The Blizzard
The Blizzard
I hardly knew her at all, wasn’t expected to. She was just a kid at the High like anyone else, who had no car. She was sitting stubbornly on a bench, determined to get a ride. I knew what it was like to be denied help, which is why I found myself saying yes. She was pale, almost without contrast to the snow beneath her feet, and she seemed small in a huge black jacket. She looked lost, or maybe like she had been looking for something in her life and was ready to give up. Even though I knew we were different, I wanted to tell her that she was like me. That we are all the same.
As she got into the car, snowy clumps sticking to her hat and boots, I saw her. Her eyes, piercing blue like I’d never seen before, looked like a window to the sky. I’d never thought I’d see something like that. I tore my gaze away and looked ahead, at the snow falling rapidly on the windshield. Her face was something I could have looked at forever.
My passenger said, “thank you,” and put her address into my phone. And I had to look back at her. She looked my age, maybe a junior too? I wondered if she had her license. As I drove I had a floating feeling, something I’d never felt before. She was like something I’d never seen before. Maybe I was finally breaking, going insane, and she was just the first thing I’d seen. But I was only seventeen, I hadn’t seen enough in my life to go crazy. Maybe she was a ghost.
I sighed deeply, and then looked to my companion, who had been silent for a while. Her face was in her hands, and her whole body was shaking. My thoughts went numb and I felt a heap of despair. I was never good at comforting. But then my car, an old thing, just stopped. I pushed the gas pedal and then looked to the gas. The arrow pointed to full. Startled, the girl looked up as I angrily punched the wheel. “Uh oh,” I told her. She exhaled and looked at me like you’re an idiot.
She pulled out a lavender phone. I was silent as she called a tow truck, and was told we would have to wait for the blizzard to pass before they could get us. When she hung up, she just looked up at me with those eyes. I knew whatever I would say would be stupid, so I kept my mouth shut. “What’s your name?” she asked me. And for a second I almost forgot. Then I began to talk.
The Voice
January 2024
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