Wonder

Hours of coldness

Chapter 11

The air was heavy as I slumped to the floor, the cold wind lifting my hair from my shoulders as the sliding glass door is pushed open by my hands. The crisp smell inviting. My skin dances with glee. As the solid glass slips from fingers. The burn of my lungs as the dry air wraps around my body like a welcoming hug.

A hug many would rather not receive.

A small tear slides down my cheek as I watch the change in color from blue to charcoal black. Hours of cold air. The hairs on my arm bristle as I feel an actual chill runs up my spin.

The clusters of soft snow falls slowly from the sky like twinkling fairies they dance. The moon looks over me as I finally take a step out into the frosty wonderland. I brush my fingers against the rough skin of a pine tree. The bark bites at my fingers as I weave my way through the maze.

Snow gathers on my hair leaving wet clumps. Drops slide down my cheeks. A tingle shoots from my fingers, sharp icy toothpick raise from the ground. Clear as water and a sharp as spears. A master piece woven from my fingers; art that only I can make.

Those ugly pictures hold no meaning compared to this, pencil roughly etched across thin paper. I just stare at the knife sticking from the frozen floor. I lean forward and touch the top. A dripple of my blood slides down the length of the ice. It crimson color vivid against the clear point.

**

The little journey back from my walk was peaceful but a little boring; I couldn't help but analyze how a normal person shouldn't be able to create daggers of ice. The snow still was falls as I reach the backyard. I stop at the edge of the pool and watch the drops dance across the surface.

Lifting my hand the cool ice floats onto my hand and brushes my skin before melting in a puddle. I play with it, it raises from the warmth of my skin and objects appear before the wind blows the, away.

*****

"Olivia!" I walk into the kitchen my family standing around the table with glum expressions on their faces. A single tear slides down Madison's face before she looks away. A napkin clenched in her hand. My dad slowly rubbing circles around her back as Mom stares out into the backyard.

"What's going on." The clock blinks bright red with the time nine.

The room filled with an eery silence, the only sound coming from the grandfather clock in the living room. Confusion fills my thoughts as my eyes rotate around the room.

"Is someone going to tell me what happened?"

A long sad sigh leaves my mothers mouth as she grips the table with both of her hands a look of defeat on her porcelain features. Her plump lips stretched into a thin line with their bright pink color,

"Mr. Glen died." Another sad sob escapes Madison, her eyes red from crying, a stray tear slides down her cheek.

"The school principal?" I ask confused. Why is everyone freaking out to over this, they didn't even know the guy. Maybe they talked to him like once but dad never showed this kind of grief for anyone, he didn't even shed a tear when grandma died. He shrugged his shoulders and just commented that it happens, life took its course and it was her time. What a spirit lifter that was.

"They say he was murdered." Surprised by the outcome, I frown, didn't think that tough and hard as nails kind of guy would die by being murdered. His stile was more being attacked by a shark or jumping from a plane with no parachute. His large tattoo of a great white kind of tipped the scale on what way he'd die.

First murder in Wonder since 1982.

"They think it was you Olivia. They think it's you." Moms bottom lip quivers as she speaks. The whole world stops as I absorb what she said. Me? They think I did it. A no good for nothing loner killed someone. How... Why?