KillSwitch ─ s. rogers ✓

four

If you know anything about the NYC schools, you know they basically don't close unless there's a fucking natural disaster (or pandemic), but it's the fifties in this book, and also, it's a book.

★★★

1954

ALEXANDRA awoke to her little brother jumping on top of her and her mother gently shaking her shoulder.

"Allie," Michael whispered loudly into her ear, "snow!"

At the age of four, his understanding of snow was limited. All he really knew was that it looked pretty, it meant his sister might not have to go to school, and he got to play in it. He also knew that Alexandra loved the snow. Living in New York City, they didn't have their own yard, but there was a park only a few blocks away. When she went sledding with her friends, sometimes she brought him along.

Alexandra groaned. She opened her eyes and looked up at her mother.

"What's happening?" she asked tiredly, not moving an inch. Her clock said it was a half hour before she had to be awake for school, and she wasn't about to get up unless she had to.

"No school, Allie," her mother said. "Snow day."

As soon as Peggy finished her sentence, Alexandra sat upright in bed, nearly throwing her brother off by accident. There was nothing she loved more than snow. It was so beautiful, the way it dusted her jacket and her hair like powdered sugar. She could play in it forever.

She put Michael on the floor and stood up, immediately running to the closet. She threw the door open. Snow days were basically the only time Alexandra got to wear pants. Usually, she had to do everything in a skirt or dress, no matter how inconvenient it was. She had nothing against either of them, but they weren't exactly the most functional. She grabbed her designated snow day clothes and waved her family out of her room, determined to make it to the nearest hill before the other kids in the neighborhood.

★★★

The park was relatively empty when Alexandra and Michael got there, or at least by New York City standards it was. Only about four other kids were sledding down the little hills or hurling snowballs at each other. A couple more were sliding around the frozen-over pond, which Alexandra always wanted to do, but her mother insisted she'd fall in and freeze to death.

"Allie!" Michael tugged on his sister's sleeve as he'd been doing for the past three blocks. "Sledding!"

"Quiet down, Michael," Alexandra snapped like she was angry with him. "We're almost there."

He could be a complete and utter pain, but Alexandra was never truly upset with her little brother. At the very beginning of their relationship, things were a bit turbulent. Seeing her mother move on from the past and essentially begin a new life with Daniel and Michael wasn't easy for a then-five-year-old. It felt like she wasn't needed anymore now that she was an outlier. But as time went on, she saw that things weren't different than they were before, and Michael looked up to her. He followed her around and wanted to do everything she did. Alexandra still had a place. She always would, no matter what happened.

Alexandra dragged the sled across the park, using her free hand to hold onto her brother. When they got to the top of the hill, she positioned the sled and sat on top of it, keeping her shoes dug into the snow. She handed the rope at the front of the sled to Michael as he sat down in front of her.

"Hold onto this tight, okay?" she told him.

"Okay."

She wrapped her legs around Michael to keep him secure and held onto the sled with her hands. Alexandra pushed off, sending them sliding down the hill. The frigid wind slapped her face hard and sent her long hair whipping behind her, but that was just part of the fun. Winter had always been Alexandra's favorite season, right down to the cold.

Michael giggled as they slid right through a dip and kept speeding down. At the bottom of the hill, they hit a pile of snow from when the pathways were shoveled and went tumbling. The fall wasn't hard. They fell back into the snow like it was where they belonged, gently, creating molds of themselves in the powder.

"You good?" Alexandra asked. As a response, Michael flopped on top of her with a smile. She spread her arms and legs out in the snow like she was about to make a snow angel, but instead of moving them, she kept them still. She was comfortable lying there, her body one with the elements, just as much a fitting puzzle piece as every little snowflake that landed and became part of the whole.

"Again!" Michael cheered, splaying out on Alexandra's chest. "Allie, again!"

Alexandra put Michael on the ground and pushed herself onto her feet. She flipped the sled upright.

"Get on," she ordered. Michael climbed onto the sled. "Hold on tight, Michael." His little hands curled around the wood. "Are you ready?"

Her brother nodded. Alexandra grabbed the rope at the front of the sled and broke into a jog, carrying Michael along with her. He grinned like it was the most fun he'd ever had in his life.

"Are you having fun?" Alexandra yelled to him. He nodded.

"Yeah!"

She dragged him back up the hill, laughing and smiling. She really loved snow days.

★★★

I know this is a huge jump in time, but I had serious writer's block writing the chapter that was supposed to come between this one and chapter three. After this chapter, we're in previously written territory, otherwise known as the real action.