A single snowflake landed on a branch, too far away to be seen. She wondered off down the sidewalk, in a local park filled with trees that only a few months ago had been a beautiful array of yellows and browns and oranges, but the leaves had since fallen to the ground and been buried underneath this years first snowfall. Vivian was a beautiful girl, no doubt. She had light ash brown hair, ice cold blue eyes, slim face with a button nose, and rosy cheeks from the sharp wind. Today she wore a grey knitted sweater, that could only keep her so warm, for she was lost in the cold. Not to be mistaken for the cold of the wind biting at her neck and hands, but the cold blanket around her whole life. She was constantly surrounded by the frigidness her family brought to her. Her dad was a man of many talents. He knew how to hurt someone without a single touch, although resorting to violence was no stranger to him. People believed Vivian's mother had, "serious mental problems", and was in an institution about 4 hours from her home town. Vivian wasn't as naive to believe that her father was any smarter or more put together than her mother. In her opinion she was falsely accused, but Vivian didn't know for certain, only because the events unfolded over 10 years ago. It was dark that day, more gelid than any other. Blood stains on the carpet, of what was once Vivian's older brother. She was still picturing a moment frozen in time, where she saw a once tall and steady young man, turned into a lifeless pile of meat, bones and memories, now existing only in her brain. She found her mother crying on her knees next to him, with a pistol in her bloody hands and fear in her eyes. With no one else at the scene, police had accused her mother of killing James. Vivian didn't believe it for a second. She knew that James loved their mother, and she felt the same way about him. She knew it was someone else, and with such words and hurt coming from an idea of a man in her head, she had a good guess on who it was; the man of many talents.
Vivian stopped in her tracks to wipe a single tear from her cheek, as she had pondered these things too much. Foot steps clacked quickly toward her. She looked over her shoulder to see her friend Hartley, with two cups of coffee in her hands.
"Thanks for meeting me Hartley."
"No prob Viv, let's walk and talk."
