Iridescent

Nine

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."

- Flavia Weedn 

Winter came along slowly.

Autumn had shed its golden and pumpkin colored leaves, taking its warmly baked hues that would reflect through the clear sky during the early hours of the morning. The trees stood naked and bare as their twiggy branches snapped and clattered against the frigidly cold gusts of wind that passed over the city, causing pedestrians to shiver and cuddle further into their coats.

Althea yawned, long and slow, as she came to her early morning senses; she tiredly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she stretched her back, slowly and carefully sitting up from beneath her layers upon layers of blankets, not wanting to be nipped by the cold so early in the morning.

She blinked, squinting her eyes at the glimmering bright slivers of light that poured in through the miniscule gaps of the curtains. She cocked her head to the side, studying the unusually bright rays of light for several moments until her tired eyes began to sting in protest.

Excitement bubbled from within the pit of her stomach as her inner child rushed to one conclusion, and one conclusion only, and in a tangled mess of bare limbs, sheets, blankets, and goosebumps, Althea rushed to the window and shoved open the curtains, pressing her hands and her nose against the frozen glass, taking in the frosted streets as soft flakes of snow gently fluttered from the sky.

Althea breathed out a laugh, fogging up the window in the process. She pushed herself back, smiling widely to herself as she took in children running out of the adjacent apartmnet complexes and onto the streets. She inhaled, feeling light and at ease as she simultaneously threw her hair into a bun and spun on her heel, immediately finding socks to blanket her bare feet and a thick sweatshirt to throw on over her flimsy sweater.

The desire to cozy back up into her bed and sleep disappeared from her body as she went about her morning business, stepping into her usual routine by starting off with a cup of hot chocolate. Althea hummed made up tunes to herself, mixing Christmas songs with her own rhythms.

Three quick knocks on the door sound in perfect rhythm, startling her to silence. Althea furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, taking in the time of nearly half past nine in the morning, before concluding that it must be the post man delivering the weekend's mail to the apartments, rather than trekking to the surely frozen chambers of the post boxes.

Althea shuffled across the hardwood floor and towards the front door, scuffling as she attempted to keep her balance in her too-big slippers that she had slipped on. She unlocked the door, shivering at the freezing sensation of cold metal against warm skin, before easing the door open.

She came face to face with a shivering and shuddering Lincoln, his ears tinged pink with frost as they peeked out from his unruly mass of hair, and his cheeks and nose rosy and kissed by the cold. His nimble fingers poked out from the thick sleeves of his overcoat, gripping two brown paper bags which were known for carrying the best donuts in the city.

"Lincoln," she finally managed as a delayed reaction of surprise. He smiled cutely, his cheeks raising as his lips curved upwards. She held the door open wider, graciously ushering him into the warm confines of her cozy home. He shuffled past her, sponging an affection kiss onto her cheek to which she blushed to, having to stare down at the floor and take in the trail of melted snow that he left behind as the flakes plopped onto the ground and off of his loafers.

Althea shut the door behind them and turned, finding Lincoln's coat draped neatly across one of the arms of the coat hanger; she studied the material for a moment, unable to stop herself from noticing how nicely it fit in with the rest of the arrangement. Wherever they were and wherever they went, everything there was to Lincoln seemed to fit in perfectly along with herself - they were like a missing puzzle piece, Althea and Lincoln, fitting in and completing each other's puzzles before either of them could let out a sigh and quit hoping for the one thing that they were missing from their lives.