she finished her story, she whispered,

"He's coming again."

Then she vanished into the storm.

And every winter since,

after the first snowfall, children disappear.

(Lila gasps)

Argh! (Squelches) Gah!

Argh! Argh!

Argh!

Argh!

Argh!

Argh!

Argh!

(leaves rustle)

Looks smaller than I remember.

Everything does when you go back, doesn't it?

You all right?

Mm, f;Ine.

Bit creepy, that.

Oi. You don't have to be the strong one this time.

Doesn't really feel like there's any other choice.

We're doing the right thing, coming back.

Hmm. Are we?

Lila. She would've wanted this.

God, it's colder in here than it is outside.

The last time we were here...

Maybe, um, we should get a fire going.

And then what?

And then we remember her.

Little help getting the bags.

It doesn't feel like a year.

It is.

This is about Lila's wishes, this weekend,

rather than us.

Yeah, of course. It's just... (huffs)

I know, but that's why we're here, together.

Yeah.

(Rhea huffs)

You all right?

Yeah, fine.

Argh. Right.

(shoes clop)

Lila would say we look like a crap support group.

And then make us tea.

And then make us play stupid drinking games.

That's hint to get the kettle on.

Yep. On it. (Huffs)

'Kay, 'kay, we settle in. And then tonight, we'll...

We'll light the candles.

Say what we need to say.

(mugs clink)

- Field notes: Owen McLennan.

Winter's Hollow. Day three on site.

Locals won't talk, not really, not directly,

but the name keeps coming up, in the old stories:

Ankuron Geal, the White Devourer.

Uh, guardian? Punisher?

Depends which version you read.

But something. There's something going on up here.

I don't care what people are saying.

Over the course of nearly 100 years:

17 confirmed deaths,

18 people missing

until the most recent one,

the girl that went missing last year.

It's like there's a veil of silence around this place.

Locals won't venture up here,

and all the people that go missing, that disappear,

they're all lonely.

You know, they talk about myth,

but myth and story has a basis,

a foothold in reality,

in our reality.

So the question is what.

What goes on? Accidents?

Something else.

Okay, Owen, it's time,

Time to prove some of these theories correct.

(bird squeaks)

(birds twitter)

How are we doing?

"We"? Fine, never better.

You can talk to me, Jade.

Oh, I know.

Then talk.

About what? How you all strong-armed me into this trip?

Jade.

What?

We light the candles and

Yeah, I know, okay? Then she finds her way home.

What is it?

They never recovered it.

Her body.

This feels wrong,

like she's still out there.

I thought Lila was the spiritual one.

Or serious.

You're right.

Her body wasn't recovered, but

some of her clothes were, and you know what they said.

Yeah, I know.

She was in subzero temperature, okay?

She likely froze

- Shh, you shouldn't do this. - To death, or animals got

to her.

I'm just...

I'm trying to make sense of it all.

Her parents declared her dead. They've had her funeral.

With an empty coffin.

They've said goodbye.

Now it's our turn.

Yeah, all right.

Are you going for a run?

Just don't go far off the trail.

It's me. I won't.

Don't look at me for help.

(intense music continues)

Do you know how, do you kn-kno-know how to play snap?

Yeah, I think I can manage that.

Okay, so... (laughs)

You don't know how to play snap?

- No. - So, literally,

you just go like this

until you get, like, a matching number.

So if I got, like, five and five.