A Poptropica Short Story: Red in the White Snow

Hey guys, BT here. I was kinda blanking out of the Everred Plot a little bit, because I had this idea for a short story that has been wanting to get out of my head for quite a while. Please enjoy! And hopefully, the next part of the Everred Plot will be released soon!

Synopsis: An innocent field trip hiking through the woods turns into a nightmare when an unexpected blizzard churns up, trapping a class of high school students in the woods. To make matters worse, classmates started getting killed in the woods, and the survivors need to find out who- before the killer gets them next.

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Who knew that a forest hike would go so horribly wrong? No one in Class 273, Grade 9, knew. Except the one who did it.

I’m Chloe, Chloe Flyer, and I have no idea how in Poptropica how this has happened.

The January sun was shining through the classroom, it was close, but the cold is still present.

“As you all know,” Mrs. Zanders said to the classroom, “today is the field trip to the wood. We’ll have a wonderful hike, I know that for sure.” Mrs. Zanders was bundled up in a puffy coat, and so were the rest of the class. The heated classroom made the students sweat a whole lot, and it was getting to be quite annoying.

“Can you turn the heat down?” a student asked, raising his hand, “I’m dying in here.”

“Not now, Collin,” Mrs. Zanders responded, looking at Collin Wing, “we’ll be leaving soon.”

It was true. The mittens were starting to overwhelm my temperature and I really needed to go outside soon.

It took quite some time before I realized that people were getting up, ready to leave. I nearly jumped out of my seat and tried to catch up to the class.

Everyone was assembling into these cramped school buses, taking seats next to friends. I of course, sat next to Wendy Leaf, a pretty close friend of mine.

“Can you believe we’re going on a trip to a wood during the winter?” Wendy asked, clearly as confused as I was. I nodded. I didn’t really want to talk about the trip that much, it was just too much to think about. All I wanted to do was just to get the heck done with it.

The trip didn’t take that long. Before I knew it, I could hear the ear-throbbing screech of the bus stopping. Very painful to the ears. Eventually, I became aware that the bus had stopped and the students started filing out of the bus. It was like a swarm, people were just getting out of the bus in a snap. 15 kids in the class, and I was caught in the mess.

Mrs. Zanders trotted down the stairs and took out her map. Can’t she use a smartphone or something?

“This way, class,” Mrs. Zanders called over to us. We flocked towards her. She gave us these worksheets about making “observations” during our walk through the forest.

She walked to the wood, map in hands and looked behind her to make sure her students were following.

“Feel free to look around as we hike all together,” Mrs. Zanders said, smiling, “After all, you all need to fill out those sheets.”

Of course, we needed to be reminded. I rolled my eyes. Can’t we just go on a field trip without having to fill out a sheet? Anywhere?

As we walked through the woods, observing nature, we were all unaware of the gathering clouds up above us.

I hardly saw anything in the forests. Not a squirrel, not a deer. I didn’t see anything. Eventually, a classmate raised his hand. It was Collin again.

“Where are all the animals?” Collin asked, looking around him, “I don’t really see anything.”

“Of course, you know that animals hibernate, but I’m concerned too,” Mrs. Zanders replied, “There should be winter birds around such as the cardinal and the finch, but I don’t see any either.”

Why did I ever sign up for nature class?

The area started to grow dark. Some kids were starting to murmur a little bit. Even Mrs. Zanders started to slow down a little bit.

“Looks pretty dark right now, doesn’t it?” Collin asked.

“That explains why the animals are missing,” Mrs. Zanders thought aloud, looking at the sky. She looked at the students quickly. “We should go. Now.”

Wind started to blow through the area. Students continued murmuring. So much for our field trip.

“Go the other direction!” Mrs. Zanders started shouting, “We’re heading back!”

But it was too late. As if it was in a snap, snow blasted onto the ground, with the wind picking up.

Some of my classmates screamed a little. I could hardly see a thing, and I had no idea which way was “back” anymore. Nobody had any idea.

“Wendy?!” I immediately called out. The pounding snow made my voice muffle a lot. Great, what a field trip this turned out to be.

“Everybody, stay calm!” I heard Mrs. Zanders shout in the midst of it all, “We need to find shelter! Quickly!”

I could faintly see Mrs. Zanders in the blizzard. She was calling us over. I tried to run, but it was hard to, with the ever-increasing amount of snow.

I called out for Wendy again. There wasn’t any response. I started to worry. Did the snow get her?

“Come on!” Mrs. Zanders called out for the class, “This way!”

The problem: I have no idea where Wendy is. I called out for her again. There was still no response. My goodness. Worry grew as I continued calling out for her, heading in a direction away from the group.

“Chloe! Where are you going?” I heard someone shout.

It was Collin. He was running toward me. We don’t talk, so it feels pretty odd.

“You need to go with the group! We can’t risk losing you in the snow!” Collin shouted, trying to pull me over to where Mrs. Zanders was heading.

“Wendy Leaf is missing,” I told Collin, “She’s not answering my calls out to her.”

“Wendy? You mean the girl with the magenta-colored streak in her hair?” Collin asked.

“Yeah, that’s her,” I responded, “I’m getting worried. We need to find her.”

“Excuse me, we?” Collin asked me, confused, “Since when was it we?”

“Please, Collin!” I begged, “I need your help! I can use all the help I can get!”

“We can’t afford to lose both of us, either,” Collin sighed, “Forget about Wendy.”

“Listen, Collin,” I firmly stated, “Wendy may not be your friend, but she’s mine. I care about her like a sister. Come on, Collin.”

“Looks like I have no other choice,” Collin said, looking over his shoulder, “Mrs. Zanders is already gone.”

“Good,” I said, firmly holding onto his shoulder, “Come on!”

Collin and I ran off into the snowy, thickening woods.

It was hard to see anything in the snow. Both Collin and I tried calling Wendy’s name, but with no luck.

“We need to keep looking!” I shouted, not giving in to the snow.

“It’s going to be dark, soon!” Collin said, looking at me, “We need to get out of here before it gets too dark!”

“I’m going to find my friend,” I shouted, “No matter what.”

I called out Wendy’s name again, and there was still nothing.

Collin was right. The area did seem to get darker, and eventually, it is going to be night. I was freezing, and I couldn’t see a thing, but I needed to find Wendy.

“Look!” Collin shouted out, pointing somewhere.

I ran towards the direction, and I halted at the sight. Black hair with a magenta streak. Wendy.

“Oh my gosh!” I screamed, “Collin! Help me dig her out!”

Collin ran over to me and looked at the small amount of hair that is visible in the snow. Then, he started digging the snow. It seemed impossible, for the snow kept on pounding on us. When I got her out, I screamed and jumped back.

This whole time, Wendy was painting the cotton-white snow red. And her paintbrush was right smack in the middle of her chest.

“She was dead long before the snow buried her,” Collin observed, looking at me.

Meanwhile, I kept on thinking: My best friend is dead, my best friend is dead, my best friend is dead….

I blacked out.

I woke up in the last place I expected to be: a cave.

“Oh, thank goodness,” I could hear Collin say.

“Chloe! Are you okay?” Amy also shouted.

Wait… Amy Eagle? I shot up when I heard her voice. Where am I?

Mrs. Zanders was standing right in front of me. Collin… he brought me? But then that thought came back to my head.

“Wendy Leaf is dead!” I shouted like an idiot. The other kids in the cave stared at me in disbelief. Of course, they wouldn’t believe a girl like me.

Amy, however, believed me. “Dead?” she asked, looking into my eyes, “She must’ve gotten hypothermia; it’s so cold out.”

“No, it’s not hypothermia, Amy,” I gasped out, “it can’t be hypothermia. There was blood…”

“Blood?” Amy asked.

“The right way to say dead for this is killed,” I restated.

“She’s right,” Collin joined in, “I saw it with my own eyes.”

That was when the students started freaking out. Because Collin confirmed my words. Of course. Everybody believes Collin, but not me.

“Oh my goodness…” Mrs. Zanders gasped. “Now, students, we may be caught in a dangerous path right now…”

But the students were ignoring Mrs. Zanders. They were screaming and hugging friends, shouting “We’re going to die!” and stuff like that.

Mrs. Zanders kept on trying to talk to the riot, but they kept on ignoring her. Finally, Collin, annoyed with the riot, shouted

“DO YOU WANT THE KILLER TO HEAR YOU?!”

Well, that shut them up. But killer… I never really thought of that. Who in Poptropica would want to kill Wendy? She’s well-liked in school. She’s hasn’t disappointed anyone. But still… why her?

It felt so scary. There were 13 kids here instead of 15… wait.

“There are 13 kids here,” I said aloud.

“What?!” Amy asked, looking at me, “But there should be 14!”

The students turned quickly towards me. Then, they started counting people, including themselves.

“She’s right…” Collin whispered.

“Where’s Veronica??” Mrs. Zanders shouted/asked, shooting up. She’s right. Veronica Carrot wasn’t here.

“I think I saw her scurry out of here while everyone was having that riot…” a boy said.

Everyone turned quickly to the cave opening. The snow wasn’t as bad as it was when the storm started, but it was still pretty bad.

“Veronica!” Mrs. Zanders called out.

“Ronnie!” some of her friends called out.

The murmurs started up again. This was clearly an odd series of events. First, Wendy disappears and turns up dead, now, Veronica’s missing. Come on.

“Now, everybody, we need to stick together,” Mrs. Zanders said softly, “We already lost Wendy and Veronica; we can’t afford to lose anyone else.”

“But maybe Veronica’s not dead…” I said, “Look, just because she’s disappeared doesn’t mean she’s gone like Wendy is.”

“Chloe’s right,” Collin sighed, “you guys shouldn’t think things too quickly.”

The other students nodded. They were responding to him, not me.

Mrs. Zanders stood up. “If we go out there…. we’ll have to stick together.”

“We will,” the students said.

“Besides, who knows? We could find a way out of the forest…” Mrs. Zanders said, smiling.

The students got up and Mrs. Zanders lit one of those emergency lanterns. She led the way, and the students were huddled behind her. They were seriously frightened. But we had to find a way out of the forest and find Veronica- if she’s alive.

People started calling out Veronica’s name, but Mrs. Zanders shushed them, because she doesn’t want to be heard by the killer.

All of a sudden, everyone heard a scream. We started running in the direction of the scream, and the phenomena let us to Veronica, painting the snow red, like Wendy was. But this time, her paintbrush was coming from her throat. I could tell, although she was face down. All of Veronica’s friends screamed and closed their eyes, bawling on each other’s shoulders like babies. The classmates who have never seen a dead body before were stunned and shocked by the death.

Even the teacher looked like she was going to throw up.

Veronica’s red hair was showing through her jacket, and stuff. It kind of freaked me out.

Wait. Red. I looked at my hair. It was red. I was the only other student in her class that had red hair. Wendy was near me when she was abducted and slaughtered. But… why?

Am I the killer’s target all along?

Okay, I had a pretty hard time thinking about reasons why someone would kill me. I never did anything wrong. I swear.

“Veronica had red hair, like me,” I said, stepping forward, “Wendy was near me the last time I saw her alive. Maybe… I don’t know… the killer was after me all along.”

The students gasped and stared at me. They all took a step back. The snow seemed to pick up a little… it was gentler while we were searching for Veronica…

Dear goodness.

Mrs. Zanders said to me, “I’m so sorry, Chloe, but we can’t exactly be with each other in the same group. Because… I’m worried about the class… I don’t want anybody else to die.”

“I understand,” I sighed, looking at my classmates, “I guess it’s the better for everyone.”

“I won’t let you go alone, though,” Mrs. Zanders said, looking at me, “Collin, how about you go with her to find the exit?”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Zanders,” Collin said, “This whole thing is starting to freak me out, anyways.”

Collin looked at me and called me over. I turned around and started heading in the other direction. I looked back and saw Mrs. Zanders giving an “I’m so sorry” look, and Amy also looked at me apologetically.

Why me?

Collin and I were walking through the forest, although we were stuck in the snow. It’s another one of those calm phases, and I was closing my eyes, waiting for the moment the snow would strike upon us again. However, I opened them when Collin told me that I kept on walking into trees.

“We’re almost there!” Collin said, smiling. Thank goodness.

That was when we heard the rustle

Both Collin and I quickly turned around.

“Someone there?” I asked, facing the direction of the rustle. I started walking towards the sound, but I was interrupted by another sound.

It was the soft whoosh of a knife thrust. My goodness.

I turned around and saw a boy in a blue jacket. A knife was placed firmly in his hands. Then I looked at his face in fear of recognizing him.

My fears were true. It was Collin.

“What makes you think you could trust me, Chloe Flyer?” Collin scoffed at me, holding the blade right in front of me.

“Collin, why would you want to kill me of all people?!” I asked bravely.

“You see, Chloe, it’s always why. Why why why. You always want to know the answer. You have friends. You are popular while somewhat untrustworthy. Me? I’m just a freaky teacher’s pet. A nerd, people would call me. I was pushed around all the time and what did you do? Just watch. Heck, you’ve even gossiped about me to your friends. Gossiped.”

It was true. I used called Collin the nerd, and apparently, he doesn’t forgive me for that. “If you wanted me dead, then why didn’t you kill me when I fainted?”

“When you fainted, Mrs. Zanders discovered us. That was how we ended up back with her class.”

Collin tried to thrust for my chest again, this time, I stepped back. I wanted to run, but the snow churned up again, making it seem impossible to do so.

“Listen, Chloe, I would rather do this quickly,” Collin said, putting a knife against my throat, “this is what you have deserved this whole time…”

Huh?

“Now, goodbye…” Collin whispered into my ear.

I closed my eyes, preparing for the slice.

But it never came.

I opened my eyes and saw Collin, lying unconscious on the floor. Um… what?

“Chloe!” a voice called out for me.

It was Amy. She treaded the snow and approached me.

“Amy!” I responded, “Oh thank goodness.”

“That black belt in karate did turn out to be useful,” she said, smiling.

“I’m still lost on why he wanted to kill me…” I sighed, looking at him.

“Well, let’s get out of here. He’ll probably eventually get hypothermia or something,” Amy said.

“Good idea,” I responded.

Amy and I walked towards the close-by exit. I’m so grateful; I have no clue how to make it up for her.

Thank goodness we were able to get out of the woods.

“That was… quite an experience at the woods, the other day,” Mrs. Zanders said awkwardly.

It was one day later, and today is my last day in nature class. Well, it’s the last day for most of us. I guess so many parents freaked out about the class’s near-death experience back in the woods.

Mrs. Zanders says that she feels “betrayed” by Collin being the killer and all, and, well, you can’t always judge a boy by his cover, Mrs. Zanders. She also apologized to me for letting me go with him, but hey, she didn’t know that the class nerd can be a dark killer.

As for Collin… I have no clue what happened to him. Was he sent to juvy or something? Was he arrested? Did he die from hypothermia back in the woods? Nobody has a clue. Today, the principal is having a memorial service for Wendy and Veronica, and also over the loudspeaker, she asked for a moment of silence for the two girls.

That moment of silence was a little too hard to handle. It seemed to last forever, and I looked around. Veronica’s friends were tearing up a lot, and stuff. Wendy was pretty well-liked too… my goodness I miss her.

Collin Wing, wherever you are, here’s my message to you: good riddance. ★