Harlan Wolf: The Boy of Winter Town

Harlan Wolf: The Boy of Winter-Town

Winter Festivities: The Intro—

Sadie Jane was typed in a cruel winter’s shadow at birth, pegged in a cold, stark autumnal hue. Her name faired quite the opposite, hailing from a long line of terse lips and stiff, crinoline dresses. Sadie Jane was everything one imagined when they thought of childhood—a free-spirited young woman with not a care in the world.

All that would change when Harlan Wolf came along. It always did.

Of course, there was nothing inherently wrong with Harlan Wolf, as he, himself came from a stuffy, well-to-do family—same way Sadie Jane did. His only downfall was that he had the sheer misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it didn’t help he had invited others along with him. Others who would also disappear, some for better, others for worse—creating more problems for them all. At least that’s how the story was told to me; but what truly matters in this instance is who you count as your friends, they are the ones who tell your story. They are the ones who you truly can depend on when things go wrong and trust me, things WILL go wrong.

Winter Passing: The Death Trap—

“Harlan we won’t make it, I won’t make it, you have to go back, you have to tell them what happened.” Sadie insisted as she clutched the splintery planks tightly. It was a perilous drop down from the nearly two-hundred-year-old wooden risers that tunneled and mazed their way around the Winter-Town’s caves.

The Winter-Town caves themselves were so dark and damp you could barely see your own hands as they stuck out in front of your face. Sadie wondered what they were even doing there to begin with—she wondered what fun they were supposed to be having as they trekked onward towards adventure under the icicles of gloom.

Sadie ran her hand along the bone-chillingly cold stone. It was close enough to sit on. Naturally, the caves were darker in person that she expected. The only sounds she heard were the drips of water magnified with each drop that fell from the crystalized stalactites that crowned around them.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It was like a pulsing heart, or even worse, the blood rushing to your brain from fear, just like right now. Sadie Jane knew she was in trouble it was all she could bear to do not to think about the situation she was in as the sounds swirled in her ears. At any moment she felt the skies of the caves could give way and crush them all with one jagged fell swoop. It didn’t help she’d only ever hung out with the lot of them one other time so it wasn’t hard to see how oddly paired they were, and she’d had a bad, bad feeling.

So why didn’t she listen to herself—once again—Sadie ignoring her better judgement and for what? They were quite the mismatch—she— a know-it-all, Harlan the quiet trouble-maker, and his best friend Jake—the athletic Brainiac. It would have been fine with just the three of them but Jake HAD to bring his girlfriend Jenna along—Jenna was the more popular pretty girl; she was the reason for the peculiar situation Sadie now found herself in, she was sure of it.

“Sadie just do what I said, climb over the old man’s body and we will forget this whole thing by morning.” Harlan yelled over the scaffolding.

It’s not strong enough to hold all of our weights…one of us will have to stay behind.” Sadie continued, ignoring Harlan’s voice, but it was no use.

She’s going to be the first to tell, leave her behind, she’s already there, just do us all a favor and forget about her.” Jenna Morgan cried from behind Harlan’s back. Sadie could hear every word.

“She’s right Harlan we have to leave her, no one will know she’s here, trust me. She will be forgotten about soon enough just like the old man. Her family probably doesn’t even realize she’s gone.” Jake began—“you saw the news reports. No one even comes up here anymore, this place is so dangerous.”

“No,” Harlan hissed— “I’m not leaving, we are not leaving, not until we find what we came for. That’s what the old man died for, is it not? We have the map.”

oh to live in a fleeting moment