THE WARMTH OF NEWLY FALLEN SNOW

Author’s Note: This is from a dream that I had a while ago in August and just got the inspiration to write it. The dream actually started at the part with the cabin and went on until…nearly the end. I woke up crying, but happy and a bit disappointed that I wasn’t still dreaming about him. Anyway, R&R, please!

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She held him in her arms when his hand dropped from hers in a limp way, his fingers curling like a flower’s wilting stem after it’s own death. Remembering his face after his heart had stopped with that little dab of blood from a cut on his head that hardly had a chance to heal itself. His green eyes lifted open in shock; you could easily tell he was in pain after the fire from the gun had sounded.

It was my fault. All my fault, I should have been there. It my fault he’s dead. She kept telling herself over and over again in her mind as she held the limp body of her love. The only man she knew that didn’t act like a jerk or treat her like a prize that he won in some cheap tournament. He truly loved her, and now he was gone.

Everyday, she thought the same thing as she rose up from her bed and went to school like any teen girl would, knowing that every guy knew about his death and knowing they would take a chance in a terrible way that any jerk at her school would. If it weren’t for me, he would be here, defending me. It’s all my fault, she thought as she continued the same routine for a year, still never forgiving herself.

Her friends told her not to blame herself, it wasn’t her fault; but it never helped.

To get her mind off of certain ‘things’, her friends invited her to the mountains at a cabin. The last time she was there, she was holding his hand throughout the whole time, hardly ever getting out on the slopes. She missed it then, never any regrets; now she was full of them.

The first day on the mountain was different, “Ayden?” She asked when she awoke, feeling the warmth of his touch on her cheek, going through her hair. She smiled for the first time, but her eyes were closed and she was so worn out, she wasn’t thinking straight. “Ayden?” She asked again, hearing a hum, like someone saying ‘mmhmm?’ She let out a tired moan and turned herself over on her bed. “Don’t leave me.” And still, she felt his hand on her cheek, caressing her until she fell asleep again.

When she woke up for the second time, she remembered everything. She started to question the possibility that maybe he was still with her. She made her bed, like she had gotten in the habit of doing and went to see her friends in the living room. “Was anyone in my room this morning?” She asked everyone.

“Nope.” They answered with some just shaking their heads.

Her smile widened. No one was there, it must have been Ayden then, right? It had to be him. She went upstairs, but stopped, looking over the railing that looked down into the living room. Everyone; all five of her friends were on different colored bean-bags, watching TV with chips being passed around. Ayden was a friend to all of them, and it was affecting her more. It had been for a year now.

I won’t forget him. I don’t want to. She thought. Her cheeks went red at a streak of warm air blew by her. It wasn’t the heater that was for sure. Outside? She didn’t know how she knew to go outside but that was where the warmth was heading.

Her friends called to her as she passed by like a zombie but didn’t try to stop her when she didn’t turn or answer. She passed by the small kitchen and walked outside. Her feet were bare and she thought about going back for some shoes, but she thought that she could lose a chance. A chance to do what? She didn’t know.

She cringed and shivered as she set foot on the cold, icy mountain snow, but even through the cold, she kept walking, looking down at the snow as she went but too cold to look up.

She stopped at a cliff and stepped back into a solid, warm body. She turned around to look at who she ran into. Her smile was as wide as it could go as she jumped into the arms of her love. “Ayden, your back.” She whispered to his ear.

His face was strange, his brown hair was messy as if he just woke up from a particularly long and harsh sleep, and although he tried to smile it almost looked like he had forgotten how. She didn’t care what he looked like, she was in his arms and it was the best feeling in the world that she wouldn’t trade for anything. “I missed you so much.” She said, pressing her face to his chest.

His green eyes looked strained, but not as strained as how his voice was; like he was trying to hold back tears. “I can’t stay long.” But she didn’t care, not at all. She was with him now, and that enough was worth everything to her. All she could do was stay in his arms, where she knew she belonged, closing her eyes and feeling as if she were floating. She was too happy to see if her feet were still on the ground, but she realized that the cold on her cheeks showed that tears were there. Tears of complete happiness. She was warm and loved even as she sat in the cold of an icy mountain in nothing but pajamas and no shoes; she was warm.

“Never forget me.” He murmured.

“I already made that deal with myself.” She chuckled, but the laughter didn’t last long. He pushed away from her to look into her face, and without the warmth of his body she opened her eyes to look into his. “I have to go now.” He spoke, “I will always protect you. You have to know that I love you and am always with you,” He said, moving his hand from her hips to her heart. She understood what he meant, and with one last taste of his lips on hers, he vanished from her sight. Yet even without him holding her, she was still warm and didn’t mind the snow crowding around her feet.

She glanced down the cliff, then up to a cloudy sky where a crack of blue was being slowly patched up. “I love you, Ayden.” She said once more with a smiled before heading back to the cabin in the wind’s gentle embrace.

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Author’s Note: So, whatcha think? Now review. Some people at a dream interpreting website think that Ayden is my soul mate. That’s why I felt so strongly for him, I felt like I knew him. Anyway, tell me what you think, kk?