Shackleton Village

Prologue

It was another festive night in Shackleton Village. Every person was in the town’s lovely gathering–dancing and singing around. On the sides line up two tables of full buffet meals as wealthy as the residents of the village. By the stage in front was an indie band playing Journey, Elvis, and the Beatles’ liveliest songs. You can say that the night was colorful. Everyone is having fun hanging out with their neighbors. 

 Outside the town hall was a forest and inside the forest were four friends, standing a huge tree engraved with symbols unfamiliar to most. Around the tree were black candles lit, contrasting the white moonlight with its yellow luminescence. One girl wearing a light yellow dress whispers Latin to the non-being then the wind starts to swirl faster around them. The other girl in a light blue dress joined the whispers making the wind more furious blowing out the candles. One by one, the girls in white and pink dresses starts another joint Latin prayer slowly making the ground shake.

 In the town hall, the music stopped as the drummer dropped his sticks. The mic stand swirled a bit causing it to drop and create an ear-deafening screech. As the hall silences in music, the ground shake more furiously. Gaps start to form from the tiled floor of the hall, making everyone jump in shock. The town people sprinted towards the exit and ran to their respective homes in hope of a safer place.

 Little they know, after the temporary quake, no single place in Shackleton is safe.

 The four friends smiled as the quake subsides. They succeeded. They hugged and cried at the thought. Soon, they went to their respective homes. A month after, everything will change.

After a rough two weeks since the night of town gathering, the he weird events that had happen were buried to oblivion. The whole town continue in their old lives. The wealthy neighborhood focused on making themselves richer again.

 Not until that night, a huge white fog covered the skies of the village. Almost at zero-visibility and only the shadows moving can be seen. Soon enough, a hailstorm occurred. Loud, cold winds circle the rich mansions of families.

 Mad at the sudden events in their small town, the chief called the city weather forecast. “What’s with this hailstorm and fog hovering above Shackleton?! The forecast say that we will have a nice weather here,” he screamed his frustration.

 The people working for the weather forecast were rattled. They checked the satellites and the barometers for any sign of weather disturbance in Shackleton. Surprised, the head of the office replied to the town chief.

 “I’m sorry, Sir, but there seems to be no weather disturbance picked up by our apparatuses,” he said, leaving the town chief furious.

 “The hailstorm just started here and it’s freezing cold. Now you’re telling me that there’s nothing?! I can’t believe this.” He slammed the telephone down the table.

 The storm continue to hit the town. Everyone is freezing cold sitting beside their fireplaces. It feels like the warmth of the flame was nothing compared to the cold breeze blowing and knocking through their windows.

 The temperature continue to drop to negatives, a temperature you would not expect in a spring night. It has only been an hour of hailstorm and the roadways were already covered in snow. And the skies are still covered in a huge white fog.

 Some families who cannot endure the bone deep freezing temperature tries to leave the town. And as they barely walk to the borders, the temperature continue to drop. The negative temperature reached 100. A record-breaking winter, you may say.

 Right as they step out of the border, the temperature went back to the temperature of a spring night. The hail drops in their three-layered sweatshirts melted.

 But still, inside Shackleton, the villagers were battling the cold with five layers of clothing beside the fireplace. The temperature gradually drops lower. A few people were complaining to not feel their ears and noses anymore, causing panic. Just right there, the remaining people tried to get out of the town.

 Almost everyone are outside their homes. There are a few people trying to start their snow buried Lamborghinis and the others tries to run despite the freezing cold.

 Soon enough but far from the border, people starts falling down. Some lost their ears to the cold. The others had frozen eyelashes and the others froze their toes and thighs.

Due to terror, everyone starts to sprint to the border. Even the ones trying to start their cars ran in full speed. The only thing important is to escape the freezing cold. More body falls down dead but everyone chose to shrug it off. And as they were nearing the border, the temperature dropped drastically. The people running froze mid-air and they fell into the concreted ice on the floor, causing them to break.

The hailstorm subsides but the ice did not melt. And what’s left of Shackleton Village is a graveyard of ice with frozen bodies buried within. From the forest, submerged four ladies in black dresses. Smiling triumphantly at the end game of the town’s disaster.