In the middle of the night when snow falls down from the skies you may wake. It may be because you are too cold, or perhaps you rolled and fell out of bed. It could also have been because your sibling, with whom you share your futon, hogged all the blankets from you, leaving you shivering cold.

For whatever reason, if you wake up in the middle of a winter night you are compelled to look out the window or door. Perhaps it is out of curiosity because you knew it was going to snow overnight. Perhaps you want to let in a little cold air to get back at your sibling.

Or perhaps it may be because you hear faint traces of laughter from beyond the walls of your home.

Opening the door, you peer out into the night. The sky is black, nothing new, and the woods beyond your house are silent with all the snow. An owl hoots in the distance, reminding you that you are not completely alone.

You see that it has indeed snowed over night, and in fact, it is still snowing. Light brushes of powder fall from the skies, coating the ground below. By morning it will be up past your ankles, meaning you will need to wear warm shoes if you go outside.

But tonight it is beautiful. Watching the falling snow is one of nature's wondrous sights. To those who detest the winter, well, they have not yet seen all the world has had to offer.

But you are curious, so you want to see. This feeling of not knowing compels you to peer outside a while longer. Some of the snow blows into your house, so you close the door some. Behind you, your sibling rolls over in their futon from the little breeze.

Alas, you are about to go back and join them when you hear the faint laughter once again. Now slightly spooked, you look outside once more at the falling snow. 

You can't see much but the woods beyond. Were it an animal their eyes would have reflected the faint light of the moon above the clouds. It could not be another person, for anyone who stayed out this late would have died from the cold.

No, it is neither human nor animal that you heard.

Raising your head, you spy a particularly large cluster of snowflakes seemingly frozen together. As your eyes follow the cluster to the ground you sense movement from within. Rubbing your eyes, you almost miss the tiny shudder of the snowflakes as they fall to the ground.

The snowbank beneath your door is growing rather large, and you can see where the cluster of snowflakes fell. Staring down, you watch as something emerges from the cluster, something about the length of your finger nail.

It looks like a human, but it is clearly not. Its skin is an icy blue, almost white, and it is only a faint silhouette. You cannot make out a face or individual features, but you know that whatever it is it must be a living creature.

You dare not speak, lest the tiny creature run away from you. Curiosity grips your mind as your hand itches to reach down and scoop up the creature. But instead you watch it. It stumbles through the snowflakes with its tiny little legs, making no footprints in the snow. 

A cool breeze whistles through from the woods, filling your room with cold. Your sibling turns over and sneezes, reminding you that you should be sleeping. But your eyes stay glued to the tiny snowflake creature, which has jumped down from the snow bank and onto the cold earth. You watch with wide eyes as it scurries away, tucking under the stilts of your house.

On instinct, you jump down from the door and crouch to peer under the stilts of your house. Since it is night it is too dark to see anything. Even in the darkness you sense no movement, almost like it had not been there at all. Standing back up, you go back to your room and shut the door. You grab the blankets from your siblings and curl into a tight ball on your futon.

What was that thing that fell from the sky? How could anything, no matter how small, fit into a cluster of snowflakes?

Had you not been watching its every movement you'd think you were still asleep.

But who knows? Maybe you are.