His Isolation

How do you explain almost dying of cold in July?

That's a serious question. Someone please explain that to me, because I can't.

You see, the thing about Runners is that if there's just one of us, we're likely to get targeted by a being calling itself Jack. It looks like a child, but it's not. It's not even human, but a creature made of ice and isolation. The Cold Boy. Jack Frost.

As I've noted, the Cold Boy targets lonely people. And I am a very lonely man.

It showed itself when I was walking down the street at night, shortly after Oliver died and too soon for me to have found another companion. It wore a yellow raincoat and a human face. It stared up at me with eyes as cold and pale as freshly fallen snow as it asked if I wanted to hear a song.

I tried to open my mouth, though I had no idea what I'd say, but it was suddenly so cold that I couldn't even do that. I just stood there, shivering, stifled by cool air.

And that thing looked up at me, and it started singing.

"One fine day in the middle of the night,

Two dead men got up to fight.

Back-to-back they faced one another,

Drew their swords and shot each other."

It sounded like an imitation of singing.

The wind grew and it started to snow, and there was nobody around but me and this thing that looked like a person.

I woke up in the hospital. Someone had apparently found me lying passed out on the ground, my body cold as ice. The hospital staff didn't have an explanation for that, and neither did I.

- Henry