A Compilation of Fantasy Concepts

Chapter7...A Girl And A Stranger

I found a person shivering in the cold.

Deathly cold, I should say. Not that I'm one to talk, wearing sweaters and hoodies in the middle of Summer.

It was mid-Spring back then. Still cold, horribly cold. I hated the cold haha. But I did love the snow, and what came after. Around the time the seeds would sprout and flowers would bloom, that's around the time of my birthday. I was turning eighteen that year, the year I was a high school junior. The old leather boots that went up beyond my knees made a little squeak whenever I allowed them to drag against the solid ice, my rosy lips carved firmly into its usual smile.

I didn't expect something like that to happen that day, really. It was just the same as usual, the same me missing the bus, taking my own sweet time walking all the way home alone, something that would have scared my parents sick if they weren't used to it by now.

It caught me a little off guard. It was a small town by then. Everyone knew everyone, nothing could get by without a rumor or two slipping and sliding and spreading like the plague. The red umbrella I held above their head was tugged and pulled about by the harsh winds. The snow kept piling on, a thin layer of frost coating my cheeks and a few spots on my bare hands. Even from under grandmother's old coat, long and bulky enough to cover my school white school uniform in its entirety, my body was trembling like crazy. I covered my mouth to let out a small muffled cough. I never did deal well with the cold. I fell sick left and right.

"Are you alright? It's cold out here, isn't it? Were you waiting for someone...or something?"

I kept one eye squeezed shut from the cold, the other chocolate-brown sphere squinting to meet eyes with the sole stranger all alone on a bench, at the center of the town besides the sea, the town in the middle of nowhere in particular. No large supermarkets around. The nearest school was a couple miles away, and the bus that drove us there was old and worn down.

I looked around. Apart from this stranger, there was nobody else. The orange-cold bubbles of light that streetlights made in the night were like little floating stars. Letting out a sigh, I let my lips form back into a shaky smile, one hand slipping away from the wooden umbrella, reaching out for you. It was a wooden umbrella, one of those old ones that barely folded up anymore without a good fight.

"Hey, would you like to come with me?"

I could barely understand my own voice through all the shivering. My teeth moved to lightly bite my lip at this realization, my brows scrunching up instinctively. I wandered if you could understand it at all.

"I mean--it's freezing here--and I live close by so..."

My eyes widened, sort of beginning to dry up from the cold, freezing up in that widened state. In my sets of blinking, I came to the realization that the bubbly sensations I was blinking away were tears. It was late at night, I kept stumbling over every word, and I probably shouldn't have been talking to a complete stranger--but It wasn't like I could just leave you here, anyways. Most of the shops were closed for the night, it would be hard luck if you were stranded here all night, even worse if someone awoke in the morning to find your frozen to death.

I took a few hesitant steps back, hand still outreached a bit awkwardly. My normal brown hair was tied in the average effortless braid that hung loosely to my side. It was almost arm-length, the same height I'd had it all my life.

"So...?"