#2 - Snowfall Connections
*You opened your eyes, having tried sleeping in further but being unable to. It didn't seem particularly bright out, but you didn't hear the sound of rain either. It also wasn't silent for once, for your parents were actually home, lazing off given they're always working. You got up out of bed to look outside and saw that it was snowing! Snow days were one of the few things you actively looked forward to. You didn't really participate in any snow activities, you just kinda liked how it looked. And a day off of school never hurt anyone. Probably.
*You went to approach your parents about going out, though they already knew you were coming so they answered before you could even say anything."
"Get back home before 5 P.M, don't get too far from the house.."
*You went to put on your winter clothes and went out for the day. You spent the majority of your time walking across the streets and analyzing the environment around you. It's a beautiful sight, really. The dead trees no longer having any leaves but excess amounts of snow on them. Not a single blade of grass in sight. You looked up to see a murder of crows migrating, likely to move to a place much less cold than this one. You didn't stop walking while you were looking up so when you looked back down you were pretty much an inch within walking into a stop sign. Silly billy.
*Along the way you encountered someone in their front yard in the process of building something with all the snow over the ground. From this angle, you noticed they were wearing a light blue jacket and had rather long, almost untamed black hair, with a black skirt to match the hair and light blue socks to match the jacket.. They were quite absorbed in what they were doing, seemingly not being bothered by the sounds of your footsteps
*You tried speaking to get their attention, although in a low, whispery tone.
"hello?"
*They didn't respond. You tried speaking just a bit louder.
"hello?"
*Still, no response. You figured you should get closer, so you did. You were about to just tap them on their shoulder until..
"HELLO!!” *They turned around almost in an instant
*You jumped at this sudden burst of movement and sound.
“SORRY, I have trouble trying to find a good volume For my VOice! I’m not the best SpeAker but hopefully the speech THERapy fixes that…”
“no worries….”
“Do you have problems WITh speaking too?”
“well, mainly that I don’t really like sp-” “Well, that’s Cool I guess! My name’s SAL! OR SALLY!! What’s yours??” Actually, hold that thought, wanna help me build a SNOWMAN??!?”
“i..uhhh, don’t know how to build a snowman.”
“I can teach you HOW! Just FOLLOW what I’m doing.”
*You were thinking about how, during that entire time, Sal/ly did not keep eye contact on you for more than 5 seconds at a time. You turned to take a quick look, and there wasn’t really anything happening besides snowfall. You were also a bit confused on whether they were a boy or girl, their name and voice conflicting with their outfit a bit. You didn’t want to badger Sal about it, though. Not like it’s your business.
“You COBBLE the snow together until it gets the SHAPE you want. The bottom should be bigger than whatever is above IT. Help me put this middle part together.”
*You went along with these instructions. Together you made a pretty good looking middle section.
“NiCELY done! Now, since you’re taLER than me, you should do the top section by yourself!!” “uh, but, i, ah…..”“You can do it!!!” “okay…”
*You start applying some snow on top of the middle section. Getting all that snow by yourself brings to attention how cold it is, though it’s not the worst. You were actually doing pretty good for someone that’s never done this before. It sort of reminded you of putting clay together, except the clay was fragile and it was made of little frozen bits of water. You were almost done a few minutes in, you felt confident, any fears you had were set as-*
[The top and mid section of the snowman fell upon you.]
“Ohshitohshitohshi-”
[Sally would get the snow off of you]
“Are you OKAY?!”
*You could only respond with crying and whimpering
*You were helped up by Sal and hurried into the nearby house where he lived. You were sat down on the couch “Wait HERE! I’ll be back in a minute.”
*You look around the room you’re in. Seems to be the living room. It was quite warm, though not stuffy. Near you were two other, smaller couches. The floor was distinctly made of brick but the walls were a solid gray-blue material. There was a T.V. in the middle mounted onto a wall, though it was turned off. Seems like something burned onto the screen, although you couldn't quite make out what it was. It almost looked like a face of some kind. There was a doorway into another room on your right, although the door was closed, which made your mind wander a bit about the contents of the room.
*Sal entered the room holding two styrofoam cups, steaming hot air emanating from it. As Sal gave one to you, you’d notice that it contained hot cocoa. “I hope this makes up for WHAt happened.... Sorry about that.”
"it's.... it's fine. i know you didn't mean for it to happen."
“So… Can we BE friends?” “i mean, yeah, I don’t see why not.”
“YIPPPPPPPPEPPEEEE!!! Oh wait! I never got your name! What was it?”
“yu.”
“Me?”
“what? no, my name is yu.”
“Ooh! You’re also named Sal? Or Sally? Or both?”
“Y-U. Yu.”
“Ohhhh!”
*As you'd roll your eyes, you would notice a clock on the wall. It was surprisingly silent. Every other clock made its presence known to you with its metronomic ticking, but not this one.
“hey…what time is it?”
*Sally would dart her eyes to that same clock.
“Four THIRTY seven”
“i have to go, then. i have to be home by five.”
“Can I come with?”
“sure.”
*You took the walk back home, with your friend in tow. He was rambling about tamagotchis and plushies along the way. You only responded with small “yeahs” and “uh-huh” and nods, not out of disinterest but due to not being able to really keep up and process everything fully. By the time she piped down, you were at home.
“It was nice meeTING you!”
“so, uhm.. What school do you go to?”
“I’m homeschooled!” “huh…well, it’s not like you’re that far from me anyway.” “Talk to you soon?”
“i hope.”
*You would wave to Sally, still carrying a bit of hesitance in it as usual. Sal would respond much more enthusiastically. Besides a big pile of snow collapsing on top of you, it was a pretty good day overall. You made another friend after all.