SNOW ANGEL

The frozen cold. The barren field. I woke there as I usually do. No one was around, but their blood and stink stung my nose even in the absence.

I trudged forward. My limbs pulsated and shivered with every step I took.

I must get there. I need to see her.

The forest entrance was in plain sight, yet it took me years to be surrounded by the familiar trees. I didn’t want to call them home, but I saw the evergreens every time my eyes closed.

Once I made it through, the wind only whipped harder. I pushed myself to move faster through the currents. The air smelled worse now, but I became too determined to care. I hadn’t made it this far in weeks.

“Valerie!” I yelled. My voice was barely recognizable. It scratched and hissed in my throat. I wouldn’t be surprised if it made any living thing run, including her. I still tried again.

“It’s me, Gemini!”

I immediately winced at my words when I realized that stating who I was would make her run faster. Still, I pretended to have hope.

“Val!” I screamed. If she wasn’t afraid before, she was now. “I know you can hear me!”

I began to get irritated. Soon after, my legs tensed up and I stopped walking.

My limbs. So cold.

I seethed and fell to my knees. My bare hands were encapsulated in the heavy white snow. My vision became blurry. It felt like I was spinning. I attempted to shake it off. No, I still haven’t found her yet. I never got to…

While my body sunk lower into the ground, I looked up one final time. My eyes widened as my breathing got shaky.

There she was. Valerie Welhaven. Her snow-white features blended in with the scenery all too well, but I knew it was her. How could I not?

“Val,” I stuttered, incapable of saying anything else.

She emotionlessly studied me in my powerless form, not willing to help. I knew my mind was playing tricks on me, but I would give anything to see her smile again. Or to just see her not in a dream.

“Gemini,” Val said. Her gaze trailed over my body. My shivers worsened. I expected her to speak more. To be so generous as to say one more word to me. But she doesn’t. Instead, a dash of red tricked down her forehead.

I gasped out of astonishment, then for more air to fill my lungs.

“You did this to me,” she whispered. A bullet wound began to form on her forehead. I repeatedly shook my head in denial.

“I didn’t kill you!” I yelled. My voice became raspier. “I tried to protect you! After the battle was over, I searched for you!”

“And you never found me. You let me crawl to the department with blood all over my face. You made me cry about you for years. But I’ve moved on now.”

The ferocious wind made the silence between us louder.

“You’ve never moved on, have you, Gemini?” she asked. The blood dripped down her chin while her eyes lost their light. “You dream about this scenario every night for the past three years. Do you think visiting me in my wake will wake you up? Do you think things will become different? Do you think I’ll ever forgive someone like you?”

“Val, please,” I weakly muttered.

“Look at your hands. Tell me what you see,” she sneered. I carefully removed my hand from the snow. It was drenched in red. Valerie’s red.

I moved my frozen head to look at her one more time before she collapsed in the snow.

Already dead.

“No!” I yelled and crawled to her. I didn’t do this. She’s still alive. She is.

I pathetically leaned over her body, leaving behind my maroon handprints that marked the snow. With shaking hands, I swept her hair over and cupped her face.

The blood from her bullet wound was dried and there was no warmth left in her gaze.

My eyes welled up and I frantically looked around for something or someone to help her. I stared back at her in defeat knowing I was the only one left.

“I didn’t think things would end up like this,” I whispered against her bloodied pale cheek. “I had to save you from him. I did the only thing I thought I could do.”

Deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. She wanted to go with Lieutenant Reid. He could’ve saved her just fine. He did save her just fine. It was my stupidity and fear of loneliness that led to what happened. We would still be in touch if I didn’t do what I did. Hell, maybe we could’ve been more than “in touch”. Perhaps I could’ve loved her the way she wanted to love me. Yet, another answer rang in my head. A rule that roamed over me for all my life.

No attachments.

I sighed and laid my body on hers to keep myself warm.

That’s the excuse I used anyway.

Anna Fletcher is a student at Full Sail University learning to get her Creative Writing degree. She resides in Delaware with her family and two cats. Anna plays guitar, practices her drawing, and hangs out with friends when not writing. She is excited to enter the literary world and accomplish her dreams.