4 - THE NEW INHABITANT

She left the store through the hole opened by her victim. Heard his voice inside her head begging for mercy. But she had no pity. The deed is done.

She passed by the man's abandoned car, the door was still open, waiting for its driver who would never return.

She came back to her natural little girl form. After all, her next victim cried out for it. For a child.

Her feet marked her way through the snow that was now getting denser and higher in that place's street, denouncing where the evil had come, and where it was going.

She passed by families who were amused in that mess, incapable of thinking that the phenomenon was related by something supernatural. That the snow was bringing death and the end of their lives. She didn't feel sad. Sadness wasn't part of her nature. Just to select the good ones and the bad ones. The new Earth was being formed, and that was all that worried her. That was what moved her.

Nobody seemed to pay attention to that little girl, covered only with a dress amidst all that cold. The thermometer that was marking 35º just a few hours ago now was having a temperature of 2º. But she wasn't shaking. If someone had looked at her in the direction of the street and seen the girl who seemed to walk without a problem, barefoot and almost without clothes, they might have thought something was wrong. And maybe he had taken the car, and would have gone away from the city in time to save his life (or delay his death). But nobody did. And she followed the woman's call.

The snow started to intensify as soon as her steps roamed the street's extension. The people started to be frightened by the rising wind, and the cold that now was hurting. The inhabitants' teeth now weren't showing a smile, but they collided with each other, warning their owners that it was no longer cozy and safe to be out there.

Little by little, the house's yard started to be empty again.

The blizzard increased, and from the resident's windows, they could only see a white immensity. Neither the street nor the trees could be seen now.

The fun was over, and now the fear was filled by the atmosphere of Black Lake.

And she felt the fear.

And she smiled.

And she was walking toward the woman's call. Of the victim. Of the food.