We'll meet again

Cold air wrapped around Thea's lungs, chilling her. She pulled the collar of her coat up, trying to cover her beak from the numbing breeze. Thea shivered as she walked down the snow filled streets, ice skates wrapped around her fingers. She moved them from hand to hand, giving the other one a chance to warm up. Her fingers tightening around the cold boots were frozen, despite the gloves she wore which were next to useless. She stopped for a few seconds as a cold breeze brushed past her. Thea shivered, slightly annoyed that the clouds were covering the sky, it could of been a warm day if only they just moved. She shook her head. What a day to go ice skating, she thought.

Thea slowly shifted the skates to the other hand, then shoved her cold, frozen hand in the other pocket. She could see the area in the distance, faint silhouettes of other people crowding around each other. She could hear the shouts and laughter coming from the distance. As she got closer, however, she noticed that there really weren't that many people. There were a couple families, but most of them had started packing, ready to go. Good, she thought. She checked the phone in her coat pocket, looking at the time. 7:23 pm. She sighed, shoving her phone back in.

Thea's sister had made her promise that she would put an effort into meeting new people, and she couldn't tell her sister no. She had tried going to the mall earlier that week, but it didn't turn out well for her. There were too many people around, their fast pacing movements had made her dizzy and sick to her stomach. She had gone back to her car after that, trying to calm herself down. Thea had stayed there for hours until her whole body was numb from the cold. She drove herself home and slept the rest of the day.

Thea stroked her bangs. There'll be next to no people by the time you get there, she reminded herself. Just go there for a few hours, baby steps Thea, baby steps. She looked at her phone again, seeing their recent conversation.

'I came by your apartment today but you weren't there, you okay?'

'yeah, I went to the mall actually, got myself some hair dye, dyed my bangs blue'

'Nice, glad to see you finally going out, did you talk to anyone?'

'I talked to the caisheer'

'Thea, I don't think that really counts'

'I couldn't get around to talking to anyone else, I was feeling pretty tired so I went home'

'Well, as long as you're trying. And hey, don't push yourself. Take baby steps, sis.

'Yeah, I'll try and do that'

'You should go to the ice rink, I heard they opened up a new one across town. You should go there in the afternoon, there won't be much people there at that time'

'Yeah, I guess I'll try that. I'm gonna go to bed now. Night'

'night'

By the time Thea was done rereading it, she was at the ice rink. Her sister was right, as always, only a few people still lingered around. Most of them tired and ready to leave. There were no big crowds. She sighed and sat down on a bench, pulling off her cheap, worn boots and sliding on the new skates her sister had given her. She sat there for a while, leaning back against the fence. The ice under her feet was hard and sturdy, having been frozen over many times and made to be as smooth as possible. She clicked her skates against the ice a couple times, then grabbed the fence and pulled herself up. She trudged along, moving slowly.

Thea focused her attention on the ground in front of her. She moved her hands along the fence, trying to stay steady. She was starting to move around more fluently, taking strides, but still not daring to let go. After a couple rounds, she turned towards the center of the rink and pushed. Okay, so far so good, you're not falling, she thought. She started to make it to the other side, almost there, nearly touching the other end when-