A face peered into the room, beady black eyes and wiry beard rimed with a frost rapidly melting in the warmth now radiating from Ella. He sneezed. Ella’s mother smiled. ‘Your father- always did have trouble knowing when to let go. Clearly he just needed a bit of your Yule spirit!’ #5ActFestiveStory

Ah wow, so chuffed! Looking forward to see how everyone continues the story from here too 😁

Her head rolled back as she surrendered to the numbing cold- but then a memory, long suppressed, arose. As she concentrated, a flame flickered in her outstretched hands, wavering as she cried out then holding strong, its warmth creating puddles on the floor. The footsteps paused. #5ActFestiveStory

A frenzied dash later to the waiting car, Ella slammed the passenger door as her mother put the key in the ignition, only to hear the engine sputter and die. ‘No!’ she cried, turning desperately- but it was too late. Icy fingers corkscrewed tortuously across the car windows. #5ActFestiveStory

Her mother sniffed and wiped her wrists over her eyes. ‘I should have told you, you- have a twin!’ Suddenly, Ella’s long loneliness made sense, her unease looking into a mirror. She gaped, then swung open the heavy front door, grabbing her coat from a peg. ‘Where are you going?!’ #5ActFestiveStory

I turned the postcard over to study the faded picture, recognising the craggy contours of icebergs traversing a freezing lake. I exhaled, dragon breath in the porch of my cosy cottage where I had let the cold in with the mail. A test, a tease? But now I knew where my sister was. #5ActFestiveStory