“GIANA! WAKE UP! YOU CAN BE ON TIME TODAY IF YOU REALLY TRY!” Zephyr shouted from downstairs. Giana groaned and rolled over. She did not want to get up for the life of her, after all, 7:21am was too early to be waking up. After a few minutes, and Giana wasn’t up, Zephyr stomped up the stairs. 

“Giana. Get up. You have to babysit. Aandd if you get up right now, and are on time today, I’ll make us a fancy dinner.”

Giana flopped forward and buried her face under her blanket. “Whyyyyyyy….”

“You’re the one that signed up for this job G..”

“I knowww.” She groaned. 

“C’mon,” Zephyr held out their hand and helped Giana up to a sitting position.

“Thank you. Now, I gotta go, go, go, go, GOOOO!” Giana rushed around, picking up her keys, grabbing a toothbrush and shoving it in her mouth, scrambling around to put on clothes, and finally running down stairs. 

“Bye Zephyr! Love you!”

“Bye!”

Giana ran down into her car. She checked her watch, 7:33am. If she drove right now, she would get there at 8:00am! Perfect! She was going to be on time today, no matter what. She was determined. But she couldn’t do anything about the fact that it was December. And that meant snow. And snow slowed people down. And that not only means super, super slow driving, but also lots of traffic. So when Giana actually arrived at the children’s house, it was 8:37am. Giana got out of her car, careful not to slip, and rushed to the front. She knocked on the door, and Mary opened the door.

“I’m so sorry I’m-”

“It’s fine, dear. Goodbye.”

“O-okay.” Giana went inside and found all the children there, staring at her. “What do y’all want to do today?”

“PLAY IN THE SNOWWWWW!” Niki shouted.

“Bury you… alive,” Raven whispered. 

“Heh..eh…Heh. No thanks. Oliver?” Giana said.

Oliver thought about it, “Drink hot cocoa and watch a Hallmark movie.”

“Let’s play in the snow, okay? Then we can watch a movie later, and I’ll make hot cocoa.”

After they played in the snow for a while, they came in, watched a movie, ate dinner and hot chocolate, and got ready for bed. 

“What do you want to hear for a story tonight, guys?” Giana asked.

“Scary. Definitely scary,” Raven whispered. 

Niki cried, “Noooo!”

Oliver shrugged.

“Majority rules!” Raven whisper-shouted.

Giana sighed. “Alright then. It all began one day when the world was blanketed with snow. One little girl decided to go make a snowman in the forest with her brother. It wasn’t very big; only half the size of the little girl. But since it was the first snow of winter and a full moon, the snowman came to life. Unfortunately, the trees in the forest covered up the snowman, so it blocked the moonlight. So when it was coming to life, there was a mess-up with the magic. So instead of a friendly snowman, it was an EVIL snowman!” 

The children gasped…except for Raven of course, who murmured under their breath; “Yes!”

“What if our snowman comes to life? It was the first snow of the year!!” Niki shouted. 

“It’s not a full moon. Don’t worry. Anyways,” Giana continued, “The snowman slowly began to stumble his way out of the forest. He trudged through the cold snow, growing slightly bigger each step as more snow was added to his body. He made his way towards the children’s house. He climbed in through a window, and crept around the house, leaving a wet trail of melted snow behind him. When he got to the children’s door, he reached out his splintered wooden arm, and grasped the doorknob with his twig hand. An eerie smile crossed his face. The doorknob slowly turned and the door creaked.” Giana paused. Niki was hiding under a blanket peeking out. Oliver’s eyes were wide. When he realized he was scared, he immediately snapped back. Raven was shaking… with excitement. 

“What’ll happen next!?” Raven asked. Niki peeked out a bit more. 

“Y-yeah, I want to know what’s going to happen to them…” Niki said with a quiet voice. 

“Alright,” Giana chuckled. “Well, the next morning the children woke up to the birds chirping. They got up and-” 

“Wait, nothing happened to them?” Raven said, disappointed. Giana ignored the question and hid a smile. 

“…They got up. And when they opened the door, there was a huge puddle in the doorway. The end!” Giana concluded.

“Eeh. That was boring.” Oliver said stoutly.  

“That was scary…” Niki said. 

“Tell us another!” Raven shouted. 

“Goodnight you guys, sleep tight!” Giana laughed, closing the door behind her. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” she whispered. 

Cites: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.grunge.com%2F285104%2Fthe-history-of-the-snowman-explained%2F&psig=AOvVaw3Qw1723wWAyi-TPpcZrUYu&ust=1668699351077000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCPioo9SDs_sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAN