Scarlet Snow | ✓

16th December

5:49 am

Azura walked towards the same alleyway, her hand clutching at the hem of her jacket.

She knew the hope was a feeble one, but she was praying that Jordan would still be there. That he decided to give her a chance.

But why would he care what a random girl from the street told him? What if he decided to kill himself anyway? What if last night's meeting had been their last?

Such questions plagued her mind as she anxiously walked along her street.

She looked at the ground, which was bathed in shades of fiery oranges and yellows as dawn peeked over the horizon, the only interruptions in the smooth white being the indents of her footprints.

Azura had hardly been able to sleep that night, tossing and turning in fear that she would never see Jordan again, that she hadn't been able to convince him to stay strong for at least another ten days. She woke up too early, and having to ease her fears, she set off early at dawn before her parents could wake up.

Reaching the entrance to the alley, she realised it wasn't nearly as spooky when the sun had risen.

Peeking in tentatively, she called out. "Jordan?"

When no one answered, her heart sank. Walking in a few steps, she searched her surroundings for the boy she had been wondering about all night. For that mop of snow white hair.

A cold hand on her arm snapped her out of her reverie, and she shrieked, flying back in surprise and fear.

Whirling around, she saw Jordan looking at her, the only emotion on his face being a single eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Jordan!" she squealed. "You stayed! You actually stayed!"

"Yeah," he murmured, more to himself than to her. "I guess I did."

Like he couldn't quite believe it himself.

"You don't know how much I appreciate you doing this. You trying, I mean. It really and truly means the world to me."

He only blinked in response. But slowly, a smile spread over his face. It was only a small one, but it was more than enough.

"Oh, yeah," he said suddenly, startling Azura once more.

"You get scared real easy, you know that?" He didn't say it as if he was teasing her, but as if he was just making an observation. Like he noticed everything about her.

A warm blush spread over her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I do."

He simply held out a stack of books to her, her cellphone on top of it.

She gasped, realising she dropped all of it yesterday. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," he replied.

And that was that.

"So..." she started to say, but stopped when she saw him staring at the trail of footprints behind her, decorated by hues vaguely resembling fire. She laughed out loud when she realised.

"What?" Jordan asked.

"The snow. It looks like it's on fire. Snow on fire. It just amused me, that's all," she rambled.

"That is kind of fascinating. To think of snow being set on fire. But I'm pretty sure the snow would melt before it actually caught flames."

Azura looked at him, surprised that he actually considered it.

She stared back at the snow. "Winter has always been my favourite season. Ever since I was little. The peace, the calm, it always appealed to me somehow."

She paused.

"I suppose all my best memories are in winter. I love everything about it. Christmas, the anticipation for a new year, and most of all, the snow. I adore it." She concluded her speech with a little flourish of her free hand.

But Jordan seemed to be paying no heed to her words.

He was staring out at the snow with a wistful expression on his face, which Azura deciphered as nostalgia. She let him relive his seemingly happy memory as she waited patiently for him to return to reality. She didn't want to pressure him into revealing his thoughts.

After a few minutes, he murmured, "I love it too."

Azura turned to face Jordan, a little surprised that he divulged some information about himself. Though she remained silent, mentally she was begging for him to continue.

"When I was younger, seeing the first snow of the year used to be one of the things I looked forward to the most. And as soon as the warmth of the sun in spring melted the snow away, I'd eagerly pray for next winter to come as soon as possible."

He smiled fondly at the ground.

This was the happiest she'd seen him in the short period that she had known him. She didn't want to ruin the moment, so she didn't pry further.

But he continued anyway.

"The fresh snow on the ground was my favourite sight in the world. I guess I thought it would be pretty appropriate for me to die in it too."

That wiped the smile off of both of their faces.

Azura considered arguing with him, but decided against it, thinking that it wouldn't really solve anything. So instead, she bent down and placed her stuff gingerly on the ground.

She then cupped her hands, and scooped up some of the gorgeous, glittering white powder in them.

Standing back up, she held her snow filled hands back to Jordan.

He blinked confusedly at her. Azura motioned for him to hold his hands out. He did so slowly, questioningly, silently asking her what she was doing.

She simply poured the glistening white powder into his hands, and placed her own on top of them.

"I have your first reason," she murmured, loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" his voice was a little hoarse now, his shoulders tense, waiting for Azura to elaborate.

"The snow. Live for the snow," she said softly. "Live, so that you can see it fall again next year."

She smiled slightly, her gaze falling to their joined hands, barely noticing the cold.

"That's your first reason."

And while she looked at their hands held together, he looked straight at her, and saw nothing else.