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- 11/02/2014
- 1,176 Words
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- 7 Comments
Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Snow - 1. Meeting Snow
It was late on a cold, mid-January night. A fresh blanket of snow covered everything, including the roads and sidewalks, and still more fell. The city was absolutely silent at this hour, with not a soul in sight. The only person out and about was Louis, a 22-year-old bartender who was walking home from work.
He was pretty tall, and broad-shouldered. He would have made an excellent football player, if he was into that sort of thing. He had dark hair, and dark eyes to match, with angel wings tattooed in several places on his body, including his back, his left bicep, and his ankle. He was bundled up with two jackets, a beanie, a scarf, blue jeans, and a black scarf. He absolutely hated the cold, but he didn’t usually drive to work since it was only really a three mile walk. He couldn’t drive tonight anyway. The roads hadn’t been salted or plowed.
The city he lived in was fairly small, and somewhere along the East Coast of the U.S. He had been planning to move as soon as he got out of high school, but he was short on cash, and couldn’t really afford to. Still, he was saving up the money as best he could. He didn’t have a clue where he’d go, but anywhere but there was good to him. It wasn’t like he had any friends or family at the time holding him down.
As he shoved his hands in his pockets, Louis decided to cut down an alley in hopes that he could shorten the walk home and therefore shorten the length of time he had to endure this awful cold. The clouds were thick and blocked all the light from the night sky, and there weren’t any street lamps near enough to illuminate the long alleyway. Being the size he was, with a pocket knife tucked away, Louis wasn’t very paranoid about getting mugged. The crime rate was low in that city anyway.
Nearing the end of the alley, there was a dumpster. It had this awful smell like something had crawled in it and died, and Louis picked up the pace in hopes to get away from the smell quickly. He stopped, however, when he heard something rustling beside it. At first it was too dark to make anything out, but his eyes were slowly adjusting.
More rustling occurred before he finally made out the figure of a man curled up and shivering in the cold. He wore rugged trousers and an over-sized t-shirt which surely didn’t keep him warm. Louis’s first impression was that this guy was homeless, and he would have passed right on, except something tugged at his conscience. This guy was going to freeze to death out here.
With hesitance, Louis stepped forward. It seemed the man hadn’t noticed him until just now, and he jumped, pressing back against the wall. His breath quickened and he was tense, appearing to be panicked and afraid.
“Hey,” Louis spoke softly, “Don’t be startled, I’m not gonna hurt ya.” He took another hesitant step forward, taking off his top jacket and holding it out to the man. “You’ve gotta be freezing out here. Why aren’t you in a shelter or something?”
“I. . .” that voice hit Louis hard. It was soft and melodic, almost feathery. As the man took the jacket and pulled it around himself, he kept his head down. It looked like he had white hair, which reached his shoulders. “I. . .I’m lost. . . .”
“Lost?” Louis was confused by that. How could someone be lost in a town like this? He shook it away though. Maybe this guy was in some sort of trouble. There was something strange about him. “Well you can’t stay out here. You’re going to get hypothermia or something. Come on. My place isn’t far from here.” He held his hand out to the guy, hoping he wouldn’t regret this kindness.
On one hand, it was a person in need, and he couldn’t live with himself if he let someone die out here. On the other hand, what if this was some sort of trick or scam? Would he wake the next morning to find all his valuables gone? No, that wasn’t entirely logical. You wouldn’t expect to be out at this hour, in this weather. This guy wouldn’t have been lying in wait dressed like that, and he probably wouldn’t have chosen to camp next to the smelliest dumpster in town.
Hesitantly, the white-haired man accepted Louis’s hand, and stood. He was about a head shorter than Louis, and much leaner as well. “Th-thank you. . .” he said in a quiet voice. He always kept his eyes down, as if intimidated by the larger man’s size.
“Sure,” Louis answered. He was never good with the words ‘thank you’. Saying ‘you’re welcome’ in this kind of situation kind of made him feel like a superior douche. “I’m Louis, by the way.”
“Snow,” the man replied with a slight nod of his head, as they started walking.
“Snow? I’ve never heard of someone named Snow before,” Louis commented.
“I guess where I come from, they favored names that wouldn’t be considered ordinary here,” Snow answered.
“Oh. . .” Louis was quiet a moment. He became aware that he was still holding Snow’s hand. He almost let go, but then Snow squeezed slightly, as if sensing it and asking him to keep hold. “Where are you from?”
“I don’t. . .remember,” Snow answered in a sheepish manner.
That was strange. Did he have amnesia? Maybe he had a concussion. Didn’t that mean that Snow would have to stay awake? Louis grew concerned. “Are you alright? Did you hit your head or something?”
“Um. . .” Snow seemed to have to think about it. “I don’t think so. My head kind of hurts though. . .maybe I did hit it.” He looked up at Louis right as they came under a street lamp. Their eyes met, and Louis found himself staring into icy pools of blue.
Snow had very fair skin, and his features were beautiful, practically flawless. It took Louis’s breath away, and he didn’t even realize he’d stopped walking. Those eyes bore into him, seeing right into his heart and soul, and gripping him so tightly that he stopped breathing entirely. It was like an eternity passed, but really it was less than a minute before Snow broke his gaze and cleared his throat, breaking the spell.
“I. . .” Louis was struggling to think or form a coherent response. “Just. . .in case. . .I’ll stay up with you tonight, and if you show any signs of a concussion, I’ll take you to a doctor in the morning when we can drive.”
Snow took this in and nodded, “Alright.” They continued on their walk after that.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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