Fore dated to the 23rd. I'll leave the trap and bait up to you. p>
Word Count → 452
Chill winds propelled the falling snow around the city with impressive speed, coating the insides of many buildings in a thick layer of snow as the unusual angle generated by the strong winds bypassed what little shelter they offered.
Neela watched the scene perched in the windowsill of a fifth story apartment, one of the few, rare, intact glass windows remaining in the city places firmly between her and the storm. The collie had been exploring the building when the storm had kicked up and was quickly trapped inside the building, though with plenty to explore and find. That had been two hours ago and what little remained in the first through fifth floor apartments had been gathered into Neela's bag; the staircases up into the sixth and beyond were both collapsed and Neela didn't fancy her chances today climbing up one of those odd, vertical hallways that humans so often placed in taller buildings.
While the storm wasn't a major problem for Neela, her thick fur certainly suitable enough for darting from building to building, the collie saw no reason to get herself cold needlessly, she had found other ways to keep herself occupied.
Despite the inconvenience it presented Neela found the storm somewhat beautiful to look at. It was the kind of storm that she and Julian would hole up against on winter nights, watching the snow as she did now and listening to his mother play the flute. Those were fond memories and were also her inspiration to learn the guitar.
As it so happened there was flute music drifting through the air, but this wasn't the elegant, refined music that had tided Neela through many a stormy night long ago in happier times, this flute music was jarred, jolting and most unusually of all, played by Neela herself. Neela had found the flute, a beautiful human construction made of silvery metal and engraved with small, flowing vines, inside a tightly locked case, the case itself shoved into a small hole in the wall. It had taken Neela ten minutes with a crowbar to remove the case from the wall but luckily a thin bit of wire had been sufficient to open the actual case without damage.
While Neela's playing was untutored it wasn't completely terrible. Neela had heard the flute being played many times before and had a natural ear for tune, so once she had familiarised her hands with the instrument the sounds produced were passable for a beginner. What's more the empty building provided perfect acoustics for music, the melodious sounds echoing off the walls and out into the streets, sending to sound out into the storm for anybody who wished to hear it, carried weakly on the winds.
