Can’t Win Me Back

Elias frowned deeply; his worry etched onto his face.

"We've been shouting Ms. Alyssa's name the whole way.

With so many of us calling out, she should've heard us by now if she were nearby!" In a deep voice, Jasper said, The wind is too strong, and then there's the heavy snowfall.

Our voices are being drowned out.

Lyse might not hear us at all." Lyse.

Her nickname slipped from his lips before he even realized it.

"I'm just afraid she's injured—or worse, fainted.

If she blacks out in this cold..." Elias trailed off, his voice heavy with dread.

"Ona day like this, she won't survive long.

She'll freeze to death." The group exchanged uneasy glances, the reality of his words tightening their chests.

It wasn't that Elias was being a doomsayer.

Rather, this was the cruel reality that might actually happen.

Crater Mountain claimed lives every year.

Danger lurked unpredictably in the woods on the mountain—anything could unfold.

"Let's split up," Jasper commanded, his eyes fixed on the shadowy forest.

His voice carried an edge of desperation.

“We're not leaving until we find her." Elias hesitated.

"But what if—" "If anything happens to her," Jasper cut him off, his voice trembling with fierce determination, "I'll make this place my grave.

I mean it." Before anyone could respond, Jasper turned and strode into the darkness, his figure quickly swallowed by the night.

him disappear, exhaling

aristocratic families raise people with fiery hearts." Jasper trudged through the snow,

all

she didn't mean

them to retrace

where would he go? Jasper's heart raced as he

the cave—the very place where he and Alyssa had once sought refuge

back —the harrowing brush with death, the suffocating fear, and the

doesn't protect you, I will." That promise wasn't just words; it was carved into his

not forgotten

He had remembered it.

world swirled in dizzying

heavy thud echoed as his strength gave out, sending him

with the weight of exhaustion

"Alyssa...

you..." Clenching his fists, he clawed at the frozen

muscles screamed in protest, but he pushed

"I have to...

In the midst of hopelessness, the temperature continued to

was as ruthless

tight ball, pressing

pure white snow blanketed her almost entirely, rendering her nearly invisible to anyone

her lips a chilling shade of purple as

awareness, her mind wavered in a haze

entire body would be frozen stiff, and she

violently as she curled tighter into

in a daze, fragments of heartwarming childhood memories flickered in her mind—a fleeting warmth against the encroaching

cold seemed to fade from her senses, replaced

daze, her late mother had appeared, her arms wide open, enveloping Alyssa in

"Lyse, my sweet girl.

Don't be afraid.

The beautiful and

know that you've