Winter

Winter nervously descended the stairs, excited within. A strong gush of cold air hit her face, and a chill ran down her spine. You’re not enough, her inner demon told her, They’ll just ignore you. 

‘Not if I talk to them!’, Winter snapped at herself, entering her neighbour Marissa’s house. At the verandah, she spotted another friend of hers, Bloom, waiting for Marissa.

Winter swung her baggage onto her tender shoulders and cleared her throat. ‘Hello, Bloom! How are you? I’m joining in for the trip too…I’m Marissa’s neighbour.’ ‘Oh just badge in! I hope you’re carrying sweaters. It’s crisp and cold out there,’ replied Bloom. Winter nodded. I just made a conversation! she thought.

‘Ho ho ho! I’m Santa Claus and I’m here to eat you all!’, shrilled Ray- his voice reverberating as he entered the verandah. He smacked Bloom on her head and sat on the armrest of the chair she was seated upon. ‘Oh Winter, you’re here too for the trip? Great, that makes five of us!’. ‘Hello Ray’, greeted Winter.

It was a superior feeling for Winter, talking to the ‘famous’ kids. Once a part of the gang, she departed from them slowly. It was probably her inner demon: her ego, criticism and self-doubt. Marissa emerged from the curtains. ‘Oh come on! I’m ready, let’s go! Radley will join us at my snowhouse.’

Minutes later, they were all stationed outside Marissa’s cozy little snowhouse. It was on the other side of the city, where furry snow was all around. Probably, the snow surely is always brighter on the other side. It took only seconds for all of the crew to toss their bags inside the house and roll about crazily on the snow.

They shuffled around- diving into the snow, literally! The sight was nothing but remarkable. Tall pine trees and snow spread all over the ground like a blanket.

‘Do you guys realize we might catch a terrible cold?’, taunted Radley. ‘Not here to perform ballet, Radley, are we?’, Ray laughed it off.

‘No, I’m here to make a snowman!’, retorted Radley, a trace of joy in the manner in which he spoke, as he patted the snowman he had just made.

Winter glanced at the snowman and wanted to speak something, be a part of the conversation. Oh, you’ll just make a fool of yourself, whispered her inner demon. Turning a blind eye to it, Winter said, ‘Why is your snowman crying, Radley?’

‘Oh it’s melting!’, yelped Radley. When half of them rushed to save the little snowman, giving him hands, legs, shirts and hats, Marissa exclaimed, ‘Oh my- look at this tree!’. The tree was gracefully wearing a coat of snow, and elegantly branching tiny pines. ‘Oh how charming is this!’, declared Radley.

Suddenly, Marissa dropped to the ground with a thud. She was hit by a snowball thrown by Bloom. Marissa got up with a frown when Bloom challenged the squad, ‘So what do you say, how about a snowclash?’.

Since that moment, the crew hurled snowballs at each other throughout the evening, until the sunset: leaving snow everywhere- outside near the mosses, bushes and trampoline, inside the snow house- on the beds and sheets, carpet and around the window mane, such disaster to be cleaned that it made Marissa insane.

‘What is snow doing on the kitchen slab?!’, questioned Marissa, cleaning the kitchen for the fourth time. Ray hesitated at first and then answered, ‘Oh well Bloom suggested we should eat something so I went to check the fridge…’

Winter opened the fridge only to find the snow. ‘So what is snow doing here, Ray?!’. ‘It’s chilling out there’, giggled Radley.

Winter chuckled and sighed. Then she smiled. ‘How amazing has been today’s day, hasn’t it?’, she asked others, illuminating the room by lighting the fireplace. 

‘Yeah, but not as good as the museum ride we went on last time’, said Radley, smiling. Bloom frowned. ‘Oh, the museum was just old things! The only thing good was the music studio where mysterious music was played…it was the best!’.

Ray grinned, ‘It was a ceramic exhibition. You caused the ceramic to err…break, and it all annihilated, but well, rhythmically’. While the others laughed, Winter blushed out of embarrassment. ‘Oh, I want to say something but don’t want to say it out.’

‘Uh-huh? Go on, Winter’, supported Marissa.

Clearing her throat and rustling her hair, Winter replied, with a beam on her face. ‘It has been the best day for me! I was such an enthusiastic person before, you all know it. My inner demon, however, slowly took over me. I stopped talking to my friends and turned socially awkward at a point in time. However, I have been trying for a couple of months to get rid of my social anxiety myself. I think I have been successful today.’

‘Are you being emotional’, asked Ray playfully. ‘We don’t have that here.’

‘Ray! Stop messing’, snapped Marissa. ‘It’s alright Winter, you’ve grown out of a phase! You’re amazing and stay that way!’.

‘OH I forgot!’, shrieked Ray, and dashed to the upper compartment of the snowhouse. ‘What’s wrong with him now?’, they groaned and hurried after him.

They stopped at the balcony. Each of them was left staggered. They looked up at the dazzling stars embedded into the boundless sky. The sky seemed to touch the endless stretch of snow that seemed to go on till eternity.