Snow Brings Havoc

Prologue

Throughout the café, the hurried clacking from a keyboard was heard. A young man slouched and hair a mess was in the corner, wide eyes hooked to his laptop's screen. From the looks of it, he seemed well, crazy. There was no room to worry, though, as he was in his world, his bubble if you will.

"Dark Chocolate Toffee Coffee with a pump of caramel?" echoed within the café. A lousy teenager shakily put down the steaming cup of coffee on the pick-up counter. In a blink, the young man zoned back into reality. He blinked a few more times, rubbing his temples with one hand as he stumbled over to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Though his vision was nearly black, he managed to pick up his coffee cup and travel back to his creaking chair.

His throat was doused with the bitter taste of black coffee, as if it was a shot, his mind buzzing like the static from an old television. As he stared at his exhausted reflection from his black laptop screen, he rubbed the bags of his eyes, wondering if the ringing sound was coming from his head or his...

His eyes shot open just for his ears to be met with the buzzing ringtone of his phone. He rubbed his eyes, a quiet groan of annoyance escaping his lips. The muffled sounds of hummingbirds tweeting a tune mixed with the mellow morning beams brought a hint of happiness to him. He managed to untangle himself from his covers and roll over and... off the bed.

"Ah, shit..." He murmured, kicking his feet to get the blankets off of him. His head plopped to the side as he gazed at himself in the mirror. His fingers ran through his messy, dirty blonde waves, smoothing out the knots. The sound of his phone's ringtone blaring throughout his bedroom sent a wave of aching in his head. Still lying on the floor, he squinted to see who was calling him. Grandma was calling him. He sighed and pressed the green 'Accept' button.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me, Austen? Hello?" His grandmother called out from the other side of the screen. "Hell-"

"Yes, grandma, I can hear you," He said, cutting his grandmother off to save her and him the annoyance.

"Hi, my dear sweet ol' Austen baby!" She babbled on in a baby voice, as if he wasn't 20 years old already.

"Hey, Grandma," He said, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he listened to her ramble on about her day in full detail. As she spoke, he threw on a shirt and began to brush his teeth in his cold tiled bathroom. He leaned on the bathroom sink's counter, staring at his reflection like how he was in his dream.

"Are you still listening honey?" His grandma asked as she heard the sound of water running.

"Yes, Grandma, I'm still listening," He mumbled subconsciously as he flossed his teeth, it only really came out as "Yeh, Grahmah, I' 'ill 'istenning."

"Well, okay. Anyways, I invited you and your siblings to a family reunion at my house the week of Christmas, now doesn't that just sound fun?" She asked, and he just knew she was smiling through the screen.

He dropped his flossing pick and groaned quietly so his grandmother couldn't hear. She didn't understand why we all didn't get along, and why if you put us in a room, we would fight and fight and fight until we threw hands. He didn't like his siblings, and they didn't like him. Plus, for having a big family, that just made it even worse. He sat on the floor, rubbing his aching headache as he pictured the family fighting. Bella and Drew screaming at each other, Mom scolding Marina for gossiping about our family's issues, and Brycen-

"Oh, I also invited some of your aunts and uncles!"

He clenched his fists as he thought about the potential aunts and uncles that could be coming over. See, some of them aren't that bad but some... are horrendous.

"Uncle Tommy, Aunt Margaret, Aunt Eve, Uncle Ron, oh won't it just be wonderful!" She exclaimed, her voice full of excitement despite her old age.

At each of their names, he banged his head against the wall. "Yes, just... just wonderful," He said through tightly clenched teeth. He looked at his phone's calendar. He had to leave tomorrow.

"You better get packing, dear!" She said as he tried to take deep breaths. It was obvious he didn't want to go, yet he knew that Grandma's age wasn't going to wait and that this was what she wanted anyway.

"Yes ma'am, I'll start right now," He muttered, trying to gain enough energy to stand up.

"Wonderful! Now don't be late, I've prepared just the right surprises for you all once you get here! I love you, sweetie," Within a beep, she hung up and left Austen with a lot of stress, packing, and some time to think about how he would tackle each family member.