How Does a Daffodil Survive in Winter?

xix | The Key to Love is to Not Unlock it

I ran until I fell. I fell on the frost-covered grass. Looking around for the first time, I couldn't recognize where I was. The first snow of winter was falling, making everything white. It had still been sunny when I ran from the school. How quickly things changed. Like how the snow buried the rare warmth of the sun, all the progress I had made was wiped clean.

I didn't feel cold. I couldn't feel anything around me. I stood up, only to find myself on the grass again. My head was spinning and my vision was blurry. A line of fog came out into the cold as I exhaled. My hands clenched at the surrounding snow, trying to dissipate the heat that was forming in my palms. I stared blankly into the sky, no longer able to see the shapes in the clouds.

The day's events replayed on a loop in my mind. I kept trying to alter my memory, pretending that everything was fine but that didn't work. Over and over again I was back in that cafeteria reliving the moment that everything fell to pieces. I was like a hamster running on those wheels, thinking that one day they'll get somewhere. I layed on that snowy grass for a long time, trapped in that endless loop. I hoped that it would hurt less every time but somehow I seemed to keep finding little details in those events that made everything worse.

I felt a continuous vibration coming from my phone. The shaking of my hand matched the vibration on the phone as I took it out of my pocket. I saw the stream of notifications on the front screen. People were tagging me in videos of what happened on social media. The most popular one was Samuel's video. It was a clear shot of Lacie as she stood on that table. Like I had been replaying the event in my mind, I couldn't help but watch the video.

"Did you really think Theo would date someone like Marnie? No, it's all fake..."

"...She's so pathetic that she blackmailed someone to become her boyfriend..."

" ...Is this all true, Theo?"

The camera panned to Theo and me standing next to him. His hair was covering his eyes but I could see his lips part slightly like he wanted to say something. And then it happened quicker than I thought. He nodded briefly and the next second, I was running away. Lacie said something after that but I turned off the video.

My eyes landed on some of the comments on the post.

samuelshottea: the truth is out and the tea is boiling hoooot. @marnsfrommars @theo.neal @laciierrose

bennycoop01: damn.

chrissy_mariee: shes sooooo stupid lmao

tomharrison08: she high or something?

itsnikkimchale: i literally knew something was off abt their relationship.

_summerraeee: samuel be giving us the tea

leahthedancer: did u know abt this @juliemfisherr

laciierrose: like i said. the apple doesn't fall far from the-

Tree. I threw my phone at a tree. The sound of the screen breaking followed my angry footsteps and me picking up the phone and throwing it against the tree again. Then a multitude of profanities could be heard in a mile radius.

I screamed. Poor tree was on the receiving end of my anger. I kept kicking and punching as if it were all those people combined. Honestly, I didn't care if there was anyone watching. What can they do? Judge me? It would only be a miniscule addition to my pile. Call the police? I wasn't hurting anyone. Even the tree didn't budge at all. Well, maybe for disturbing people's day from my creative words and particularly loud voice. Anyways, I don't think there was anyone around because I didn't hear anyone calling me names nor did the police come. So, I was alone in a foreign place, screaming and letting my anger out on a poor tree.