A Snowy Day
by Mia Bevan
That morning, snow was a thick blanket, suffocating the ground in white flurries, as far as the eye could see. Parents checked their email to find both school and work had snow days. Snow was still firing down like bullets as fathers gazed solemnly out unto the cold and said, “It’s gonna be a bad one.”
Little drips screamed down my cheeks as they fell from the heavens. I was stiff from my body being frozen over, but my legs would not stop moving even if my left leg wasn’t moving quite right. I made no misstep, no fall, and no stumble.
The houses I passed - which felt like milestones - were turning into slabs protruding from the ground with indistinguishable words inscribed upon them. Then, I hit a curb.
No words can describe the freezing heat that was splashed onto my face. I felt a trickle of blood fall onto the perfect white, staining it. There was no time. It wasn’t the only red in the sea of white.
I picked myself up as quickly as I had fallen. My elbows ached, but I ignored them. Instead, I let my instincts pull me further away and wherever they planned on taking me. Snow crunched beneath me, each noise reminding me of the thing I was running from.
It was a monster. A monster did it. I knew that much. No human could have done what I witnessed. Worse yet, I could hear its breath, its footsteps, its staggered moans of pain that it had gained from the losing defense. I was running on fumes now and I didn’t yet know if I was going to get away. I came upon the town square which was just as abandoned as the residential zone. It wasn’t until then that I remembered that I was dragging something. It was heavy and wooden, but I didn’t look at it. The monster might catch me if I do.
It came in slow motion. First, I felt an impact on my leg, then it didn’t stop coming. I think it was a baseball bat. My leg gave way to the force, breaking under the pressure. I had a sinking feeling that it had been broken for a while now.
I almost didn’t fall. I almost kept running, but it was over when I left the scene. The snow was parted in one line. The line leading to me, making mountains on the sides. Only one thought crossed my mind:
I’m not going to get away with it.
