Frostbitten: The Complete Series

by Bera, Ilia

  Days passed.

  James wasn’t able to find a partner for Brittany. He asked every single one of his friends, but none of them were interested. James pleaded with his buddies, but to no avail. James returned to Megan and begged that she go with him to the dance despite the failed condition.

  Megan declined, opting to remain loyal to Brittany. James continued to propose in more romantic and elaborate ways. He even took over the intercom during the morning announcements, and asked her out publicly—a particularly awkward moment, as there was no way for him to know what Megan’s response was.

  The dance passed, but James refused to give up on Megan. His heart had made its decision, and he was prepared to die with that decision.

  Brittany did a good job of keeping a smile on her face, but she secretly wanted to break down and cry. James Enderby was one of the most popular kids in school, and he was a friend with nearly every other boy in the town—but somehow, he wasn’t able to find one single boy who could tolerate Brittany for just one night.

  Brittany was forced to suffer through the torment of watching Megan get swooned over every single day. Nothing was worse than having to suffer through the movies that Brittany and Megan went to see on the many nights of the many dances—knowing that they were all just pity hangouts. Brittany never revealed her true feelings to Megan.

  As the months went on, things only went downhill. Megan found herself being asked out constantly—not just by James, but by nearly every boy in the school. By the ninth grade, she had become an absolute vixen—the epitome of beauty. She was well ahead of the rest of the school in physical development.

  Her short hair framed her soft face perfectly, her breasts had developed large and perky, her hips had the most insatiable curves and her legs were long and impeccably smooth. It seemed as though every single piece of clothing was carefully crafted for her body specifically—fitting her mouth-watering shape flawlessly.

  After a while, Megan stopped putting on any makeup—it was a shame to mask her beauty. Her eyelashes were naturally dark, and her perfect cheekbones had a natural reddish hue to them. She gave all of her old makeup to Brittany—unintentionally rubbing more salt into Brittany’s broken ego.

  Brittany was another story. She just remained Brittany. She was slow to develop. Her hair required tons of conditioner and product in order to remain soft-looking. No amount of makeup could hide her imperfections. Clothes fit her body awkwardly, and she was constantly dieting to remain thin.

  Despite all of the attention Megan was getting, and all of the attention Brittany wasn’t, the two girls continued to spend all of their time together. Megan continued to refuse any man who didn’t have a suitable solution for her best friend. Megan had good intentions with her efforts, but they ended up having an opposite effect. Boys started to resent Brittany—people looked down at her in the hallways.

  One day, Brittany couldn’t take it any longer.

  She didn’t show up for school one day. Megan tried calling, but she couldn’t get a hold of Brittany. It wasn’t until hours after school was out for the day that Brittany turned up, carrying shopping bags.

  “Oh my God—You’re alive! Where were you?” Megan asked.

  “I woke up feeling sick, so I took the day off,” Brittany replied.

  “I tried calling you. Why didn’t you pick up?”

  “I was at the walk-in. They make you turn off your phone.”

  “Are you okay?” Megan asked.

  “I’m fine—The doctor said it was a day flu that’s been going around.”

  “Don’t scare me like that!”

  “You’ll never believe what happened. After the doctor, I walked around the mall,” Brittany told her friend. “I wanted to replace those old runners. I went into that little shoe store next to the food court, and this really cute guy was working.”

  “Who was it?” Megan asked.

  “His name was Robert. Robert Lawson. He was so cute,” Brittany recalled. “He kept making suggestions, and he made me try on like thirty pairs of shoes. Every time I thought I found a good pair, he told me that they were no good, and he made me try on another.”

  Megan laughed.

  “Finally, he admitted that he just didn’t want me to leave.”

  “Oh my God—Did he ask you out?” Megan asked. She bit her lip, containing her excitement for her friend.

  Brittany smiled. “Yeah.”

  Megan squealed with enthusiasm for her friend. “Tell me all about him.”

  “Okay, okay. He had bright blue eyes and messy blonde hair. He was thin, but not too thin. He was really sweet, and really charming. He asked me out to the movies.”

  “The movies? You said yes, right?”

  “I froze up—It was so embarrassing. But yeah—I eventually said yes,” Brittany recalled. “You aren’t upset, are you? I was so flustered, I just said yes without thinking.”

  “No—I’m not upset. I’m so happy for you! Maybe we can make it a double date.”

  “Well, he’s kind of shy—and I don’t want to freak him out. But I’ll talk to him about it this weekend.”

  “This weekend?” Megan asked.

  “We’re seeing the movie on Saturday night.”

  Megan smiled at her friend, but her smile quickly dissipated.

  “What’s wrong?” Brittany asked.

  “Why didn’t you call me when it happened?” Megan asked.

  “I was just so flustered, and you were in class. I don’t know—I’ve just been a space cadet all day.”

  Megan forced a smile. “We’ve always told each other everything.”

  Brittany thought for a moment as she looked at her friend. In fifteen years, she’d never seen her friend so disappointed in her. “I’m sorry. I—I just feel kind of shy about the whole thing.”

  Megan smiled. “Never be shy with me,” she said. “Are you excited?”

  “I think so!” Brittany said. “I’m nervous.”

  “Oh my God—We need to start picking out an outfit,” Megan said, springing up to her feet.

  That night, Megan phoned James Enderby and told him about the shoe store boy. James did not hesitate to ask Megan out on a date. This time, Megan was happy to finally say “yes”.

  What Megan Gold didn’t realize was that Robert Lawson did not exist.

  Brittany made him up so that she wouldn’t have to suffer through the torture of dragging Megan down to her pitiful level. She spent that Saturday at the movie theatre, alone—occasionally messaging Megan as if she was on a real date. She’d escaped the pity, but she’d never felt like such a pathetic loser in her life.

  A week later, Brittany told her friend that her relationship with “Robert Lawson” wasn’t working out, and that she was going to stop seeing him.

  Megan and Brittany’s friendship was never the same. Megan started spending more and more time away with James. The occasional disagreement started to spring up between the teen girls, and Brittany was quickly beginning to resent all of the male attention Megan continued to get, despite being in a steady relationship with James Enderby.

  Megan had started a different life—a life in which Brittany didn’t quite fit.

  It took some convincing, but James managed to drag Megan out to a big high school party. For Megan, the party would turn out to be a major turning point in her young life. James Enderby’s best friend, Wallace Quick was throwing the night’s event.

  If it wasn’t for a town-wide power outage, Brittany would have stayed at home that freezing cold winter night.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  WALLACE QUICK

  Wallace Quick was the son of a well-respected army man, Sam Quick.

  Sam proudly served in three different wars, across three different continents. He had acquired just about every medal there was to acquire. Each year, Sam led a parade commemorating the troops, and he ran the Quick Foundation—a charity, which provided homing for the homeless during the winter. Sam was without question the most respecte
d man in all of Snowbrooke.

  Wallace Quick, on the other hand, was anything but respectable. Before he was thirteen years old, Wallace had been expelled from two different schools, and he’d been arrested a number of times for a plethora of different reasons—assault, dealing drug, reckless endangerment—you name it.

  Miraculously, Wallace had a totally clean police record. Thanks to his father’s mighty pull, Wallace was always released with nothing more than a stern warning.

  The moment Wallace was released, he would always be right back on his warpath.

  Ironically, it was Wallace’s incredibly heroic, honoured and respected father’s fault that Wallace was such a scuzzy little brat. Sam Quick was rarely home. When Wallace was born, Sam requested a transfer out of the line of combat. He took a different job at an army research centre—about four-hours north of the little town of Snowbrooke. Sam lived at the base for three weeks at a time, and only took about four or five days off to visit his family in Snowbrooke.

  He almost never spoke about his job at the base. Supposedly, his work was extremely high profile and totally top secret. All anyone knew was that they tested aircraft, weapons and other combat gear at the northern base. Rarely, Sam would bring home prototypes for whatever was being worked on at the base—usually failed prototypes that would have otherwise become trash—little things like little water purifiers, and weather resistant work boots.

  Sam and his team were responsible for the latest state-of-the-art light-weight thermal suits, which ended up being mass produced and sent to every soldier around the world. Another one of Sam’s achievements was a small electric generator that was strong enough to power an entire city block, but light enough that your grandmother could lift it with one arm. The generator used very little energy, but was made from extremely expensive materials. When Sam’s team designed the second prototype for the generator, Sam brought the old one home, and used it to cut down the expensive heating bill at his Snowbrooke home.

  Sam’s wife, Barbara was also a victim of his shining career. She was constantly expected to attend events and make appearances with her husband. It didn’t help that she was obsessed over her appearance.

  Barbara spent most of her time three hours south of Snowbrooke, in a small city called Earlton, where the major shopping outlets were. When she wasn’t shopping in Earlton, she was on a plane to Los Angeles, where she got regular plastic surgery with the help of Sam’s platinum credit card.

  A neglected child, Wallace was free to do whatever he wanted. With his father’s high status and his mother’s constant absence, Snowbrooke was Wallace’s sandbox—freedom that no one, especially a child like Wallace should ever have.

  No moment in Wallace’s short life was dull. In sixteen years, Wallace accomplished a hell of a lot. He’d stolen and wrecked cars worth half a million dollars. He was responsible for the biggest fire in Snowbrooke’s history. He’d abused and experimented with every drug you’ve ever heard of, and more.

  His parents had him tested for ADHD. The doctors decided to try treating the wild boy with a particularly powerful stimulant. The attempt to calm the child down backfired, and Wallace became painfully addicted to speed—breaking his medication up and snorting it for a better high. Wallace was constantly consuming potentially deadly doses of various legal and illegal stimulants.

  Had Wallace been able to focus his reckless energy on something productive and worthwhile, he could have accomplished anything he wanted. Unfortunately, “productive and worthwhile” weren’t part of Wallace Quick’s dictionary. Wallace had no interest in “changing the world for the better”. Instead, he chose to live fast and die young.

  That epic high school party would be the last party Wallace ever threw—his final night of unrestrained glory.

  It was one of the coldest nights in Snowbrooke’s history. The snow was coming down in a consistent thick sheet and every radio station was repeatedly broadcasting the emergency weather warning.

  Wallace’s big party was only hours away, and everyone was cancelling. Wallace was upset about it. He made phone call after phone call, trying to convince people to come to his epic party.

  No one was interested.

  It didn’t help that the bizarre Wilkinson House Murder, just a few days before, had everyone apprehensive to stay out late. Not to mention, the radios were reporting a fatal shooting at a local gas station, just hours earlier.

  To most people, it seemed crazy to not only brave the freezing snow, but to also risk being killed by a homicidal maniac—just to attend some high school party.

  But Fate had a way of giving Wallace what he wanted.

  Snowbrooke’s power went out as the nearby power plant became overwhelmed with snow. Everyone in the town found themselves without power and heat on the coldest night in memorable history. Police went house to house, telling everyone without a generator to seek shelter at the local library or the hospital—the only two spots with backup power strong enough to keep the much-needed heat on.

  Wallace did not hesitate to crank the volume of his loud speakers. He turned on every single light in his house—including all of the colourful party lights he “borrowed” from town’s community centre—which his dad just so happened to have the key for.

  As the cold town’s youth heard the music and saw the lights, they swarmed towards the Quick house like hungry moths.

  To Wallace’s delight the high school party got way out of hand, way too fast.

  Even Brittany ended up at the party after her power went dead. Perhaps there was something in the cold air that night, or perhaps it was the fact Wallace slyly slipped a hit of ecstasy into every bottle of liquor he put out for the guests, but after just a single drink, Brittany was feeling completely off.

  As the night wore on, the tether between Brittany and Megan grew longer and longer.

  Megan started chatting with a different group of people—the new friends she met through her new boyfriend, James. As Megan disappeared into the party, Brittany found herself anxiously alone—knowing nobody.

  Things were getting weird quickly. Most people were having the time of their life—Brittany on the other hand, was not. She could hardly stand straight on her feet. She became incredibly nervous—unsure of what was happening around her. Everything was quickly becoming a spinning blur. Afraid, and unable to find her only friend Megan, Brittany took off for her home, where she ended up vomiting all night and passing out on the icy cold bathroom floor.

  For the rest of that winter weekend, Brittany never heard from Megan. She wasn’t responding to any of Brittany’s text messages or phone calls, and she wasn’t answering her door. Brittany remained calm—many people ended up stranded that weekend—cars refused to start, and power failed to return to many of the older Snowbrooke homes.

  But when the following school day rolled around, Megan was still nowhere to be seen. She didn’t show up for any of her classes and Brittany’s messages and calls continued to go unanswered. To make a tense situation worse, Megan’s new boyfriend, James Enderby, was also nowhere to be seen.

  Brittany was worried sick. After a couple of days, Brittany was completely panicked. Unable to handle the stress one day after school, she knocked on Megan’s door and waited for her friend to answer. She knocked louder and louder. Eventually, Brittany simply let herself in.

  The Gold’s house was dark, and Megan’s parents weren’t home. The curtains were all closed, and the furniture was pushed up against the windows, preventing any natural light from entering.

  Megan’s bedroom was cold and vacant.

  “Megan?” Brittany called out, growing increasingly nervous for Megan’s wellbeing. “Megan—where are you?”

  There was a lingering dread in the quiet air.

  Suddenly, Brittany heard noises coming from below the silent house. She made her way down the stairs into Megan’s dark, unfinished basement.

  That was where she found the missing Megan Gold and James Enderby.

  CHAPTER FORT
Y-FOUR

  ETERNAL YOUTH

  Their eyes were red—glowing in the dark gloomy basement. Megan slowly looked up at Brittany and smiled. On that cold cement basement floor was a familiar student— Kristi Platelle. Her chubby lifeless skin was pale, as blood trickled down from her plump neck.

  The confused Brittany’s brain couldn’t process what she was seeing. One of her classmates was dead, and her best friend was the killer.

  Brittany began to step backwards, back towards the stairway. Her legs began to feel weak and her knees began to buckle.

  “Where are you going?” Megan asked.

  “Why—Why did you kill her?” Brittany asked.

  “We made the world a better place.”

  “You can’t just kill someone,” Brittany said. “Who are you? Where’s Megan?”

  Megan smiled. “I’m right here, Brittany.”

  “No—Megan wouldn’t do this.” Brittany’s eyes were quickly filling with tears.

  Megan walked over to Brittany and placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” Megan said, trying to calm down the tense Brittany.

  “Why?” Brittany asked again.

  “I want to show you. Let me show you.”

  “Show me what?”

  “The power—the euphoria. The blood—it makes you feel like a queen.”

  Brittany was too afraid to respond.

  “There’s something in our bodies, Brit. Some universal energy that you can’t feel unless you let it out. It’s in everybody.” Megan looked down at Kristi’s plump, lifeless corpse. “It was in her body—completely squandered until we took it back from her.”

  “You—You’re a murderer,” Brittany managed to mutter.

  Megan stroked her friend’s hair.

  “It makes you more confident than you can imagine. It keeps you young—and beautiful—irresistible. Don’t you want to be irresistible?” Megan asked.