One Unusually Cold Night

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The trees were a forest of thorns and sticks. The sky was the color of mist, as if the clouds and heavens merged into one. All over the ground was white, clumpy porridge that Afia couldn’t figure out for the life of her.

Monique, who was sitting at a hallway desk flipping through a book, huffed. “I can’t find anything, anything, on magic white dust falling from the sky. There’s information on rain, wind, even tremors that shake the Earth’s core, but nothing about white dust!

“You know the best way we can find out!?” Anneli pressed against the door window, beaming at the white piles of wonder. “By going out there!”

“Anneli, no!” Afia put a hand out, but Anneli had already pulled on the door and let the gust of wind blow in.

The wind howled and shreds of the white stuff flew in. Afia shrank further inside her cloke and squeezed her eyes shut, and she could hear the shrieks and yelling of her friends.

“Foolish! Anneli, close that door before we become frozen meat!” Monique yelled.

Anneli slammed the door shut and leaned against it until she closed all the locks.

Afia heard stomping on the floor above them. “Silence!” she yelled, and each girl fell silent and stared at the floor above them.

After a few footsteps, the stomps faded away.

Monique looked at each girl uneasy. “Let’s just go back to bed while we can still pass unnoticed. We wouldn't want the Matron to find us down here past nine.” she cringed and closed her book.

“No! You and Afia share a room but I’ll be stuck with my mean old roommate. Let’s use this chance to go see the magic porridge up close!” Anneli remained by the door.

Both girls turned to Afia. She looked at each one of her friends individually, then she thought to herself. What did she want?

She slipped her furry hood over her coily black curls. “Let’s go out, shall we?”

Monique gulped, while Anneli bounced for joy and heaved open the door.

The wind blew at them with full force.

“Hoods on, fur coats buttoned!” Afia yelled, and the girls followed suit.

The three stepped out of the orphanage and into the blank Earth.

Anneli couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She looked up. “The freezing feathers fall from the sky,” she looked down. “And gather on Earth. Oh, what is mother nature thinking right now!?”

“I severely hope this doesn’t end up being the end of the world,” Monique mumbled as she kicked a pile of the white porridge aside with her boot.

Afia reached her hand out to the ground, but thought better of it. Instead she said, “Anneli, do you think it’s poisonous?”

Anneli twirled around. “I don’t know, but I hope to the gods it’s not.”

Afia frowned. She was prompting Anneli to touch the frozen porridge, but she didn’t.

Monique was busy moving it around searching for the main pathway that led to town. Afia smiled. There was a way to get Monique riled up. “Monique, I bet you wouldn’t dare touch it,”

Monique glared at Afia. “Please. I would if I wanted to.”

“No you wouldn’t,” Afia denied, kicking some around to fake like she wasn’t afraid of it.

Monique glanced at the snow, then Afia, and grabbed a clump. She gasped and dropped it. “AAAH! so cold!”

Afia laughed, and then Anneli joined in.

“Why you little!” Monique launched towards the girls and they took off, running in different directions.

Wham! Afia was hit in the back and fell to the ground.

She fell into the cold white porridge and the freezing mush froze her insides.

“AAAAHHHHH!” Afia yelled while Monique laughed loud. “You’ve just been served a clap back by Monique Snow! Consider that a lesson.”

“Fine, you want to throw orbs at me, Monique, I can do that two!” Afia picked up a handful of the mushy stuff and formed it into an orb, and launched it at Monique, who dodged behind a bench and laughed.

“The Monique orbs only work in my favor,” Monique put a hand over her chest and looked high and regal.

“Monique orbs sounds rather dull, what if you used your family name and called them… snow balls!?” Anneli yelled, launching a ball of her own.

And for centuries to come, the name stuck.

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My latest novel, Shook, is being published to Hive in parts! See all released chapters in this post.

Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!

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